 | | A Jerusalem Post poll has revealed that only four per cent of Israeli Jews believe that Barack Obama, the US president, is pro-Israel [GALLO/GETTY] |
As Barack Obama, the US president, prepares to meet Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, a recent poll in theJerusalem Post suggests that just four per cent of Israelis believe the Obama administration supports their country.
To learn more about how Israeli Jews view Obama, Al Jazeera's Clayton Swisher toured West Jerusalem where he found widespread hostility toward the US president.
We showed the film to some American and Israeli bloggers and asked them whether there is a growing divide between the views of American Jews - 78 per cent of whom voted for Obama - and Israelis. | MJ Rosenberg - American blogger |
This is a very disturbing clip. Israel has been galloping to the right since 2000 or so but this particular type of racist attitude appears new.
Of course, there are many people who speak that way about Obama here in the US too.
The cable networks are full of hate directed against Obama, along with the insistence that he is a Muslim and a terrorist sympathiser.
The difference between these Israelis and the Americans who say the same things is that in the US, Jews do not talk about Obama that way. He received 78 per cent of the Jewish vote and still has a high level of support in the Jewish community. This clip demonstrates that there is a wide gap between American Jews and Israeli Jews on Barack Obama. American Jews, who know him well, like him and trust him. Israelis do not. "... There is a wide gap between American Jews and Israeli Jews on Barack Obama. American Jews, who know him well, like and trust him. Israelis do not" MJ Rosenberg, American blogger | The racist attitude toward Obama that we see in this clip will make it harder for Obama to produce an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Israelis miss George Bush who was very unpopular with American Jews. Israelis thought he was the "best friend" Israel ever had while American Jews thought he was disastrous for America and Israel. The good news is that if the Obama administration decided to push hard for an agreement, it won't matter what these racists on the Israeli street say. Even if these people represented a majority of Israelis, and I don't think they do, their views would not matter. An American president has the power and authority to achieve an end to the occupation and peace if he has the will. At this point, we do not know if Obama has the will. He should not be daunted by people like those in the clip. The racists will always be among us, in the US and in Israel. A president's job is to ignore them and push ahead. But time is running out. If nothing comes out of Tuesday's meetings between Obama, Abbas and Netanyahu, I will not be optimistic that anything will happen over the next few years.
One more point. Those people Clayton Swisher interviewed were open about their feelings. They are full of hate and proud of it. But the people in the US - in the [Israeli] lobby and in Congress - who will try to thwart Obama's efforts do not speak like that. They say they support peace. They say they don't hate anybody. But, in the end, they continuously block progress and sustain the occupation. These people, who talk more nicely, are also more dangerous than the people in the clip.
MJ Rosenberg is a senior fellow on foreign policy at Media Matters Action Network. He previously spent 11 years as the director of policy at the Israel Policy Forum, 15 years as an aide to various senators and congressmen and four years at AIPAC. Read his blog here.
ALJAZERA TV |
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