Usually you see a headline like that and you think it's going to be about some wild conspiracy theory about Jews. But in this case I write about a conspiracy theory among Jews.
This is the belief, which I've read online but more often heard in conversations, that Obama wants to destroy Israel.
I have no problem if you argue that a nuclear arms deal with Iran is bad for Israel. You can talk about how it would be unverifiable, affect the balance of power in the Midlle East, or strengthen Iran-affiliated terrorist groups. These positions, many of which I don't agree with, are still within the bounds of what I would call reasonable.
But to claim Obama has a secret agenda to harm Israel... well, it smacks of the same craziness of the Birthers and other right wingers. There's a racist undercurrent--the secretive black man hiding his true evil desires.
But nothing Obama has done is inconsistent with US policy toward Israel over the last sixty years. It has had its rough spots. The U.S. has never been unequivocally supportive of everything Israel does.
This is an opinion piece from the Jewish Press, whose Web site says it is "largest independent weekly Jewish newspaper in the United States" with a "centrist or Modern Orthodox perspective."
Obama Declares War on Israel
Obama has turned Israel in general, and Netanyahu in particular, into the main threat to world peace and stability.
Terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hizbullah, Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad are also expressing satisfaction with what they see as Obama’s “declaration of war” against Israel. Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank are also celebrating over the fact that Israel has become the number one enemy of the Obama Administration.
I'm not even sure how to respond to these claims because they are so preposterous. There's not a scrap of evidence presented to back them up.
This is from the Times of Israel, a right-wing newspaper out of Jerusalem affiliated with social conservative David Horowitz. The writer sees equates Obama's sympathy for African Americans with support for Palestinians:
Add to this social vision the experience of a consummate outsider – half-white and half-black, with a childhood and a family scattered around the world – and one begins to see the profile of a man with an automatic empathy for the marginalized...
After taking the helm of the world’s preeminent superpower in January 2009, this social organizer set about constructing a foreign policy that translated this consciousness into geopolitical action.
The majority of the comments in response to this piece are perfectly reasonable, but you also come across ones like these:
He attended Muslim school and Catholic school. I can't think of a headier combination of Jew hate.
It's Obama's personal hatred to the Jewish people and anything good for Israel and the Jewish people that shaped America foreign policy particularly toward Israel.
The majority of Jews are Democrats. A progressive streak runs strong in the religion. But in recent years, this other stream of thought has arisen. It needs to be roundly condemned. It should stop.