Huckabee's Critics
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has warned that the Obama/Kerry deal with Iran could lead to an Iranian-lead nuclear Holocaust against Israel that would, "take the Israelis and basically march them to the door of the oven."
Hillary Clinton, who has endorsed the Iranian deal, has denounced Mr. Huckabee, saying Huckabee’s comments are “personally offensive”. President Obama is likewise offended, as is Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida who is the go-to Jewish member of Congress Mr. Obama uses when he wishes to bar Mr. Netanyahu from speaking or when he needs “Jewish” support for policies and actions that appear harmful to Israel.
Mrs. Clinton seems more offended by a few words than by the actual rockets that Iran has aimed at Israel. Instead of wasting our time on this side issue of phraseology, she should be working to stop this catastrophe. Instead of denouncing her opponent’s choice of words, she should be decrying an arrangement that gives Iran $150 billion, allows it to spin nuclear centrifuges, has no worthy verification system to stop Iranian nukes, and, worse, has the U.S. pledging to teach and help Iran defend itself from any necessary attack Israel might make to defend herself from Iran. A true friend of Israel should, would, be opposed to any such deal.
The Obama deal says we, the U.S., will teach Iran the fine points of nuclear science and its implementation. That is most definitely something that should concern us regarding a potential Holocaust, especially since Iran has declared its Number One Goal to be the destruction, the incineration, of Israel’s Jews. Someone, a real friend, concerned with a future Holocaust would be alarmed about that, not remain silent and pipe up only when words are used that "offend" her and President Obama.
In fact, the best way to avert a planned Holocaust is by evoking the language of Holocaust. What is so hard to understand about that? The best way for Paul Revere to announce the British are coming was by warning: “The British Are Coming”. Iran has declared its intentions to wage a Holocaust against Israel. This is “Holocaust” language. They and other Muslim radicals speak of "ovens”. Too many on Obama’s team seem more concerned about the feelings of Obama and Clinton, supporters of the Iran deal, than the actual threat posed to Israel and her population, including Israel’s children who’ll bear the brunt of the incineration. The Clinton and Schultz horror should be directed not at Mr. Huckabee, who truly loves Israel and her people, but at Iran and this dangerously concocted deal.
Let me publicly state: Of the three, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Huckabee, the one I bet on for supporting Israel is Mr. Huckabee. He has always been there for Israel and the Jewish people, while the other two have not.
Meanwhile, Ms. Wasserman Schultz has demanded an apology from Mr. Huckabee, doing so in the name of the Jewish people. Well, Mr. Huckabee, you owe this rabbi no apology. I am grateful that you have focused and brought the inherent danger and disaster of this capitulation to the ears of the American people… and the world. It is Debbie Wasserman Schultz who owes the Jewish community an apology for defending anti-Israel Obama polices that are indefensible. It is Wasserman Schultz who warned Prime Minister Netanyahu not to say anything negative about Mr. Obama’s policies that might hurt Democrats in the 2014 election. It is she who prefers that we Jews be kept in the dark rather than know the truth. She doesn't want us to make informed decisions and thereby push back. She didn’t then in 2012 or 2014 and she doesn't now in 2015, with this Iran betrayal.
Wasserman Schultz's party loyalty appears to override everything else, including Jewish survival and American survival. She attempted to publicly humiliate Mr. Netanyahu when he came to America to speak, labeling his speech a re-election gimmick, disregarding his need to defend and plead for his people. It is she who owes the Jewish community an apology for consenting to be the attack dog against those who love Israel and the Jewish people, while defending harmful policies if coming from liberals and Democrats. The Talmud says: “Do not use faith as a shovel in service to your own personal ambitions”. Wasserman Schultz invokes “Jewishness” to thwart and nullify our attempts at protecting Israel, and Jews, if it stands in the way of her political ambitions.
Unfortunately, there are a few establishment Jewish organizations that can always be counted on to assail great friends of the Jewish people and Israel. Why? Because they have become arms of the Democrat Party. They long ago traded in concern for Jewish survival for the liberal and Democrat agenda and then have the chutzpah to redefine “Jewishness” as liberalism or Obamaism. By now, most of us simply ignore their predictable, partisan statements.
Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Wasserman Schultz, and Mr. Obama: if you truly cared about anti-Semitism, you’d be out there denouncing Mr. Kerry for dredging up those tired old canards used by anti-Semites that Jews control Congress and Israel is at fault for harming U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Kerry in recent testimony warned: “Israel will be blamed if the deal doesn’t go through Congress”. Team Obama is whispering some talking points about “Jewish donors”, Congress under Jewish and AIPAC control… hinting about dual loyalty.
It’s not Mr. Huckabee’s heartfelt emotion regarding a potential Holocaust that bears watching. On the contrary, his words of warning are an expression of love and concern. No, it is those who stand by or participate in smear campaigns, using the oldest, anti-Jewish stereotypes and accusations that are indifferent and worrisome to the Jewish people.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero is author of Push Back as well as Why Israel Matters to You , and is president of Caucus for America.