Jesse Jackson, who three and a half months ago expressed his desire to amputate Obama’s testicles, apparently believes that "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain influential, but will lose much of their prominence if and when Obama is elected, according to a story in the New York Post.
This is the characteristic position for Jackson to take, considering his past run-ins with the Jewish community. In 1984, Jackson referred to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" in an interview. Instead of apologizing and moving on, the reverend played the always-popular, "The Jews are conspiring against me" card, with predictably limited success. Jackson eventually relented and apologized in a speech at a New York City synagogue.
Jackson’s comments come at a time when politically conservative Jews are trying to portray Obama as bad for Israel and are even linking his views with those of — wait for it — Pat Buchanan and running attack ads featuring the slogan, "Concerned about Barack Obama? You should be."
However, there really isn’t any indication that Obama’s policies — at least since he began running for president — reflect what Jackson has implied. As Marty Peretz noted in an essay in The New Republic, Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, have both publically declared their continued support for Israel on numerous occasions. Peretz argues that Jackson’s comments about Obama and Israel are mostly just self-serving attempts to remain relevant.
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