Steven Salaita, The Electronic Intifada, 15 December 2008
"Barack Obama's election victory has inspired a windfall of comment, most of it euphoric, with some grumbling from the political right and the small quarters of the left that remain unimpressed, so I am hesitant to contribute to the chatter. There is one element of Obama's victory, however, that has received less attention than it deserves, and that is his profound commitment to an extreme form of Zionism. I do not wish to spend this essay condemning Obama for that commitment; I have done so elsewhere, and others have offered eloquent condemnation already, though such a perspective hasn't yet managed to penetrate the liberal left.
As a note of clarity, I do not use the phrase "extreme form of Zionism" for rhetorical effect; I deploy it soberly and literally. Obama's statements during his campaign unambiguously situate him in a right-wing Zionist outlook both politically and philosophically. During his speech at the hawkish Israel lobby AIPAC's 2008 convention, for instance, Obama promised, "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything." Later, he remarked, "It was just a few years after the liberation of the camps that David Ben-Gurion declared the founding of the Jewish state of Israel. We know that the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and decades of patient work, but 60 years later we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security."
These comments are notable for their implicit ferocity. Obama not only expresses fealty to Israel's lobby, he also refuses to set any parameters for what he would consider acceptable Israeli behavior. "Everything," after all, is a remarkably broad obligation.
Rather than condemning Obama's Zionism, I would like to instead focus on the justifications and rationalizations for his decision, especially those that dismiss its moral consequences and instead emphasize what its purveyors claim to be its strategic inevitability. I have seen countless times on the Internet and have heard even more frequently some variation of the following argument: "Obama had to court the Israel lobby in order to be elected; it's part of presidential politics in the United States."......"
"Barack Obama's election victory has inspired a windfall of comment, most of it euphoric, with some grumbling from the political right and the small quarters of the left that remain unimpressed, so I am hesitant to contribute to the chatter. There is one element of Obama's victory, however, that has received less attention than it deserves, and that is his profound commitment to an extreme form of Zionism. I do not wish to spend this essay condemning Obama for that commitment; I have done so elsewhere, and others have offered eloquent condemnation already, though such a perspective hasn't yet managed to penetrate the liberal left.
As a note of clarity, I do not use the phrase "extreme form of Zionism" for rhetorical effect; I deploy it soberly and literally. Obama's statements during his campaign unambiguously situate him in a right-wing Zionist outlook both politically and philosophically. During his speech at the hawkish Israel lobby AIPAC's 2008 convention, for instance, Obama promised, "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything." Later, he remarked, "It was just a few years after the liberation of the camps that David Ben-Gurion declared the founding of the Jewish state of Israel. We know that the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and decades of patient work, but 60 years later we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security."
These comments are notable for their implicit ferocity. Obama not only expresses fealty to Israel's lobby, he also refuses to set any parameters for what he would consider acceptable Israeli behavior. "Everything," after all, is a remarkably broad obligation.
Rather than condemning Obama's Zionism, I would like to instead focus on the justifications and rationalizations for his decision, especially those that dismiss its moral consequences and instead emphasize what its purveyors claim to be its strategic inevitability. I have seen countless times on the Internet and have heard even more frequently some variation of the following argument: "Obama had to court the Israel lobby in order to be elected; it's part of presidential politics in the United States."......"
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