Another Obama Adviser Crossing the Line into Anti-Semitism

In a follow up to his March 26, 2008, article on former Air Force Chief of Staff, Merrill A. McPeak, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)'s military adviser and national campaign co-chairman, Aaron Klein reported March 28, that the day before, McPeak "sought to deflect calls for his resignation over comments he made during an interview in which he implied U.S. politicians are afraid of Jewish voters in Miami and New York City and that American Jews are the 'problem' impeding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and "compared the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations to what he described as religious radicals in Oregon and claimed 'born-again [Christians]' supported the war in Iraq to help Israel."
"In his response," Klein wrote, McPeak—the "latest Obama adviser to be highlighted for controversial views regarding Israel"—"referred to the wrong interview and largely did not address the comments that prompted calls for his ouster."

"This all stems from an article I wrote in the mid-70s, [and] I urge you to get the article," McPeak said in an interview with Shalom TV, which bills itself as a "mainstream Jewish cable television network."
"The Council on Foreign Relations has published it again on their Web site. I will happily buy you dinner anywhere if you can find those words in that article. This is baloney," McPeak said in a phone interview with the Jewish network.

"But," Klein wrote, "the comments which landed McPeak in hot water stems from a 2003 interview with the Oregonian newspaper."

Discussing Middle East politics in that interview, McPeak stated, "We don't have a playbook for the Middle East. You know, for instance, obviously, a part of that long-term strategy would be getting the Israelis and the Palestinians together at … something other than a peace process. Process is not a substitute for achievement or settlement. And even so, the process has gone off the tracks, but the process isn't enough."

The Oregonian interviewer asked McPeak whether the problem in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict originated with the White House or the State Department.

"So where's the problem?" the interviewer asked.

McPeak replied, "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote – vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."

McPeak went on to insist that to solve the conflict, Israelis must "stop settling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and maybe even withdraw some of the settlements that've already been put there. And nobody wants to take on that problem. It's just too tough politically."

McPeak did not point to Palestinian terrorism or the recent election of Hamas to power as problems impeding an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

As a follow-up question, the Oregonian interviewer asked McPeak whether "there's an element within Hamas, Hezbollah, that doesn't want Israel to exist at all and always will be there?"

McPeak responded by comparing the two terror groups to "radical" Oregonians.

"There's an element in Oregon, you know, that's always going to be radical in some pernicious way, and likely to clothe it in religious garments, so it makes it harder to attack. So there's craziness all over the place."

Matt Brooks, speaking on behalf of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a "lobbying group that advocates Jewish support for the Republican Party", demanded that Obama "immediately fire his military adviser and national campaign co-chairman."

Making matters worse, McPeak, speaking to Shalom TV, "accused the Republican Jewish Coalition of partisan politics in calling for his ouster."