Obama, Israel, And Self-Loathing*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

In a troubling opinion piece for "The Wall Street Journal" that can only be described as a fantastic foray into the depraved depths of unmitigated self-flagellation, Alan Dershowitz has attempted to make the nearly untenable case for President Obama being a true friend to both American Jewry and the state of Israel.

To the point, his apologetics conveniently begin with the statement that Obama's stance on settlements nearly matches that of his predecessor, though with the bizarre caveat that development must logically be vertical for peace to become attainable--and this with no aforethought as to just what kind of tempting targets these miraculously funded and constructed apartment towers must present to rocket-toting terrorists.

Another assertion--really a belief, and a laughable one at that--is that President Obama is seriously committed to an Iran free of nuclear weapons and that his appeasement-minded administration does not actually claim a link between Israel's settlements and that other regime's aggression. Clearly, this is a convenient bit of political arithmetic, ignoring the fact that mainstream liberals increasingly root almost every conceivable dilemma in the Middle East somewhere in the establishment or continuing growth of Israel. President Obama is no exception.

And finally, the right of the IDF "to prevent and deter rocket fire" sounds laudable coming from Dershowitz, but no mention is made of the ethical choice to preserve Israeli lives and freedoms by targeting the homes and operations of terrorists. In fact, little is suggested for the preservation of innocent Israelis other than maintaining the status quo--a losing proposition, to be sure.

In other words, Dershowitz ultimately remains completely unwilling to admit that President Obama harbors some very troubling and apparently persistent grudges against Israel, and that this very attitude will in fact cost Israeli lives and further stir up anti-Semitism throughout the world to the point where this valuable ally may actually cease to exist.

Apparently, these are the petty details lost in the historic nature of a White House that makes grand, sweeping plans with absolutely unimpeachable wisdom. And as Melanie Phillips so aptly describes in her showdown with Dershowitz, this is also the aggravating nature of our current cult of personality--a phenomenon strangely present not just with so many average Americans, but even more so with the vast majority of the American Jewish population long and unreasonably in the pocket of the Democrats.

But blessedly, pressure does matter, as does calling President Obama on his explicit bias. What else could explain his desperate attempt of late to woo Jewish leaders and convince them that he really wishes to foster only the truest of friendships with them and their voting congregations?

Perhaps the only question now is how much self-loathing this vital community will take before it's realized that an enemy to Israel's safety and future success cannot be a true friend to Jews anywhere.