With apologies to Ronald Reagan in his 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter, “There they go again.”

Some Jewish organizations are madly in love with the idea that one cannot criticize Israel under any circumstances because Israel’s enemies will eat it up (as if not saying something will make them love Israel and the Jewish people). In particular, they believe you cannot criticize non-Jews who say outlandish things but are deemed friends of the Jewish state.

Enter Rush Limbaugh, America’s leading mean-spirited populist masquerading as a political commentator. (For the record, I devour intellectual based right-wing arguments in publications such as Commentary, to which I’m a long-time subscriber. It makes me rethink positions upon which I was raised. Yeah, I know… “but some of my best friends are…”)

Rush recently said on the air, “To some people, banker is a code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting? He’s assaulting bankers. He’s assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there’s - if there’s starting to be some buyer’s remorse there.”

OK, so Rush is an idiot. After all, 78 percent of the Jews did vote for Obama, which means one in five did not. And Rush, it’s not as if we can return the president for store credit. It’s a four-year deal, with admittedly below average satisfaction to date. And while there are some Wall Street Jewish bankers, they’re as out of touch with the rest of us as the non-Jewish bankers (whom Rush must believe all voted for McCain).

But worse for me was that a coalition of Jewish groups just sent out a press release with this headline in caps: “NATIONAL JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS COME TO RUSH LIMBAUGH’S DEFENSE”

It’s signed by American Friends of Likud, CAMERA (the pro-Israel media monitoring hawks), Emunah of America (a woman’s Zionist religious group), the D.C.-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the National Council of Young Israel (a Zionist Orthodox synagogue group), Religious Zionists of America and something called Z-Street (which is meant to respond to the peacenik young upstart J Street, which is opening in Baltimore).

The group’s statement: “While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh’s views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues.”

Huh? Where did the State of Israel enter into this argument?

So there you have it: Israel is all that matters. Forget what some might say is borderline latent anti-Semitism (and I don’t think he said it to be anti-Semitic, but it’s an element in western society with which we must constantly wrestle). Forget everything else Rush might have said in the past. If you say what we like about Israel, you’re OK with us.

And now you know why I call myself a “neo-centrist,” whatever that means.

right on!

  Note: the “American Friends of Likud, CAMERA, Emunah of America, the D.C.-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the National Council of Young Israel, Religious Zionists of America and something called Z-Street” have all been deafeningly silent with regard to the epidemic of tax fraud and sexual abuse scandals which have recently overwhelmed the Orthodox Jewish community.  Why?  Because Orthodox Jews tend to be politically conservative (like Rush) and vote Republican (like Rush)!