It’s time for Jewish Democrats to speak up on Hagel
But with this latest proof of Hagel’s hateful mindset about Israel and the fact that the nomination no longer seems quite so inevitable ought to cause the organized Jewish world to reassess their silence. This is especially true since some pro-Israel Democrats have used this failure of the Jewish groups to speak out as cover for their own decision to go along with the president’s poor choice.
There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that had a Republican president nominated a man to lead the Pentagon who had been quoted saying the things that Hagel has said and who had such a poor record on Israel and Iran, the Democratic donors to major Jewish groups would be screaming for the organizations to pull out the stops to prevent that person from taking office. But Hagel’s crack about the Israeli foreign ministry should convince even the most partisan liberal Democrats that they can’t give their party a pass on this issue.
If Jewish groups speak out now in the aftermath of the cloture vote the Hagel nomination will collapse. The president may not like it but the longer this goes on the less defensible his choice for the Pentagon has proved to be. The time is now for Jewish Democrats to end this farce and send Hagel back into retirement where he can say as many hateful things about Jews and Israel either on or off the record as he likes.
Blowback
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Most Jewish democrats seem to be against Israel, so they’re probably pro-Hagel.
RoadRunner on February 15, 2013 at 4:50 PM
The President doesn’t like Jews, so call it even.
portlandon on February 15, 2013 at 5:01 PM
Hahahaha. Funny. The Democrat plantation mentality holds everyone in line, just like blacks are beholden, Jewish Dems would never dare go against King Obama.
sauldalinsky on February 15, 2013 at 5:02 PM
Yeah. Still waiting for feminists to speak up about serial sex offender Billy Clinton.
John the Libertarian on February 15, 2013 at 5:04 PM
They will remain silent. Their religious affiliation is The Church Of Liberalism and unto that they are faithful.
sharrukin on February 15, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Might as well say, “Its time for Jewish Democrats to become conservative Republicans.”
Dongemaharu on February 15, 2013 at 5:10 PM
If the Jewish d’s wanted to do something they would not have voted for bho and his anti-American=anti-Israel views! But NO, gotta keep the d’s in the family now don’t we? No matter who/what it might harm?
L
letget on February 15, 2013 at 5:13 PM
Can we forget the Jewish thing. It’s time for at least one Democrat to speak out against Hagel because the man does not have the intellectual capacity to do the job and he has attitudes that cross the line to appeasement of any nation that would make itself an adversary.
xkaydet65 on February 15, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Hagel doesn’t either.
Schadenfreude on February 15, 2013 at 5:36 PM
As if more evidence was necessary to prove this point, the Left/Democrats, be they Jewish, Black, whatever else delineation they ascribe to, are first and foremost Leftwingers if not often, many of them Communists. THEN their identities are ascribed to whatever else they may find useful. But their primary focus and identity, and focus, is on their ‘leftwingism’.
I understand why we should all be extra sensitive about “the Jews” but it’s time to start addressing those among the permanent Left-Democrat operatives as Democrats. Who happen to have certain family relationships…
I’ve known, quite closely, many among those of Jewish ethnicity and they are primarily Democrat/Leftwing/Liberal/sociopolitically focused. Their “Jewishness” is that and it’s nearly always distantly related to, if at all, anything religious.
Lourdes on February 15, 2013 at 6:03 PM
From my point of view about Hagel — I agree with you there ^^ — Hagel’s incompetence intellectually is the problem combined with his obvious ethical compromises. He’s obviously receiving incentives (be they financial or political or both) from the Nation of Islam — whether it’s from Iran or the Bros, whatever — and he’s also obviously not being forthright about what interests are his promoters. Thus, he’s ethically compromised.
Not up to standards all the way around for the job he’s being nominated for.
Lourdes on February 15, 2013 at 6:07 PM
As Prager has been pointing out for years, most American Jews have no connection with Israel. No family, no friends, and no interest otherwise.
Israel might be the Jewish State, but that hardly means American Jews are interested in it.
CorporatePiggy on February 15, 2013 at 6:29 PM
Really? I think they already spoke when they overwhelmingly voted for Obama. Hagel is merely his Charlie McCarthy
arnold ziffel on February 15, 2013 at 6:49 PM
Many American Jews came here from pre-1917 Russia or post WWII Central Europe. They were heavily courted by their local far Left, but were firmly ensconced in America before the folks who were courting them came to power in Russia in 1917 and Central Europe after World War II.
America is rather hard to leave, especially in an era before cheap air travel. Even those who would want to go back couldn’t. They had their heads filled with the idealistic nonsense the Communists sell, without having to have lived with the consequences.
Sekhmet on February 15, 2013 at 7:04 PM