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| Today Show co-anchor, Savannah Guthrie |
This morning I was ‘treated’ to what can only be called the most ignorant perspective about Israel by the mainstream media to date. Ignorant but not at all surprising by a media that is dominated by a liberal culture that almost by definition is ignorant. A culture that rarely sees anything but the here and now. Without the slightest regard for the how and why. A culture that is in love with entertainment figures that make the mainstream media look conservative by comparison.
Both CBS and NBC had their ‘happy talk’ hosts (posing as serious journalists for a moment) interviewing Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Israel’s attack against Hezbollah. Their questions and biases were identical. Which included an attitude that seemed to indicate dismay at why the Biden administration hasn’t used its leverage with Israel to have prevented this attack. And additionally why it hasn’t done so to force a cease fire in Gaza. That was followed by accusing Israel of blocking humanitarian aid in Gaza and then questions about whether the US approved of Israel’s current strategy in Lebanon.
To Blinken’s credit, he didn’t take the bait. While he said the US would prefer to use diplomacy rather than war as the means to achieve Israel’s legitimate goal of returning the 70,000 Israeli evacuees to their homes in Northern Israel, he added that Israel had every right to take action to get that done. His only caveat was that he would prefer that diplomacy be used to achieve that goal. He added that the US would never deny Israel the means to defend themselves against the enemies surrounding them dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Those ‘happy talk’ hosts seemed disappointed that the US would not consider withholding weapons as leverage.
It was also quite obvious that those hosts blame Netanyahu for this. And, again, it is to Blinken’s credit that he did not do that. Didn’t even hint at it.
This is not to say that those hosts are antisemitic. They are not. They are just stupid based on the typical ignorance of perspective of people that have knee-jerk reactions to the here and now . Thankfully our current Secretary of State is not ignorant of that.
One can quibble about whether diplomacy would be better at getting the job accomplished or not. (I would argue that the Biden administration has had a whole year to try diplomacy to get Hezbollah to stop firing rockets and missiles into Israel. Why haven’t they?) But at least they understand Israel’s right – indeed obligation to restore those over 70,000 Israeli evacuees to their homes. It’s been almost a year!
And then there is the election. The idea of either a Trump or Harris presidency is almost as depressing as how the mainstream media sees Israel right now. If not for Israel, my decision would be easy. Even though I like Trump’s conservative policies much better than Harris’s - Harris is not as radical as one might have expected based on her progressive past. In some instances her policies mimic Trump’s policies. Based on that and the fact that I consider her temperament much better suited for the job, I would vote for her.
However, her position on Israel is not clear and there are indications that she would be a lot tougher on Israel than her current boss, the president. This is not to say she would abandon Israel or intimidate her with threats of withholding weapons vital for its defense. She has very clearly and forcefully asserted multiple times that she would not do that. But the idea that she will put pressure on Israel at all to do her bidding regardless of who the prime minster is - is not something Israel needs right now.
Then there is the ‘little’ matter of Iran. There is a reason that they have been discovered to be planning to assassinate Trump. They are afraid of him. They know he will reinstate all the sanctions that brought them near financial ruin until many of them were removed by the Biden administration. Harris will surely continue the appeasement policies of her current boss. A policy that surely contributed to October 7th via enabling Iran to fund Hamas and other mortal enemies of Israel. Enemies designated as terrorists by the US.
That Trump still has a decent chance of winning the election despite his obvious over-the-top flaws is due to one issue. And it isn’t Israel or Iran. In case one can’t figure it out, let me state it plainly the way a former president did when he was running for that office: lt’s the economy, stupid!
That - and the border crisis which – according to the polls taken of all voters - gives Trump the edge over Harris. By a huge margin. Even though there is a statistical tie nationally between voters – if people vote their pocket book in the privacy of the voting booth, Trump wins by a landslide.
What about us? How will Jews vote in the next election? It’s been pretty well established that the vast majority of American Jewry will be voting heavily for Harris. Which is mostly Jews who are, sadly, so detached from their Judaism that over 70% of them are marrying non Jews. That indicates that their sense Jewish identity is not what motivates their choices. In those cases where it does - their belief that Tikun Olam (which hey define as social justice) is the sum and substance of their understanding of Judaism. Social justice is the essential quality of liberalism which is why they favor a liberal Democrat like Harris even if Trump wasn’t her opponent! (That kind of lends credence to Trump’s charge that in a tight election his loss can be blamed on the over 70% of all Jews that will be voting for Harris. But I digress.)
The more liberal one is, the more one will support Harris. And the reverse is also true, the more conservative (politically) one is the more they will support Trump. That includes Jews across the entire spectrum of Orthodoxy. A fact that was demonstrated in a recent poll taken by Mark Trencher who came up with the following statistics (which I received in an email.):
MODERN ORTHODOX ARE CURRENTLY 55% / 45% FOR HARRIS; HAREDI JEWS ARE 93% / 7% FOR TRUMP; WITH NOTABLE DIFFERENCES BY AGE, GENDER, AND EDUCATION. THERE IS A CONTINUED SHIFT TOWARD TRUMP, FROM 73% OF TOTAL ORTHODOX ONE YEAR AGO, TO CURRENT 77%.
The only explanation for this is how their vote will impact the welfare of Israel. It appears that 77% of the entire spectrum of Orthodox Jews will be voting for the man they see benefitting Israel the most.
If what’s best for Israel is the only issue that matters, than I can’t say that I blame them. But it isn’t. The baggage Trump would bring along with a victory is unacceptable. Which still leave me in purgatory.
And that, along with how Israel is being treated by the mainstream media is why I feel so depressed.