ISRAEL: An Israeli view of Obama and his pastor

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From a new blog by two distinguished Israeli authors comes a commentary by Haim Watzman on Sen. Barack Obama and his former pastor -- a relationship that reminds Watzman of his own mixed feelings about his first rabbi in Israel.

Having moved from America to Israel as a young man 30 years ago, Watzman admired Rabbi Tzefaniah Drori for his dedication to the town of Kiryat Shmonah, a poor community that was the frequent target of Palestinian rockets. But while attending synagogue services, Watzman came to detest the messianic doctrine of Israeli territorial expansion that the rabbi preached.

‘People choose religious communities for lots of different reasons,’ Watzman writes. ‘So, while I think the politics of Reverend Jeremiah Wright abhorrent, I assumed from the start that many in his church don’t hold the same beliefs -- Barack Obama among them. Obama has done the right thing by making this explicit.’

Watzman describes himself as a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. ‘But I admire Obama for having the courage and forthrightness to address the issue of Reverend Wright straight on. ... People may still have reasons for opposing Obama, but his association with Reverend Wright should not be one of them.’

Watzman’s comment highlights a difference in the way Israelis and Americans view Obama. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, using a panel of experts to rate how ‘good for Israel’ each U.S. presidential candidate would be, says Israelis find more fault with Obama for his willingness to speak to the president of Israel’s arch-enemy Iran than with his association with his former pastor.

— Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem