Obama's Jewish Problem

The Jerusalem Post, in a column, suggests that at least some Jews have noticed that Barack Obama is no friend to Israel. And that's without taking into account the amount of anti-Semitism on his official website.

The column includes a description of Richard Nixon's response to Israel's request for help during the 1973 war that I have never heard before. If George McGovern had been elected president instead of Nixon, it is not only possible but probable that Israel would no longer exist.

The Israelis went to president Richard Nixon with a request for a massive infusion of arms. The Defense and State Departments squabbled. Our European allies, who feared an oil embargo (and would refuse us bases to refuel our planes), inveighed against it, and the Soviets blustered. Many on Nixon's staff wanted to deny the request, or offer only token assistance. Don't antagonize the Arab states, they counseled.

Nixon persisted and, according to some accounts, doubled the amount of aid Israel had requested. Riding herd on the bureaucrats, Nixon repeatedly intervened to push the transports along. Informed about a dispute regarding the type of air transportation, Nixon at one point exclaimed in frustration: "Tell them to send everything that can fly." Over the course of a month US airplanes conducted 815 sorties with over 27,900 tons of materiel.

Israel was saved due to this massive infusion of military aid.

Anyone who cares about the continued existence of Israel ought to think long and hard about how Obama would react to a plea for help, say if Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran attacked Israel.

As the Jerusalem Post puts it,

The Obama skeptics do not for a moment believe that Obama, in the face of domestic and international pressure similar to what Nixon faced, would rise to the occasion at a critical moment in Israel's history and "tell them to send everything that can fly."

In every significant interaction in Obama's adult life with those who distain and vilify Israel - from Rashid Khalidi to Reverend Jeremiah Wright to Louis Farrakhan - Obama has demonstrated passive resignation and indifference.

We can survive the inevitable tax increases that an Obama presidency guarantees. It is unclear, however, that Israel can survive an Obama presidency. His election will embolden the people who want to destroy Israel -- the same people who want to destroy America.