Israel Matzav

Obama's latest foreign policy adviser: US Jews hinder Middle East peace

Like certain waste matters attract flies, Democratic President hopeful Barack Hussein Obama continues to attract foreign policy advisers who are anti-Israel. The latest one is Tony McPeak.

McPeak, who was arrested last year for driving under the influence, apparently has a problem controlling more than his thirst for fermented beverages. He also has a penchant for bashing Israel or, more particularly, Jews who oppose negotiating with terrorists.

McPeak has a long history of criticizing Israel for not going back to the 1967 borders as part of any peace agreement with Arab states. In 1976 McPeak wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine questioning Israel's insistence on holding on to the Golan Heights and parts of the West Bank.

In recent years McPeak has echoed the Mearsheimer-Walt view that American Middle East policy is being controlled by Jews at the expense of America's interests in the region. In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, McPeak complained of that the "lack of playbook for getting Israelis and Palestinians together at...something other than a peace process....We need to get it fixed and only we have the authority with both sides to move them towards that. Everybody knows that."

The interviewer asked McPeak: "So where's the problem? State? White House?"

McPeak replied: "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote -- vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."

Translation (as if it's needed): Jews -- who put Israel over every American interest -- control America's policy on the Middle East. And McPeak has the audacity to accuse Bill Clinton of McCarthyism.

McPeak also claims that a combination of Jews and Christian Zionists are manipulating U.S. policy in Iraq in dangerous and radical ways.

...

Guys like McPeak are upset because they think Jews have too much influence.

McPeak (in his Oregonian interview) also equated terrorist organizations with neoconservative supporters for Israel:

Interviewer: "Do you think...there's an element within Hamas, Hezbollah, that doesn't want Israel to exist at all and always will be there?"

McPeak: "Absolutely."

Interviewer: "So this is -- this is multilateral."

Instead of discussing Hamas and Hezbollah, McPeak returns to his primary target: Christian and Jews who support Israel:

McPeak: "There's an element in Oregon [sic], you know, that's always going to be radical in some pernicious way, and likely to clothe it in religious garments, so it makes it harder to attack. So there's craziness all over the place. I think there is enough good will on the Israeli side -- I've spent a lot of time in Israel, worked at one time very closely with the Israeli air force as a junior officer, and so -- but that's maybe the more cosmopolitan, liberal version of the Israeli population."

In other words, American policy is the product of "religious Jews and neocons" who in McPeak's mind are just as much to blame for a lack of peace in the Middle East as are Hamas and Hezbollah.

Note the pattern here. Brzezinski, Malley, Powers and now McPeak. YNet reports that the Republican Jewish Coalition has called on Obama to fire McPeak. My question is, why bother? He'll just choose another anti-Israel adviser anyway.

Following the latest revelations, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on Obama to remove McPeak as his military advisor and national campaign co-chairman.

"By choosing to have a military advisor and national campaign co-chairman like General McPeak, serious questions and doubts are once again being raised about Senator Obama's positions and judgment on Middle East issues," said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.

"Rather than putting the blame where it belongs - on the Palestinian leadership and their continued reliance on terror, General McPeak finds it more convenient to blame American Jewry and their perceived influence," said Brooks. "This is the same dangerous and disturbing canard being promoted by the likes of Jimmy Carter and authors Mearsheimer and Walt in their book, The Israel Lobby."

"Senator Obama continues to surround himself with advisors holding troubling and disturbing anti-Israel bias," Brooks said. "We call on Senator Obama to immediately remove General McPeak from his campaign leadership role and as a key advisor."

So here's my question to all of you: Of the Jews who support Obama, what percentage do you think actively agree with his views (as reflected by his choice of advisers) on Israel, and what percentage do you think just don't care?

To those who think Hillary Clinton is worse, I disagree. That's not to say that I would vote for her for President - I would not. But if the choice is between Obama and Clinton, I would have to vote for Clinton. And besides, with Hillary and Obama now neck and neck, I believe that the best thing that could happen would be for the two of them to tear each other apart and take the Democratic party down with them. I saw a nice short piece last night that claims that Hillary is pursuing a 'Tonya Harding strategy' that will destroy both her and Obama and will elect McCain President. I'm happy to encourage that behavior.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:59 PM