[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: It should come as no surprise that Marc Stanley -
no doubt after investing his own reputation and professional future in
Barack Obama - is compelled to blindly accept and support any and every
policy move by his hero (and possibly meal ticket). But that's hardly a
compelling reason that other Americans should simply shut up and sit back

Stanley confuses communications between representatives of the Jewish State
and President Obama in which the Americans relay Obama's marching orders
and profoundly refuse to seriously address Israeli concerns and arguments
for "talking".]

The chutzpah of Obama's Jewish critics
MARC R. STANLEY , THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 3, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249275681230&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

US President Barack Obama and his administration are making an unprecedented
effort to reach out to the Jewish community. The president has made moving
the Middle East toward peace a priority and has spoken of the "unbreakable"
bond we share with Israel. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Iran's
pursuit of nuclear weapons "futile," and last week Obama had some of his
most senior foreign policy figures meet with top Israeli officials - in
Israel. Yet, there are still those who leap at any chance to attack the
president, including in an op-ed in last week's The New York Times, "Why
Won't Obama Talk to Israel?" by Aluf Benn.

First, it is important to bring perspective to the vocal group of
individuals in our community who remain unhappy with our president. Despite
this group's extraordinary efforts to smear Obama in the Jewish community
during last year's campaign, the president received 78% of the Jewish vote.
The media has much experience overhyping the man-bites-dog
Obama-has-a-Jewish-problem story, but at some point Obama's actual record
ought to beat out salacious copy.

THE SMALL anti-Obama wing of the Jewish community has long found refuge in
Web sites like American Thinker, where their fictional understanding of the
presidency is confirmed (a representative title: "Obama's hostility to
Israel is clear"). But there are some times when elements of their argument
spill into more respectable platforms such as The New York Times and The
Washington Post.

One can't get past the title of Benn's op-ed in the NYTimes without being
struck by the question he poses: "Why won't Obama talk to Israel?" Benn
asserts that "neither the president nor any senior administration official
has given a speech or an interview aimed at an Israeli audience." He then
dramatically writes, "The Arabs got the Cairo speech; we [Israel] got
silence."

Beyond the notion that Obama happened to be standing in front of an Arab
audience, it is hard to understand how Benn misses the fact that Obama was
not only speaking to the people in the room. In this digital world with the
power of the Internet and a 24/7 news cycle, the president was addressing
all of us - including Israel. This was especially true when the president
spoke clearly and powerfully about America's unbreakable bond with Israel in
front of that Arab audience. The message to Israelis was clear: You do your
part for peace and I'll pressure the Arab states to do the same. Meaning,
Obama is not going to rely on the political playbook of platitudes when
dealing with Israel and her neighbors.

If Benn did not hear that Obama aimed elements of his Cairo speech at
Israelis, he was not listening.

What may speak louder than Obama's words are his actions. As the ink of
Benn's op-ed was drying, the president sent Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates, National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones and Middle East Special
Envoy George Mitchell to talk with their Israeli counterparts. They spoke
about issues ranging from US policy against Iranian nuclear proliferation to
the continuing strategic partnership between our governments. We now see
numerous media reports reflecting the reality that this administration will
couple any settlement deal with sharp pressure on the Arab world to
normalize relations with the Jewish state.

NO ONE can credibly claim Obama and his administration are not talking to
Israel. The reality is the administration is not only talking with Israelis,
it is intensely collaborating and communicating with it- in person. In fact,
Obama spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu face-to-face about
settlement growth. This administration is talking with Israel about the wide
range of policies on which we agree - and those precious few areas on which
we disagree.

Benn went on to attack some of Obama's most senior advisers, who also happen
to be Jewish. "[T]he president has fallen under the influence of top aides -
in this case Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod - whom the prime minister has
called 'self-hating Jews,'" he wrote. That may be a compelling anecdote,
especially since the daily Haaretz, for which Benn is the editor at large,
broke that story. The only problem is that it isn't true. Netanyahu's
spokesman denied those remarks and said, "The prime minister never spoke
those words."

I understand that we in the Jewish community can be a bit paranoid at times,
but to say that this administration does not support and communicate with
one of our closest allies is to disregard reality. Obama, his pro-Israel
policies and the president's pro-Israel advisers continue to receive strong
support in the Jewish community. This administration has made an
unprecedented effort to engage this community and has placed Middle East
peace high on the agenda.

The long-term security of Israel will only be fully ensured if peace is
achieved. Obama has made clear that the road is difficult, but the president
is working hard to make that day come. However, there will still be those
with the undying chutzpah to attack the president for not being sufficiently
supportive of Israel. I urge them to actually listen to what the president
is saying and watch what he is doing - they might be surprised.

The writer is chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council.