Republicans are not good for Israel

One of the things that I'm constantly challenged with is this notion that Republicans are better for Israel than Democrats. Historically, Republicans are more pro-Israel and support Israel more in their battle with Arab countries. This is normally true. Without going into the specifics as why I believe Republicans tend to be more pro-Israel than Democrats. In the recent past I have been asked how can I support Obama when his track record is not as pro-Israel as much as a young Zionist like myself would like it to be. Well in this upcoming election, my very first presidential election, I will have to cast a vote for Barack Obama or the Republican candidate. Now on one hand, my beliefs on domestic issues fall right in line with Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. Even foreign policy wise, I adhere more to Barack Obama's tactics more than Republicans' tactics. But the one stickler is always Israel. Now I am not a one issue voter, but Israel always becomes a heavily weighted issue when it comes to my representatives. What I have realized, as I saw at AIPAC's Policy Conference was that the biggest issue concerning Israel is really not the peace process or the settlements or anything of the sort, but Iran. Iran Iran Iran. Nothing else matters. The peace process is stalled and is going to be stalled and the settlement issue is so insignificant compared to the issue of Iran that is no longer a large concern in my eyes. Right now, when people go to the voting booth and make Israel a big reason why they vote one way or the other, they should not looking at which candidate will support Israel in the next four years through their various dealings with the Palestinians and other Arab countries. Instead, we, as Zionists, should be looking at which candidate is going to manage the Iran issue the best. And in my opinion, Republicans are only going to perpetuate war as is their custom. Each candidate has stated in their campaign that a military option is going to be prominent and most likely, not the last resort. I don't believe that any Republican candidate can rally the international community to use other options (economic/diplomatic) as well as Barack Obama and I don't believe that the international community is as likely to support a Republican president more than President Obama. In these most unstable times of time we cannot look to the past to see which candidate has supported Israel more and which will support them in the future. We have to look to the future and wonder... which President is the one that's going to stop Israel and Iran from going to war? Which candidate is going to make sure that even if and maybe even when Iran gets a nuclear weapon, is going to make sure they never use it... and that man is President Barack Obama.