Action Kit and FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

(this is just a sample of the many FAQs in our Action Kit)

Is Barack Obama a Muslim?

NO.

Barack Obama is a committed Christian. He has never been a Muslim and was not raised in that faith. He was sworn into the Senate on his family’s bible, not on a Koran (which is a persistent rumor). Ironically, this lie is often espoused by the same people who are critical of the leadership at a church Obama attended in Chicago (see below for more on that). This myth perpetuates unfortunate falsehoods about the Muslim-American community that are offensive to people of all faiths. Jewish voters, in particular, should be sensitive to this kind of false stereotyping. Spreading this rumor is not in line with our social values.

Is Barack Obama anti-Semitic?

NO.

This is the racist under-current of many a smear, and ought to be put to rest. Beyond his record, which speaks for itself, or his many Jewish friends and colleagues, are Obama’s own words:

“[At age 11] I learned of the long journey and steady determination of the Jewish people to preserve their identity through faith, family and culture. Year after year, century after century, Jews carried on their traditions, and their dream of a homeland, in the face of impossible odds.

The story made a powerful impression on me. I had grown up without a sense of roots. My father was black, he was from Kenya, and he left us when I was two. My mother was white, she was from Kansas, and I'd moved with her to Indonesia and then back to Hawaii. In many ways, I didn't know where I came from. So I was drawn to the belief that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural identity. And I deeply understood the Zionist idea – that there is always a homeland at the center of our story.”

The basis for this rumor is often cited as Obama’s tie to Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.. Please see below for a complete response to Obama’s affiliation with Wright. And let us end with a cautionary note: no one would wish to be implicitly tied to opinions expressed by acquaintances. Ever disagreed with your Rabbi during a drash or sermon? Discourse, not xenophobia, is the answer in such situations.

Is Barack Obama affiliated with outspoken anti-Semites?

HE HAS DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM ANTI-ZIONIST RHETORIC.

It is undeniably true the Barack Obama had a close relationship with his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Obama is not the only public figure to be associated with Wright: Oprah Winfrey has attended his church and Bill Clinton has been photographed with him. Wright is accused of giving overly Afrocentric speeches, though we at Jewish Grandchildren for Obama have no idea what “overly Afrocentric” means. However, we do understand concerns over some of Wright’s rhetoric, which can be virulent and hateful and is best described not as anti-Semitic but as anti-Zionist. Moreover, Wright has close ties to Louis Farrakhan, who has made horrendous anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments throughout his career. Jews and Americans-at-large were right to express shock over some of Wright’s rhetoric. It is, however, wrong, to extend his comments to those that sometimes—even often—sit in his pews. As the Wright story unfolded in the media, Obama quickly and decisively distanced himself both from Wright and from certain of his comments. It might here be interesting to point out that John McCain’s affiliation with the equally outrageous Reverend John Hagee was waved off by most—including Jewish Americans—when McCain said that he didn’t share Hagee’s beliefs. When Sarah Palin was recently asked about a Jews-for-Jesus speaker at her church, she immediately distanced herself from him and there was little furor in the Jewish community. Yet when Obama distanced himself from Wright, the issue persisted and many simply didn’t believe him. Intrinsic racism is at the heart of this disparity and Jewish voters ought to be the first to move beyond such intolerance. We do not believe in guilt by association, and in fact many Rabbis would be quick to give you biblical evidence against practicing it. But the best denunciation of Wright’s hateful rhetoric comes from Obama himself, from a press-conference on April 29, 2008:

"I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed…what Rev. Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything that I've done during my life. It contradicts how I was raised and the setting in which I was raised; it contradicts my decision to pursue a career of public service. It contradicts the issues that I've worked on politically…His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate…they certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs."

Is Barack Obama soft on Iran?

NO.

Concerned about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional ambitions, Barack Obama has been a strong voice warning of the dangers to both the United States and Israel if Iran successfully develops these weapons. Obama has been consistently outspoken about the growing influence of Iran in the region, especially Iraq, saying, “Make no mistake – if the Iranians and Syrians think they can use Iraq as another Afghanistan or a staging area from which to attack Israel or other countries, they are badly mistaken” [Speech to Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 11/20/06] Obama has called for stronger international sanctions against Iran to persuade it to halt uranium enrichment. He is a cosponsor of the Durbin-Smith Senate Bill, the Iran Counter Proliferation Act, which calls for sanctions on Iran and other countries for assisting Iran in developing a nuclear program. Believing that Americans must do more to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Obama authored and introduced as the primary sponsor, the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act in May, 2007. Obama’s Bill makes it easier for state and local governments to divest their pension funds of companies that invest in Iran's energy sector, providing the revenue Iran uses to pursue nuclear weapons and sponsor terrorism. Divestment is a useful tool to bring additional economic pressure to bear on Iran. Senator Obama has conducted an active dialogue with a range of Israeli political leaders and security officials regarding Iran and the threat it poses to the United States and Israel.

