Strange Times

The New York Times ran a column the other day that promoted the position that Israel had much to fear from the new Rpublican majority in the House. Tp put it mildly this is a strange idea. According to the Times, the Republicans are against foreign aid and this will hurt Israel. The Times, however, did not give any evidence for this allegation. Further, the truth seems to be quite the opposite. The real problem for the Israelis has been the hostility of president Obama and his administration. For example, the never ending nonsense coming from Obama about so-called "settlements" which are actually construction in the various neighborhoods of Jerusalem has scuttled any hope for meaningful talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. The US is also going to Durban III, a UN conference that is billed as fighting racism but which is organized to promote anti-semitism. Canada has announced that it will boycott the conference, but Obama still has the US going. The US has also supported the recent decision of UNESCO to remove Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs from the list of historic sites; indeed the tomb of Rachel is now designated as a mosque by that UN agency. These sites which have been revered by Jews for literally thousands of years cannot be changed by a decision of UNESCO and for the US to support such nonsense is nothing more than another anti-Israel move by Obama.

Strangely, in the course of the article, the Times admits that the new Republican leadership in the House is more pro-Israel than their Democrat predecessors. Indeed, it seems that the Times' main point in the article is really a message to Jews who may have left the Democrats to vote for the Republicans in 2010; the message: you may have hurt Israel. While this fits with the general electoral goals of the Times, it has no basis in fact. It is just propaganda, and not even good propaganda at that.