In the first presidential debate 9/26, Barack Hussein Obama called Israel a “stalwart ally.” Furthermore, he said he wouldn’t tolerate talk from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about destroying Israel--Ahmadinejad with his terrorist-supporting regime and public policy to destroy what he calls the “stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime.” Watching Obama in the debate, he was clearly well-prepped, had rehearsed his boilerplate statements well, and knew what to say to appease voters who support the existence of the state of Israel. But was he telling the truth? In discerning fact from fiction, it is useful to look at the friends, political advisors, foreign policy supporters, and other influential people in Obama’s life that are outspoken in promoting the complete and absolute decimation of Israel. Growing up with an Islamic father and step father is not the only influence predisposing Obama to side with Muslim states against Israel.

      It is reasonable to assume political candidates choose advisors that share their beliefs. One of Obama’s no nukes advisors is Joseph Cirincione who reveals his anti-Israel bias by blaming Israel for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and absolving Ahmadinejad’s intent to vanquish Israel. Obama’s senior foreign policy advisor and co-chairman of his campaign committee, General Merrill Tony McPeak says that Israel, along with NewYork and Miami Jews, control US foreign policy in the Middle East and have thereby inflamed Islamic public opinion against us. One of Obama’s foreign policy advisors, Robert Malley, had to resign due to meeting with the terrorist group Hamas which has repeatedly called for attacks against the US, taken credit for rocket and other attacks on Israel, and whose official charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Hamas Political Advisor, Ahmed Yousef, stated 4/08 his group supports Obama’s foreign policy ideas. Yousef chalked it up to political posturing, Obama’s statements of Hamas being a “terrorist organization.” Yousef stated, “Everybody tries to sound like he’s a friend of the Israeli…[We] accept that Obama will say whatever he has to get elected.”

      Rashid Khaladi, cofounder of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) is a harsh critic of Israel and the US who supports Palestinian terror and worked for the PLO while involved in anti-Western terrorism. This man held a political fundraiser for Obama in his home in Obama’s 2000 Congress bid. LA times described Obama as a “friend and frequent dinner companion” of this outspoken, anti-Israel advocate of a Palestinian state. Journalist Ali Abunimah, founder of journalistic website Electronic Intifada and vice president of the AAAN, wrote that in 2004 Obama greeted him with “Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.” Abunimah said regarding Obama’s statements supporting Israel: “He is merely doing what he thinks is necessary to get elected and he will continue doing it as long as it keeps him in power.”

      While Obama’s rhetoric about race is conciliatory, his true feelings are revealed by his choice of Trinity Church over the many other Christian churches in Chicago. Reverend Jeremiah’s church was and is an undeniably radical one based on black liberation theology, a theology filled with hatred for whites, the USA, and Israel and a belief in the moral superiority of black victims over white imperialist oppressors. Based on statements Obama makes about himself, it is undeniable he chose this church specifically because of teaching that matched who he is and his own radical political ideology. In his autobiography, Obama tells us that when reading about the black radical civil rights figures of the 1960s, he found his greatest affinity with Malcom X, not Martin Luther King Jr. Obama saying he was not aware of Wright’s penchant for anti-USA, anti-white, anti Israel sentiment is not tenable since statements from his sermons derived directly from key tenets of black theology that his church is based upon. In the June 10, 2007 edition of the Trinity Church bulletin, Professor Robert Franklin who applauded Obama for choosing this church also wrote an open letter accusing the State of Israel of creating a special ethnic bomb that kills blacks and Arabs while leaving whites unharmed. Obama did not completely disown Reverend Wright until Wright suggested that Obama’s distancing himself from his sermons was political posturing. Regarding Obama’s being offended by his comments Wright said, “If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability.”

      Obama has a history with Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, an organization of Black Muslims. Obama participated in Farrakhan’s Million Man March in 1995. Farrakhan has been openly anti-Semitic, calling Jewish landlords “blood suckers,” and making brash statements such as, “The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man.” Farrakhan warned Jews, “You can’t say ‘Never again” to God because when he puts you in the ovens, you’re there forever.” Reverend Jeremiah Wright continues to openly champion Farrakhan, and so has Obama in the past. Other ties to the Nation of Islam include Tony Rezko, the indicted government subsidized slum lord and political peddler who was a personal friend who bankrolled Obama in five election runs. Rezko is Syrian and has ties to the son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad, and Rezko received loans from Iraqi billionaires.

      It is said that anyone anti-Israel would have a tough time winning the general election for the US presidency. Obama’s friends (Wright, Abuminah) and other supporters (Yousef) are on record stating Obama will say what he needs to say in order to get elected. The dramatic insincerity of Obama’s statements expressing his commitment to our ally Israel’s survival should be clear from who he has been friends with (Wright, Farrakhan, Rezko, Abuminah, Khaladi), radical groups that support him (Hammas, plus multimillions of dollars poured into Obamah’s campaign from Arab nations) and the top advisors he surrounds himself with (McPeak, Malley, Cirincione). Obama has shifted to support Israel as a matter of political advantage, and this type of shifting to suit his agenda has been the mark of his campaign. Obama a man of integrity? Not by a long shot. He feigns the appearance of integrity because he needs that in order to get elected.

Annie Bukacek MD