Does Barack Obama support the death penalty for convicted terrorists?

SOMETIMES.

In an interview on CNN with Fareed Zakaria on July 13, 2008 Barack Obama was asked about what he would do with Osama bin Laden should U.S. forces in Afghanistan capture him. Obama answered:

“Well I think that if he was captured alive then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of not only U.S. justice, but world justice, down on him…I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty, I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes. But I certainly think that plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach.”

Has Barack Obama denied the Holocaust?

NO, NO, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT.

This is one of the strangest and most disgusting rumors circulating about Barack Obama. It is rooted in racism, fear and ethnocentricity. In fact, Obama’s great Uncle was among the American soldiers who liberated Buchenwald and Obama himself has made multiple trips to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Israel. Below is a direct quote from Obama’s June 4 speech at the 2008 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

“I…learned about the horror of the Holocaust, and the terrible urgency it brought to the journey home to Israel. For much of my childhood, I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather had served in World War II, and so had my great uncle. He was a Kansas boy, who probably never expected to see Europe – let alone the horrors that awaited him there. And for months after he came home from Germany, he remained in a state of shock, alone with the painful memories that wouldn't leave his head.

You see, my great uncle had been a part of the 89th Infantry Division – the first Americans to reach a Nazi concentration camp. They liberated Ohrdruf, part of Buchenwald, on an April day in 1945. The horrors of that camp go beyond our capacity to imagine. Tens of thousands died of hunger, torture, disease, or plain murder – part of the Nazi killing machine that killed 6 million people.

When the Americans marched in, they discovered huge piles of dead bodies and starving survivors. General Eisenhower ordered Germans from the nearby town to tour the camp, so they could see what was being done in their name. He ordered American troops to tour the camp, so they could see the evil they were fighting against. He invited Congressmen and journalists to bear witness. And he ordered that photographs and films be made. Explaining his actions, Eisenhower said that he wanted to produce, "first-hand evidence of these things, if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda."

I saw some of those very images at Yad Vashem, and they never leave you. And those images just hint at the stories that survivors of the Shoah carried with them. Like Eisenhower, each of us bears witness to anyone and everyone who would deny these unspeakable crimes, or ever speak of repeating them. We must mean what we say when we speak the words: ‘never again.’”

Does Barack Obama believe that Jerusalem should remain the capital of Israel?

YES.

In June 2008 Obama stated that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.” People have called him a flip-flopper on this issue because his campaign later clarified the statement by saying that Obama believes “Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties [as part of] an agreement that they both can live with.” Does this mean he supports “giving away Jerusalem” or make him a flip-flopper? No. It means that Obama’s more willing than the current administration to put peace in the Middle East at the forefront of U.S. priorities and to negotiate in good faith. His campaign went on to say: “Two principles should apply to any outcome. Jerusalem remains Israel’s capital and it’s not going to be divided by barbed wire and checkpoints as it was in 1948-1967.”

Is it true that Barack Obama used the work "kike"?

YES, BUT THE USE HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT.

In Barack Obama’s book Dreams from My Father, he used the words “kike” and “nigger” to describe the surprisingly hostile racial undercurrent he found at Columbia University. Although the passage is at once an acknowledgement that anti-Semitism and racism are still alive in America and a condemnation of both, the words were removed from subsequent editions of the book. Below is an excerpt from William Finnegan’s 5/31/04 profile of Obama in The New Yorker, which touches on the subject:

“He went to Columbia University, and liked New York, but he found the city’s racial tension inescapable. It ‘flowed freely,’ he wrote in his memoir—‘not just out on the streets but in the stalls of Columbia’s bathrooms as well, where, no matter how many times the administration tried to paint them over, the walls remained scratched with blunt correspondence between niggers and kikes. It was as if all middle ground had collapsed.’ Fired with political idealism, he decided to become a community organizer.”

Does Barack Obama favor the Palestinians in future peace talks?

NO.

