Obama Forms New Group Of Anti-Israel Advisers

President Obama has a new group of advisers on Israel and the Middle East, and they're even worse than the old ones,believe it or not.

Shortly after announcing his newfound support for the legalization of gay marriage yesterday, President Barack Obama walked into an off-the-record foreign policy meeting with nine editors and columnists to discuss Afghanistan, Israel, NATO and the forthcoming G8 Summit at Camp David, sources present at the meeting tell me.

The nine: The New Yorker's David Remnick and Jane Mayer, Time Magazine's Joe Klein, Newsweek's Peter Beinart, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, The New York Times's Carla Robbins, The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib, The Los Angeles Times's Doyle McManus, and David Ignatius of the Washington Post.

While some of these writers -- most notably Ignatius, one of the most respected and influential columnists in Washington's foreign policy circles today -- are familiar faces at the White House, the group as a whole marks a notable shift away from the Tom Friedmans and the David Brooks toward younger voices and fresh perspectives.

The group is also notable for the inclusion of writers with radically different views on the Israel debate -- most notably Beinart, who has become a lightning rod among Jews for his hyper-dovish stance, and Goldberg, who despite falling left of center and supporting a two-state solution is significantly to the right of the rest of this crowd. (See one heated Beinart-Goldberg debate here.)

Sources would not discuss the specific details of the conversation, as it was off the record, but did indicate that Obama looked to the group to help improve messaging* on the aforementioned foreign policy matters in the run-up to the 2012 election.

UPDATE: White House National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor emails to clarify that last point:

“The President didn’t ask for messaging advice. He simply politely noted that before writing that we haven’t offered enough ‘specifics’ on a given issue, that we’d appreciate it if they called over and gave us the opportunity to provide more information.”

These, for the most part, aren't 'younger voices'. Klein and Ignatius are in their sixties, far older than Friedman and Brooks. These aren't diverse voices either. They're simply a bunch of extremely anti-Israel voices on the Left, with the possible exception of Goldberg, who is at best fairly antagonistic at times.

Ignatius may be well respected due to his tenure, but he has been wrong on the Middle East so consistently that he's actually valuable as a barometer to know what not to think. Merrick has written publicly that he's 'tired of Israel' and compared it to dictatorships like Egypt and Syria, and left wing activist Mayer is an outspoken ally of the 'Palestinians'. Klein is a far lefty who has been consistently anti-Israel and an Iran apologist, as is Carla Robbins. And Peter Beinart, who has compared Israel to the Jim Crow south and favors divestment from Israel and the curtailment of America's relationship with the Jewish State is so far out of the mainstream that he makes Jimmy Carter look pro-Israel.

None of these people represent the views of the majority of Americans towards Israel, or any significant section of the views of Israel people or its government. And despite the denials, it's obvious what President Obama wants from them. He wants advice on how to message his talking points to fool American Jews into voting for him in November, and he wants coordinate it with th emedia output of these people..which is exactly why many of them are here, because as people of Jewish background who are down for the agenda they can provide cover for any charges of Jew hatred leveled at this president or the administration.

If Obama is re-elected, he will do his best to end America's alliance with Israel. That coincides with the views of almost all the people named as his new BFF's on the Middle East, again with the possible exception of Goldberg.

For American Jews, the choice ought to be clear. If you care at all about Israel's survival, you can't vote for Barack Obama.

Even if you just can't manage to pull the lever or punch the chad for a pro-Israel Republican, at least have the decency to sit out this presidential election and avoid voting for President Obama and his obvious agenda. However little you think Israel matters to America( and you couldn't be more wrong) or to you personally, don't send Barack Obama back to the Oval Office. The refuge you save could come in handy some day, for others if not for you.