John Hagee and the Israel lobb(ies)

How about an accountability moment for the alleged “Jewish leaders” who made nice to John Hagee?

Now that John McCain has decided that John Hagee, who believes that Hitler was doing God’s work when he killed all those Jews, is too hot to handle, can we hope for a little bit of repentance, or at least shame, from the “Jewish leaders” who have allied themselves with Hagee and his Christians United for Israel? AIPAC (which invited Hagee to address its national convention last year), Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, Joel Meyers of the Conservative rabbinical assembly, and the rest had no problem tolerating Hagee’s anti-Catholicism, lunatic Armageddon fantasies, support for the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and use of classically anti-Semitic language and conspiracy theories because CUFI “supports Israel” (i.e., gets off on the idea of killing Arabs). It would be too much to expect them to change their minds. Remember, the same crew had no problem with Nixon’s anti-Semitism either, because he, too, “supported Israel.”

But they might at least catch some flak from the Jewish majority that still remembers “If I am only for myself, what am I?”

Time to join J Street, and send them some money.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com