Is Barack Obama now a card-carrying member of the so-called Pro-Israel Lobby?

About the only thing Barack Obama did not do on Wednesday in Israel is convert to Judaism. Other than that, he made a string of commitments to Israel that effectively make him a card-carrying member of the so-called Pro-Israel Lobby. As a Bloomberg article by Julianna Goldman and Jonathan Ferziger entitled "Obama Says a Nuclear-Armed Iran Poses Grave Threat" tells us:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said that as president he would protect Israel's security and would "take no options off the table" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat," Obama told reporters today in Sderot, Israel. "The world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Obama's Middle East tour is part of an effort to bolster his support among Jewish voters uneasy about his talk of taking a more diplomatic approach to U.S. dealings with adversaries, including Iran, whose leaders have repeatedly threatened Israel and questioned its right to exist.

Obama said today he would bring "big sticks and big carrots" to negotiations to persuade the Iranians to end their nuclear ambitions. "A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation not just in the Mideast but around the world," he said.

Obama also said he won't pressure Israel to accept concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians that put the nation's security at risk.

... Obama is using his visit to Israel to reassure Israel's leaders and Jewish voters in the U.S. that his policies aren't unduly pro-Palestinian.

... Obama, as well as expressing his commitment to Israel's security, has rejected the Palestinians' demand for the right of those who left Israel to return. He has said the U.S. shouldn't negotiate with Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian group that the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, unless it recognizes Israel's right to exist. Obama also backs a plan that has angered Palestinians to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, though he says the matter should be part of negotiations with the Palestinians.

Truly breathtaking. Barack is completely toeing the Pro-Israel Lobby's "party line" by "expressing his commitment to Israel's security." He is now as committed and obligated to Israel as Hillary ever was or as Bush and Cheney and the rest of the Neo-conservatives are today.

It is of course complete nonsense to suggest that a "nuclear Iran" would be... "a game-changing situation ... around the world." Complete rubbish, but 100% the "party line" for the so-called Pro-Israel Lobby. Even the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran to Israel is overrated (if only because Israel itself is already nuclear-armed.)

And this idea of committing the U.S. to "protect Israel's security" and to "take no options off the table" to prevent Iran from legally obtaining a nuclear weapon are going way too far. Israel offers far too little in return to the U.S. to warrant such an outrageously one-sided U.S. "commitment." Our commitment to Israel should be the same as to any other country in the region, to pursue and achieve peace and peaceful and productive relations among all countries, without any pre-established bias.

There is of course one remaining hope... that Barack has lied to us about his core politics and is simply telling the Israelis and the other members of the so-called Pro-Israel Lobby exactly what they want to hear and has no intention of 100% backing up his so-called "commitment." Let us all hope and pray that he was lying and is in fact a garden-variety politician ever-eager to tell each audience exactly what it wants to hear.

I wonder what "The Progressives" will have to say about Barack's... "performance"... in Israel today.

-- Jack Krupansky