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Congressman-elect Bob Turner (Credit: Facebook page)
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The Republicans have won two seats in the House of Representatives prompting many to question if President Barack Obama’s Israeli policy may have lost the Democrats the Jewish vote and the New York seat. Special elections were held in Nevada and New York, the later of which was to replace Anthony Weiner’s congressional seat after the infamous “Weinergate.” Congressman-elect Bob Turner (R-NY) will represent New York’s ninth district.
Politico points out that Obama’s administration hasn’t necessarily got along with Israel, and losing an election in a traditionally Democratic, Jewish area may be a sign of worse things to come. “We have all had some difficulties with things coming out of the administration vis a vis Israel,” veteran Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) said to Politico. “We have, and we’ve been telling [the administration] this: They’ve done a lot of good things with Israel – the iron dome, the defense to help Israel ward off the rocket attack – but we’ve been telling them, maybe this will be a little bit of a wake-up call for the administration, too.” National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions went so far as to call Obama a “now a liability for Democrats nationwide.”
That being said, Think Progress pointed out that a survey showed that most American and Jewish Americans preferred a balanced approach to Palestinian-Israeli vote. And, recently in June, Jewish voters gave Obama a 60 percent approval rating, which is higher than the average vote.
Predictably the online world is split.
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Do you think Obama’s Israeli policy has lost the Jewish vote for Democrats?
