What does the US midterm election result spell for Israel? Here’s a brief roundup from the Israeli media:
Ynet calls the Democratic gains “expected” and claims this is good news for Israel:
As to Israel, those who watched the Democratic victory broadcast from Washington, could not mistake the significance of those leading the celebrations; they included the man who led the party campaign in Congress, Rahm Emanuel (formerly Clinton’s close aide,) who boasts a plainly Hebrew name and spent some time in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, as well as New York Senator Chuck Schumer, also a Jew whose commitment to Israel is beyond any doubt.
In the next Senate, Jews will again comprise one fifth of the Democratic faction, including Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, whose attachment to Zionism is known to all. The Democratic party was always the political home of most American Jews, and it is no wonder its leaders and candidates were quick to disassociate themselves from former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, while demonstrating as much as possible that their commitment to Israel was and will remain a solid bipartisan position in both houses of Congress.
And on from the other side of the political spectrum, Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick spells out her pessimistic view of a what a Democratic victory would spell:
It is only by ignoring the reality of the war that it is possible for people to pretend that Israel is the cause of Islamic fascism, or that American Jews and Jewish neoconservatives are the source of the world’s misfortunes.
[ . . . ]
A Republican victory will provide an opportunity for a debate over how the war is being run to take place. A Democratic victory will guarantee that such a debate is squelched in favor of finger-pointing against Jews and Israel, and the US itself, for having the nerve to note the dangers and insist upon defending against them.
So which is it? Good for Israel? Bad for Israel? At this point, who knows? A lot will depend on what happens in 2008, who the respective parties nominate, and what shape the debate will take.
Well since before Reagan, every new US president is labeled, ‘freindliest to Israel’. It doesn’t really matter who is in power, things happen that are beyond the politicians control anyway. That’s why all the talk about CFR and Freemason conspiracies doesn’t bother me. Besides that all sides are members of these organizations, ‘life’ simply outdoes them everytime.
Look at the Ford Foundation; they wanted to force the gay festival onto Jerusalem, but they didn’t count on Haredim stirring up a ruckus or some errant 155mm artillery shells to rain on that parade.