Shmuel Rosner likes Obama...RonMossad, not so much

While it may shock avid readers of the RonMossad blog, in addition to being one of the last liberals in America I also get a lot of my mainstream news from such "liberal" media outlets as haaretz.com and cnn.com. One of the frequent contributors to the haaretz English website is "chief US correspondent" Shmuel Rosner. In fact his "Rosner's Domain" link is listed in the main navigation bar ahead of "Diplomacy," "Defense," "Jewish World," "Opinion," and everything else. So clearly, he's pretty high up there.

Rosner reports on many American topics (as one would expect the "chief US correspondent" for a major Israeli news outlet to do) that may have a bearing on the day-to-day life of Israelis. One of the topics he has been covering recently is the impending American election in a feature called The Israel Factor: Ranking American Presidential candidates.

This feature ranked possible American candidates on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best for Israel, 1 being the best for Mordor. Not-so-surprisingly, Rudolph Giuliani blew away the competition topping out at 8.88 (the contest was updated monthly until September when it was apparently dropped). Hilary Clinton averaged in the mid to upper 7's. McCain was about the same. Interestingly, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee both ranked in the mid-6's although the "Israel Factor" main site has a new headline at the top of it entitled: The panel doesn't believe Huckabee's pledge to 'stand by Israel'.

In any case, Barack Hussein Obama scored very low (low to mid-5's) when compared to other front runners. This of course never seems to deter Jews from lining up for this "uniter" (where have I heard that word before? Something about being a uniter, not a divider...hmmm) of Americans who promises an end to partisan politics.

On many levels this is completely understandable due to the fact that the upcoming election is for the president of the USA and not the Prime Minister of Israel. And since many, if not most of Jews are staunch Democrats, loyalty to the Party dictates that the only real choice is between Obama, Clinton or Edwards. Clearly voting for a candidate based first and foremost on your Party has been a cornerstone of American politics since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. It certainly makes more sense than say...voting based on who would be best for Israel/Jews (which as we've covered before is the same issue).

However, Rosner is not the typical Jew living in America. He works for an Israeli newspaper. His column/blog specifically deals with this one specific aspect of American politics. Partisanship, Social Security reform, Healthcare, none of these problems should matter to him because he specifically reports on the aforementioned "Israel Factor" of the candidates.

You would think then, that he would pay better attention to his own material.

In an article entitled: Barack Obama backs Israel remaining a Jewish state Rosner spells out in his usual tongue-in-cheek fashion that contrary to Obama's dismal ranking in his own special feature and despite the fact that many Jews have been "concerned over his cool policy toward Israel," we needn't worry because after all Mr. Obama does in fact back Israel as a Jewish state.

Here's the actual quote Rosner refers to that leads him to believe this:

The Palestinians would have to reinterpret the notion of right of return in a way that would preserve Israel as a Jewish state. It might involve compensation and other concessions from the Israelis but ultimately Israel is not going to give up its state.



First of all, I didn't know that we needed anyone's backing or that the future of Israel "remaining" the Jewish homeland was ever in question. At least not by our friends.



Secondly, he's not saying that he "backs" the Jewish State...inasmuch as Hamas and Fatah have to just accept the harsh reality that "Israel is not going to give up its state." Which again, I'm not sure when that offer was ever put on the table.



Finally, Fatah and Hamas don't need to "reinterpret the notion" that they have any right of return, because it just DOES NOT EXIST. There's nothing to reinterpret. In actually, what's going on here is that B. Hussein Obama is giving CREDENCE to these concepts where Israel may not be a Jewish state, may give up its soveriegnty or may give the Palestinians the right of return (which effectively ends the state of Israel as the Jewish Homeland). He is responding to non-existent concepts which only serves to add legitimacy to them.



FOR EXAMPLE:

Italian gangsters needs to reexamine their methods for loan sharking. They need to reinterpret what they can realistically accomplish as bookies.

WRONG.

The Mafia does NOT need to reinterpret its goals...it needs to ABANDON them. It needs to be disbanded and the perpetrators of these crimes be put in jail.

Just like there's no discussion to be had with criminal loan sharks, nor is there to be a discussion with criminal murderers. Just like the end result of acheiving financial success as a result of criminal activity is not a viable option, so to is the result of acheiving political success as result of criminal activity NOT a viable option. In both instances, opening the door to a discussion of terms only opens the door to compromise.

And there's just nothing to compromise here.

So to Jews who are going to the polls:

This election is not for the Prime Minister of Israel. It is for the President of the United States of America. Those of you who are unconcerned with how the President of the USA views Israel/Jews need not take heed of these comments.

However, those who do - which I THINK includes Mr. Rosner - MIGHT want to rethink your position.