The most recent scurrilous attack against Barack Obama’s Israel credentials to come out of the right-wing smear machine is the accusation that one of Obama’s “key advisers,” Joe Cirincione, is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. This follows the pattern of previous attacks in that Cirincione is not, in fact, one of Obama’s key advisers, and is actually a supporter of Israel.

Spencer Ackerman has done an excellent job of rebutting this attack. Please see his blog for the details. And remember: don’t believe anything you read on the Internet, about Barack Obama or anything else, without doing your own research and drawing your own conclusions!

You may be told one of Obama’s “key nuclear advisers,” Joe Cirincione, is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.  First, Cirincione is not, in fact, one of Obama’s key advisers, and secondly, he is actually a supporter of Israel! His only crime was writing about the disputed Korean/Syrian Nuclear Reactor story.

Spencer Ackerman has done an excellent job of reporting on this story.

“Only here’s the funny thing: Not only is Cirincione not even remotely antisemitic/anti-Israel/anti-blahblahblah, he’s not Obama’s “top expert on matters nuclear.” If this buffoon had picked up the phone or even typed an email, he would have learned that. As it happens, Cirincione says in a letter he sent to Commentary’s editors:

I am not a top advisor to Senator Obama. I have never met the Senator. I have written occasional memos to his campaign and publicly endorsed his candidacy, but I am afraid there is no way I could be considered, as he claims, “Barack Obama’s top expert on matters nuclear.”

From The New York Jewish Week, April 2, 2008, by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, rabbi at Ohev Sholom, the national synagogue in Washington, DC:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama’s longtime pastor, says some things that really offend me. As a passionate Zionist I take offense at his cruel reference to an apartheid regime going on in Israel. As a patriotic American I shake in disgust at the “God Damn America” sermon he gave soon after the tragic events of 9/11. His ongoing association with Louis Farrakhan troubles me deeply, since Farrakhan is a bigot. Indeed, I once led a group of protesters into the office of Anthony Williams, former mayor of Washington, D.C., and begged him not stand with Farrakhan.

At the same time, I do not view Rev. Wright’s remarks as a reason not to vote for Barack Obama. I may or may not decide to vote for him, but not on the basis of his longtime pastor’s politics.

It appears that Obama and Wright share a deep, spiritual relationship. The clergy-congregant relationship is one built upon love. Having had many of those relationships, I can tell you first hand that it is definitely possible to love a religious leader even if you find some of his or her political ideas deeply offensive. (more…)