Jews and Obama: two views
Two alternative — or perhaps complementary — views on Obama and the Jews from The Jewish Week. Asking Jews how they feel about Obama and Israel is a bit like the blind man and the elephant – it depends on which Jews you ask.
First, editor Gary Rosenblatt:
Leaders of American Jewish organizations note an unease among mainstream supporters of Israel and Jewish causes – we’re not talking about marginal “Obama is a Muslim” critics here – who say they voted for and admire Barack Obama and support many of his policies, but feel he is being overly critical of Israel and too soft on the Palestinians and on an Iranian regime bent on developing nuclear weapons that could end up aimed at the Jewish state.
As one leader put it: “Moderate people come up to me and ask, ‘Should I be worried?’
Next, Jewish Week reporter Jim Besser:
Jewish leaders see nothing but concern among their colleagues and among the pro-Israel activist core. But there’s no evidence that concern has trickled down to the broader Jewish electorate
Also, that broader electorate isn’t much interested in or supportive of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and it’s probably not overly enamored of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Go through an Orthodox neighborhood in New York, and almost everybody has friends and relatives living in settlements; go to a suburban Reform shul in Chicago, and you’ll find few.
I remain convinced Obama administration officials have an unusually sophisticated understanding of these political realities.
They realize they can push Israel on settlements pretty hard, as long as they wrap their pressure in strong statements of support for Israel and a vibrant U.S.-Israel relationship, without much risk of a backlash…
JustASC is written by Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the 
July 13th, 2009 at 11:29 am
An acquaintance, from whom I usually receive an e-mail with a copy of the bulletin on the Torah Portion of the Week that he puts together for his synagogue, sent me the following:
Barack Obama has demanded that Israel “freeze” growth and construction — that Israeli families not be allowed to build extra rooms on their houses, much less new houses, and that they discontinue even “natural growth.”
Obama’s envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, explained the meaning of this to reporters last month:
QUESTION: . . . can you give us just a definition of what the United States considers natural growth? What does that phrase mean in your mind?
MR. MITCHELL: There’s been no change in our policy. And there have been – there have been discussions on every aspect of the issue.
QUESTION: Well, what does natural growth mean? I mean, can you just use it in…
MR. MITCHELL: I’m constantly asked by editors, you know, please give a plain explanation of what natural growth is.
QUESTION: If it’s for your editor. (Laughter.)
MR. MITCHELL: Well, of course, one of the issues is that there is no universally used and accepted definition. The most common definition is by the number of births, but there are many variations of that. I’ve had numerous discussions with many Israeli and other officials, and there are almost as many definitions as there are people speaking. But I think the most commonly used measure is the number of births.
I found the above quotes a bit incendiary and asked my acquaintance for his source. He was able to provide quite a few independent sources (see below) – the first 2 listed below are Commentary Magazine and Canadian Jewish News.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/richman/70592
http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17200&Itemid=86
http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-all-about-births.html
http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mitchell-jews-in-judea-must
I understand that Mr. Mitchell has done some waffling, though, so as not to seem inflexible about there being no births.
Nevertheless I cannot help but be reminded of the line in the Passover Haggadah where we say “Pharoah only decreed against the male offspring but” so-and-so wanted to do much worse. I had thought the Obama administration was asking merely for an end to construction by Jewish people who live in the walled city of Jerusalem, Judaea and Samaria. Apparently, Mr. Mitchell is even suggesting an objection to live births.
I think those of us who have considered ourselves friendly to the Obama administration, ought to quietly convey to them that this is the kind of vocabulary that is likely to create an uproar in the Jewish community if it should become known. I find it outrageous. I don’t want my governemnt officials to be counted with the so-and-so’s.
Best wishes for the legacy of this administration and for the Jewish people,
Larry (Avraham) Kallus, West Orange