Yet Another Anti-Israel Obama Adviser

Tue, May 27, 2008 at 8:26:20 am PDT

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to Hamas-hugging Jimmy Carter during his disastrous presidency, is now a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama.

Brzezinski says that the Jewish Lobby is too powerful in the US, and uses the media to shut down criticism and influence the government.

Antisemitism, anyone? Oh, I forgot, you’re not allowed to say that—since Brzezinski uses the classic preemptive excuse, claiming that the charge of antisemitism is equal to McCarthyism.

Mr Brzezinski has been accused of being “anti-Israel” by some Jewish academics, writers and bloggers after criticising Israel for excessive use of force and unwillingness to compromise.

Last year, censure of him reached new heights when he defended John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, two academics who had criticised the pro-Israel lobby and were accused of questioning the right of the state of Israel to exist.

Mr Brzezinski said “it’s not unique to the Jewish community – but there is a McCarthyite tendency among some people in the Jewish community”, referring to the Republican senator who led the anti-Communist witch hunt in the 1950s.

“They operate not by arguing but by slandering, vilifying, demonising. They very promptly wheel out anti-Semitism. There is an element of paranoia in this inclination to view any serious attempt at a compromised peace as somehow directed against Israel.”

Although Mr Brzezinski is not a formal day-to-day adviser and stressed he doesn’t speak for the campaign, he said that he “talks to” Mr Obama.

He endorsed the Illinois senator, lauding him as “head and shoulders” above his opponents. He said that he was the only candidate who understood “what is new and distinctive about our age”.

How many anti-Israel foreign policy advisers have to be outed on Barack Obama’s staff, or in his circle of friends and associates, before people are willing to realize that there’s something bad going on there?

(Hat tip: Adloyada.)