Another wow. While nearly 80% of Jews voted for Obama, (and we’re the biggest single religious group opposed to the war with Iraq), there are some Jewish Republicans.  The Republican Jewish Coalition, acting like thought-police, want to know why Obama would ever want to meet with a former sitting president to talk about the Middle East. Especially, gd  forbid, one who actually forged a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. (Some way to show the love Jimmy!)

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) today called on the Obama administration to disclose the role of former President Jimmy Carter in advising the administration on critical foreign policy issues.

RJC Executive Director Matthew Brooks said, “In an in-depth article in the April 6, 2009 issue of The New Yorker, investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh states that Carter has met with President Obama to discuss foreign policy, and that the administration was aware of Carter’s trip to Syria in December 2008. Carter is calling for broader U.S.-Syrian relations.

“Former President Carter has never been perceived as a friend of Israel,” Brooks continued. “In the years since his presidency, Carter has been openly hostile to Israel and has shown a naïve grasp of the realities in the Middle East.

Brooks, who doesn’t hesitate to make a demand on behalf of the entire “Jewish community”, goes on to say:

“We call on President Obama to disclose the role that Jimmy Carter has in his administration as an advisor on Middle East policy. Carter believes that pressuring Israel will result in peace between Israel and those still openly dedicated to her destruction. If this is the kind of advice that President Obama is turning to, that is indeed of great concern to us, to the Jewish community, and to the vast majority of Americans who support our ally Israel.”

Has Brooks actually read the Arab peace plan and their offer to give Israel full, normalized relations in exchange for a return to ‘67 borders and the sharing of Jerusalem? Seriously. The plan has been on the table since 2002, and Israel and groups like the RJC have been ignoring it just as long. Even the political realists of Hamas have said they’d consider a long term hudna (truce) with Israel. To be fair, on the other side, Netanyahu has not vowed to destroy the Palestinian state, because there isn’t one. And he wants to keep it that way.

Check out Seymour Hersh’s article in The New Yorker that started the fuss.

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