A Partisan Divide On Israel?

One of my correspondents has called my attention to a piece by pollster John Zogby, in which Zogby postulates a partisan divide on support for Israel.

Zogby's brother James is a prominent anti-Israel activist and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, and John Zogby leaves us in no doubt where his sympathies lie in the matter..although I give him credit for disclosing it in his piece.

Briefly put, he polls Democrats as growing less and less favorable to Israel and to lean more towards President Obama's hard line towards the Jewish State, while Republicans tend to be almost overwhelmingly favorable to Israel and dislike President Obama's treatment of our ally.

In Zogby's words, "U.S. Jews, a large majority of whom remain liberal to moderate Democrats, have the wrenching choice of staying loyal to a Democratic Party that increasingly questions Israeli policies."

He also makes the point that in his opinion, demography is on the side of the Democrats, who appeal to growing segments of the electorate like young, African-Americans and Hispanics...groups he refers to as most likely to question the U.S. relationship with Israel.

So is Zogby right? Yes and no.

First of all, it's important to realize that John Zogby's record as a pollster and prognosticator is,to be polite, execrable. He's actually quotes a J-Street poll in his piece as authoritative research! I'm amazed people still give him any credence whatsoever, but at least he's honest to the point of admitting which side of the fence his posterior is sitting on.

Lumping blacks and Hispanics together as a group as Zogby does is also stoo-pid, especially as the two groups in general tend to be somewhat antagonistic to each other. Do a little research of your own on this, especially in areas like South Los Angeles, Compton, Inglewood and other areas where Hispanic demographics are overtaking once black neighborhoods and you'll see what I'm talking about.

As far as blacks go, it's an unpleasant thing to look at but there will always be a significant percentage of black anti-Semitism, especially, oddly enough, in the university educated classes. There are several reason for this, but I think the basic one has to do with envy, the appeal of Left leaning politics, the so-called black liberation theology (and in some cases, Islam), and black resentment over the prominent role played by American Jews in forming, financing and promulgating the civil rights movement.

It's a old joke that no good deed goes unpunished, but there is nothing that garners resentment in some people quite like the feeling that your accomplishments and ambitions were only realized with the help of someone else.

What Hispanic anti-Semitism there is primarily comes from the association with certain elements within the Catholic church, and is not nearly so pervasive except among those Latinos that already lean to the far Left.

He also makes the charming assumption that as Hispanics - a very diverse group whom he again lumps together - assimilate more into the American mainstream, have jobs, investments and businesses and observe what the Democrat's policies are doing to taxes, crime, consumer prices and their kid's educations that they will be stupid enough to continue to pull the lever for the Donkeys. Some obviously will, but many won't. And only as small percentage are likely to be making that decision based on something like Israel.

However, while Zogby's numbers and conclusions are always questionable, let's be quite honest. Jew hatred and Israel bashing has had a mainstream home in the Democrat party since the days of Jimmy Carter and George McGovern, the only two Democratic presidential candidates my reliably FDR worshiping Democrats-for-life parents refused to vote for...they simply didn't cast a vote for president in those elections.

As the party has migrated left, the Israel bashing and Jew hatred has increased, to the point where Barack Hussein Obama is simply a culmination of a long standing trend, even though there are still many Democrats in the rank and file who don't share these views but continue to finesse the obvious when it comes to the party's leadership.We are, after all, talking about a party largely owned these days by George Soros and his minions.

America's Jews will simply have to make a choice what they care about more, Israel and their own self-respect or the Democrat's Leftist agenda. Or to put it another way...would they rather be despised by the Left for being Jews and 'Zionists' or despise themselves for refusing to hold the political party the majority of Jews have their allegiance to to account for not supporting an issue that most American Jews still claim to care passionately about, America's alliance with Israel?

Time will tell.

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