Not the Calvin Klein fragrance, but a disturbing propaganda movie that has been sent to 28 million people in swing states in the run-up to this election. It conjures up an image of an Islamist take-over, spear-headed – surprise! – by Barack Obama, ushering in a fate worse for Jewish Americans than Nazism itself. Jeffrey Goldberg has watched the 12 minute version, clearly orchestrated "by associates and partisans of the Jewish movement known as Aish HaTorah, or "Fire of the Torah," and has some thoughts. Money quote:
The tragedy of "Obsession" is not that it is wrong; the tragedy is that it takes a serious issue, and a serious threat — that of Islamism — and makes it into a cartoon. Its central argument is that the "Islamofascism" of today is not only the equivalent of Nazism, but worse than Nazism. This is quite a thing for a Jewish organization to argue. One of the featured speakers in "Obsession" is a self-described "former PLO terrorist" named Walid Shoebat, who argues on film that a "secular dogma like Nazism is less dangerous than Islamofascism is today."
This is lunacy, of course. Islamism isn’t Nazism. It’s bad enough without being labeled Nazism. Martin Gilbert, the biographer of Churchill, shows up in the film as well, and doesn’t cover himself in glory: "History has an unfortunate habit of always repeating itself," he says. Always? Does this mean that the Arabs are right now constructing death camps for the Jewish citizens of Israel?
Just unbelievable, but the most unbelievable part of the "Obsession" campaign is its timing: What does this film have to do with Barack Obama? The film is meant to suggest that Obama will provide aid and comfort to Islamism, or is an Islamist himself. There is not one shred of proof on this planet that Barack Obama is anything other than an Israel-supporting Christian. Yes, he went to party with Rashid Khalidi. So did I. Does that make me a member of Hezbollah?
