Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Apparently, some right-wing Jewish individual or group (this smacks of Mort Klein and ZOA or someone of that ilk) has fed yet a new Obama smear story to JTA with which to regale American Jews and plant new doubts in their mind. The latest example of Jewish Obamaphobia involves, you guessed it, Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Apparently his Church’s newsletter reprinted an L.A. Times op-ed column written by a Hamas representative arguing that Hamas should not be expected to recognize Israel before negotiating with it.

Let’s get real here. Many Israeli and American Jewish analysts (including a former Mossad director) agree with the Hamas position here. So what’s the problem? If the L.A. Times didn’t find it was fomenting terrorism and Israel hatred by publishing the original column why can’t the Pastor’s church republish it?

People, this is going too far. As a result of this lunacy, Obama feels compelled to get down on his knees and beg the Jewish community’s forgiveness for something that wasn’t his doing in the first place; and in the second, wasn’t even something that Wright should have to apologize for (unless that is the L.A. Times should also apologize for publishing it in the first place). Here’s Obama’s craven response:

“I have already condemned my former pastor’s views on Israel in the strongest possible terms, and I certainly wasn’t in church when that outrageously wrong Angeles Times piece was re-printed in the bulletin,” Obama said in a statement emailed to JTA late Thursday, and referring to critics who noted that Obama had been in church when Wright had made controversial statements. “Hamas is a terrorist organization, responsible for the deaths of many innocents, and dedicated to Israel’s destruction, as evidenced by their bombarding of Sderot in recent months. I support requiring Hamas to meet the international community’s conditions of recognizing Israel, renouncing violence, and abiding by past agreements before they are treated as a legitimate actor.”

This is a sorry statement which takes us back quite a ways in figuring a way to get Israel and the Palestinians (including Hamas) together to negotiate a way out of their impasse. The Jewish community is forcing Barack Obama to go through ever smaller hoops in order to get, or not to lose its support. Pretty soon the hoop will be as wide as the eye of a needle and neither Obama nor a camel can thread that.

It speaks volumes that JTA thought this story was newsworthy. They’re carrying water for Hillary, McCain or the Republican Jewish Coalition whether they know it or not.

Hat tip to Sam Smith for featuring this story at his blog.

MaanNews reports that a recent Palestinian poll by Gaza’s Al Mustakbal Research Center reveals a divided, but flexible Palestinian polity. I am assuming that since this is a Gaza based institution that its poll numbers might reflect somewhat of a pro-Hamas “tilt” in the results:

Those who agree to holding negotiations with Israel after Hamas forms the government, 46.5 percent answered yes, 44.3 percent said no, 8.6 do not know, and .06 did not answer.

Among those who agreed to lengthy “cease-fire” after the formation of the government, 62.5 agreed, 30.2 disagreed, 6.5 did not know, and .08 declined to answer.

Regarding the armed resistance against Israeli attacks by launching projectiles, 48.1 agree with such a tactic, 40.3 say no to it, 1.2 do not know, and .04 did not answer the question.

Among those polled, 65.5 percent showed their support for a national unity government, 26 supported a Hamas government, 7.5 percent supported a different party government, and one percent declined to answer.

A plurality favors negotiations with Israel while majorities support indefinite continuation of the hudna and a national unity government. While the poll did not show a plurality supporting cessation of Qassam rocket attacks there was only 8% separating the two positions.

The most disappointing figure is that only 22% believe that Hamas should recognize Israel:

Among those who support Hamas for not recognizing Israel regardless of the international ramifications in foreign aid, 70.1 agree with Hamas, 21.9 said Hamas should recognize Israel, 7.1 do not know, and .06 did not answer.

However, I note that the question was phrased in such a way that a respondent might feel that he was being asked whether Hamas should “capitulate” to foreign pressure in order to ameliorate the approaching international embargo building against the Palestinians. When you phrase the question in this way, it seems self-evident that Palestinians would reject such a possibility.

To put this in perspective, the Daily Star reports that a current An-Najah University poll reveals that a majority of respondents favored Hamas recognizing Israel if it withdrew to the Green Line:

Just over half of respondents - 54.7 percent - backed recognition of the Jewish state by Hamas but only if Israel first agreed to withdraw from all the territories it occupied in 1967…

And to show you how malleable poll numbers can be depending on how you phrase a question, Miftah reports a February 28th poll in which a majority support Hamas recognition of Israel (no preconditions are mentioned). Here is how the pollster asked the question:

I am going to read to you a series of policies and duties, which Hamas could follow. I would like you to tell me whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with each of them.

50.8% either strongly or somewhat agreed that the group should recognize Israel. Further, 70% favor Hamas negotiations with Israel and 80% favor continuing the hudna–numbers that are far higher than the Gaza-based poll.