…most of them do, anyhow. Polls show that 70% of Israelis would vote for McCain if they were eligible to vote in the U.S. election.
And some of them are. There are an estimated 40,000 Americans residing in Israel who are eligible to cast absentee ballots, and many of them will be voting in swing states. The chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel predicts a 75% vote for McCain, although other reports show a large number of undecideds.
From a Weekly Standard article via Soccer Dad:
We respect war heroes in Israel, especially those like McCain who were POWs,” notes Mitchell Barak, managing director of the Jerusalem-based Keevoon Research, Strategy & Communications. “We see Obama fantasizing about how he wants to sit down and talk to the terrorists, and he loses a lot of Israelis right there. He comes off as unrealistic and insensitive to the existential challenges facing the Jewish state, and as naïve.”
Naïve, indeed. It’s a theme that popped up frequently when I mentioned Obama’s name. Obama lacks experience. Obama doesn’t understand how to deal with terrorists in general, and radical Islamic terrorists in particular. Obama thinks a court of law is the right forum for dealing with terrorists. Obama thinks the U.N. is a dandy place to solve difficult problems. Obama would have happily lost the Iraq war. Obama would cede regional hegemony to the Iranians. And so on.
Sofhi Cohen lives in Sderot, which has been the target of heavy rocket attacks: two of her children were injured in one of these attacks.
“Everybody in Sderot prefers McCain to Obama,” explains the soft-spoken Sofhi, as she bakes in her kitchen on a Friday afternoon. Despite the fact that her house has been blown to bits and her husband is outside working on the repairs, she has graciously invited me to join her family for the Sabbath meal. “McCain understands terrorists and how to deal with them,” she says. She’s “quite surprised” and “disappointed” to hear that American Jews prefer Obama. “Obama seems nice, but he’s like a child.”
And for those who live with terrorists just down the road, a child clearly won’t do in the White House. “Obama is young, charismatic, and smart,” says Eli Moyal, the straight-talking mayor of Sderot, who has met with both candidates. “But McCain’s a more serious guy.” The mayor’s message to American Jews: If you care about Israel’s security, vote for McCain.
Of course, there are some with other views. Here’s the Weekly Standard on a left-leaning Haaretz columnist:
He believes that George W. Bush did Israel a “great disservice” by his unwavering support of the Middle East’s only true democracy. Why? Because Bush was too “friendly” towards Israel and didn’t push Israelis towards the “objective thinking” that would have helped them realize that they, too, are a superpower and can afford to reach settlements with the Palestinians and the Syrians. Ben-Simon believes that, despite their military superiority, many Israelis suffer from what he terms the “Warsaw ghetto mentality” and fear that their destruction could be imminent.
Such is the thinking of Obama supporters in Israel. There’s no Bush hatred. There are oodles of decency and much intellectualism. Nonetheless, many of their fellow Israelis think they are daft.
Vladimir Putin wants 2 things.
1. Reassemble the Russia Empire. Get back the countries lost when the Soviet empire fell apart.
2. Control the oil in the world. He already controls 1/3. When Obama pulls US troops out of Iraq, Putin will replace them with Russia troops to “protect” Iraq from American aggression. He will extend his protection to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran as well as all them little countries with funny names ending in -Stan, which are swimming in oil. He has also claimed the oil under the Artic Sea. He will win the approval of the Democrats and Obama by sending Obama the head of Osama bin Laden packed in salt. Although the head won’t look like Osama (because of the salt), Putin will have thoughtfully attached DNA analysis that proves it is Osama. His message will be, “Osama is dead, the US can go home now.”
Controlling the world’s oil will make rebuilding the Russian Empire easier by making Europe cooperative. Obama and the Democrats will celebrate Osama’s death and declare victory on Terrorism. They will agree that Russia is merely remodeling its neighborhood and announce the Good Neighbor Policy in which Americans must learn to live on pleasant breezes and warm sunlight.
Obama will have passed his first foreign policy test. Thos who disagree with Obama will be sent to Guantanamo.
Israel will negotiate itself out of existence. Their governments are too politically correct to name their enemy. Sic transit liberalism.
Wow, I never thought I would hear that they thought Bush was too nice to Israel and that was harmful to Israel. I’ll try to follow the logic later. Has this surfaced on the illuminati NBC newscast yet?
Obama is not even close to being ready to be president, he couldn’t even make a decisive vote that could show the world where he stood, it might have hurt his chance to being the Prez. He is the manchurian candidate.