Yes. The urban legend that Barack Obama is anti-Israel is still circulating widely on Internet blogs, discussion boards and through forwarded emails.
Reputable sources of information have been directly debunking this legend since at least February 2008.
Periodically this urban legend circulates - emanating from right wing sources within the Jewish community and the fundamentalist right wing Christian community.
President Barack Obama in fact is staunchly pro-Israel. The prospects for peace in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors have improved since Obama took office.
George Bush was the president who oversaw an American foreign policy that tolerated a terrible violent intifada. Bush enthusiastically supported the election that led to the rise of Hamas.
We believe this Obama urban legend is part of a panoply of apocalyptic fantasies that finds an audience as the radical right wing loses its influence within the sphere of political power and discourse in this country.
The echoes of urban legends like this one will reverberate periodically until they ultimately fade from the scene because they lack credibility and have no factual basis.
Bottom line, if you get an email that tells you Barack Obama is anti-Israel, pay it no attention, just delete it.
The stereotypes never cease to amaze me. A decade or so ago, Ehud Barak - the highly decorated undercover commando for the IDF - was considered too much of a dove compared to Benjamin Netanyahu (the former vacume cleaner salesman - literally!), all because he was from the labor party.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the movie Munich in which Ehud Barak played a small part; in politics accomplishments and facts count for very little. Perception is everything.
It's not just a perception - that's our point. It's been elevated to the level of an urban legend. Big difference.
ReplyDelete