Today I read an article published in Haaretz (for those of you who do not know this is an Israeli paper that is considered one of the more center-left papers in Israel) in which JEWISH voters in Florida and Pennsylvania are being called by people who pretend to be "pollsters" and asking them questions such as...
Callers posed questions asking if voters would reconsider their preferred candidate had they learned that "Obama had given money to the Palestine Liberation Organization", or that "the leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yousef, expressed support for Obama and hoped for Obama's victory," or that Obama's political advisors are "pro-Palestinian," or that Obama once said "the Palestinians have suffered the most."
The "pollsters have also asked would-be Jewish voters thought if they were told that the president of Iran also "endorsed Obama," or if they learned that Obama "supported a united Jerusalem and then switched his opinion and believed in a divided Jerusalem," or Jimmy Carter's "anti-Israel national security advisor is one of Barack Obama's foreign policy advisors."
The Jewish Council for Education which is a pro-Obama group has learned of this and had a press conference today talking about it.
I have not been able to find information on this so if someone does let me know. As a Jewish voter who supports Obama this is extremely outrageous to me and very disconcerting because old Jewish men and women like my grandparents are the kind of people who can be duped by these kind of ridiculous claims.
I thought it was important to bring this to people's attention if they did not realize it already especially to people working in Pennsylvania and Florida so they can combat things like this.
I am encouraged by the fact that this was covered by an Israeli paper because much of the Israeli public has been afraid to embrace Obama but maybe after some vicious attacks like this things will change...
UPDATE***
It has been brought to my attention that Ben Smith of the Politico has written an article identifying the GOP Jewish Coalition as the group responsible for these for phone calls. As a fellow Jew this makes me sick but I am not surprised... Here is a quote from the article...
A Republican group is taking responsibility for a poll that has roiled the Jewish community by asking sharply negative questions about Senator Barack Obama.
The Republican Jewish Coalition, which is launching a campaign against Obama on behalf of Senator John McCain, sponsored the poll to "understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters," the group's executive director, Matt Brooks, told Politico.
The poll asked voters their response to negative statements about Obama, including reported praise for him from a leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas and a friendship early in his career with a pro-Palestinian university professor. Some Jewish Democrats who received the poll – including a New Republic writer who lives in Michigan – were outraged by the poll, describing it in interviews as "ugly" and disturbing. A group that supports Obama, the Jewish Council for Education and Research http://www.jewsvote.org even staged a protest outside the Manhattan call center from which the calls originated Tuesday.