The Middle East in the News
•Hannah Turk 10/27/08
•Article: Israeli Ambassador Meets Palin as Republicans Rally for Virginia
• Haaretz.com
•Article Summary
Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor, met with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her campaign tour of Virginia. Meeting for the first time, Palin expressed support for the Jewish Agency, an organization that Meridor once chaired. According to the Israeli embassy, they mainly discussed U.S.-Israeli relations. There was also some talk regarding Iran as a nuclear threat to both Israel and the United States. Apparently, the Israeli embassy wanted to keep the meetings quiet for fear of being accused of interfering with the campaign. But in lieu of recent polls that show a drop in Jewish-voter support for McCain, the Republican campaign publicized the meeting.
•Your Response to Article
As a Jewish citizen of America, this article touches on something I’ve been hearing discussed in my community recently. There has been a lot of talk about how Jews are going to vote this election – from my parents’ opinions to Sarah Silverman and The Great Schlep (Sarah Silverman, a Jewish comedienne, started a “movement” called The Great Schlep that encourages young Jews to “schlep” down to Florida and visit their grandparents to make them vote Obama), the Jewish community seems more ambiguous than usual regarding which party the majority supports. Of course I’m not saying that all American Jews vote the same, but there tends to be a general consensus. This year, that’s not the case, so as a result we’re seeing the candidates trying to appeal specifically to the Jewish voter to get the majority of that constituency. The reason many Jews like McCain is because his Israel policy is similar to that of Bush’s: very, very supportive. Palin has done a great job with voicing this support, always putting in a couple words about how her campaign is very pro-Israel.
While I’m glad she met with Mr. Meridor, it’s also upsetting that their conference ended up being used as a political strategy. Palin once said something along the lines of how she would never question a decision Israel makes. Whether she actually wouldn’t or she simply said this to keep up her pro-Israel image, it’s a scary idea. There are wrongs on both (well, there are more than two) sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and everyone needs to recognize that in order to even attempt a solution.
{ 1 } Comments
A big issue, indeed! One question to address is whether Israel’s long-term interests are actually well served by unquestioning U.S. support. (And, for a touchier version of that question, whether American Jews are better off by unbounded support for Israeli policies.) A second question worth asking: What do we mean by “support”?
As a general proposition, Israelis tend to understand why Americans would be drawn to Obama, but also worry that while he might be “good” for the U.S., he may also be “bad” for Israel. Do you think they have grounds for thinking that way, on both counts?
To see Sarah Silverman’s Great Schlep website: http://www.thegreatschlep.com/
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