Barack Obama is a cosponsor of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006. Introduced in the wake of Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections, this act outlaws direct assistance to any entity of the Palestinian Authority controlled by Hamas until it meets the conditions of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and agree to abide by all agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority. Obama signed a letter urging President Bush to make it clear to Palestinian leaders that terrorist groups must either disarm or be barred from the political process. Since the elections, Obama has stated that Israelis must have a true Palestinian partner for peace. He has sought to encourage Palestinian moderates who seek peace and to isolate Hamas and other extremists who are committed to Israel’s destruction.

Is Barack Obama a friend to Israel?

YES.

In fact, by putting peace in the Middle East back at the forefront of U.S. policy, Barack Obama will end the too-little-too-late policy of the last eight years, which included largely ignoring a growing problem. We need more than a roadmap to peace! Obama has established a strong record as a true friend of Israel, a stalwart defender of Israel’s security, and an effective advocate of strengthening the steadfast U.S.-Israel relationship. He believes that Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state should never be challenged. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama has consistently emphasized his commitment to our ally Israel, and has been an active supporter of legislation helping to ensure the support and security of the Middle East’s only established democracy. Obama continually works with a number of his colleagues in the Senate to promote a closer relationship between the U.S. and Israel on a range of fronts – security, economic, political, and cultural.

His goals for strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship include ensuring a strong U.S./Israeli partnership, supporting Israel’s right to self-defend, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, supporting foreign assistance to Israel, limiting Hezbollah’s influence in the region, working towards a peaceful two-state solution, supporting U.S./Israeli research and development and achieving energy independence in the United States. Here’s a quote from his speech at AIPAC’s Policy Forum in Chicago on 3/2/07:

“Our job is to renew the United States' efforts to help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share this vision. . . . That effort begins with a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel: our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy. That will always be my starting point. And when we see all of the growing threats in the region: from Iran to Iraq to the resurgence of al-Qaeda to the reinvigoration of Hamas and Hezbollah, that loyalty and that friendship will guide me as we begin to lay the stones that will build the road that takes us from the current instability to lasting peace and security.”

Why Hillary supporters should vote Obama in November:

There are some Clinton supporters who have expressed that they would rather stay home in November than vote for a candidate other than Hillary Clinton. But those voters risk an uncertain future for Israel and America. John McCain has not put Mideast peace at the forefront of his campaign or priorities, and like his predecessor, George W. Bush, could let Israel flounder without the strong backing of the U.S. We need more than a roadmap. Meanwhile, the McCain camp seems to think that just because Sarah Palin is a woman, women ought to vote for her (including former Clinton supporters). But Palin doesn't represent the most vital interests of women voters, nor does she represent the domestic priorities of American Jews.

We have a few resources for you to check out, but urge you to please visit the wonderful Beyond Hillary site, the only Web site created to present the case for why voters who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries should support Barack Obama in the general election. They have FAQs, a side-by-side platform comparison and even a page dedicated to reasons Hillary supporters should not vote for a Sarah Palin ticket just because she's a woman.

The best reason to support Obama? Hillary Clinton does! Click here to read the New York Times story on Clinton's 9/8 trip to Florida to officially campaign for Obama.

Click here to read the complete transcript of Hillary Clinton's moving speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, in which she heartily endorsed Barack Obama and called for party unity to defeat John McCain. Hillary Clinton on Obama: "Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines...Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president."

Click here to view Obama's remarks at an event jointly sponsored with Hillary Clinton on July 10, 2008.

In his own words:

Obama at AIPAC, in Israel, etc.:

What is Obama's official stance on Israel? Click here to view a PDF of his official Israel platform.

Click here to read Obama's speech from June 4, 2008 at the annual AIPAC convention. Or click here to view the video.

Click here to view the video of Obama's speech upon the 60th anniversary of Israel.

Click here to view Obama's remarks at the AIPAC Policy Forum on March 10, 2007.

Obama Endorsements

These people are among the many public figures who have endorsed Barack Obama:

Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barbra Streisand, Joan Baez, Naomi Wolf, Alan Dershowitz, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey, John Kerry, George Clooney, Maria Shriver, the Teamsters, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman, Rabbi Steven M. Bob, Rabbi Jay Karp, Rabbi Gary Gerson, Rabbi Kurt Stone, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rabbi Sam Gordon.

Click here to view the OVER 1000 Rabbis who have endorsed Barack Obama. If 1000 Rabbis can agree on one thing, shouldn't you pay attention?!?

Click here to listen to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, "America's Rabbi," debate neo-Conservative commentator Dennis Prager on politics and the upcoming election.