Soccer Dad

Divesting thomas

Bradley Burston, a reporter for Ha'aretz who recently went on a speaking *tour* in the United States for the anti-Israel group, J-Street recently wrote:

This time the guest was The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. And not the coolly analytical pundit you're used to. This time he was talking directly to Israelis, and directly to their prime minister. There was an urgency and a passion in his voice, in his gestures, his eyes, that suggested why this was different.

This time it was personal.

"You are losing the American people," Friedman warned. "Not to dislike, not to opposition - they are fed up, fed up with the Palestinians, believe me, fed up with the Mideast in general.

"But they're also fed up with Israel. When they see their president working hard to try to tee up an opportunity. All we're asking is just test - go all the way to test whether you have a real partner.

"And you say 'No, first pay me - let Pollard out of jail, have Abu Mazen sing Hatikva in perfect Yiddish, and then we'll think about testing.' It rubs a lot of people the wrong way."

"Coolly analytical?" Clearly Burston's not used to reading Friedman's overwrought columns. People are divesting from Israel emotionally. I believe that may be the case among Friedman's friends and Burston's friends, but really is this really the case with the United States?

The most recent Gallup poll (from February) saw that highest rate of support among Americans for Israel in quite a while.

The 63% sympathizing with Israel today is statistically unchanged from the 58% to 59% seen from 2006 to 2009; however, it is considerably higher than most of the previous readings on this Gallup measure since 1993. The trend includes two 38% readings in 1996 and 1997.

Only in January 1991 -- shortly after Israel was hit by Iraqi Scud missiles during the Gulf War -- did U.S. support for Israel register as high as it does today.

Or consider that in the recent elections, more than half of the candidates that J-Street endorsed lost their bids.

All three J Street-endorsed Senate candidates lost. That's important for at least two reasons. First, it undercuts their whine that they got swept out by the Republican tide. If anything the GOP underperformed in Senate races. More broadly, it turns out that successful J Street candidates usually have to be politicians who were already safely ensconced in homogeneous liberal districts. Take candidates out of their small gerrymandered district - force them to appeal either to a statewide audience or a diverse audience or both - and J Street's vaunted support and money don't seem to count for very much.

In the House J Street candidates had 24 competitive races, if you take the Cook Political Report's combined Lean D, Toss Up, or Lean R categories. 11 of those candidates have already lost their races, while another 3 - Grijalva, Connolly, and Maffei - are still too close to call. As of right now a grand total of 10 J Street House candidates who had actual races have managed to clinch them.

And of those 10 candidates - and this is the crucial part - fully 9 came from districts where Democrats already enjoyed huge structural advantages.

In competetive races, J-Street's endorsement did nothing. Some candidates, like Joe Sestak ran away from the endorsement. In other words being anti-Israel or as Burston and Friedman are bored with Israel, is not a winning political issue in the United States. As noted previously today, Friedman is paid not to be right but to make reckless assertions in a most entertaining fashion. His idea that Americans are divesting from Israel emotionally, is as mistaken as his assertion that you can't defeat terrorists.

Burston quotes Friedman:

"Israel doesn't have to worry about me," Friedman had stressed early in the interview. "At the end of the day, Israel will have my support - it had me at hello."

No it doesn't. Thomas you do not support Israel.

A supporter of Israel would not continually make up stories damaging to Israel's interests.

UPDATE: Thanks to CK Tan for pointing out the missing word "tour."