Barack Obama says John McCain’s Hamas “smear” is proof that the GOP candidate has “lost his bearings.”

McCain’s campaign responded with this memo: Read the rest

The Republican Jewish Coalition has a statement out about the new Gallup poll: Read the rest

Gallup has new Jewish numbers based on its aggregate tracking from April 1-30, including interviews with close to 800 Jewish voters, and nearly 600 Jewish Democratic voters.

The press release spins the data as a positive for Obama: He’s not that far behind Hillary among Jewish Democratic voters (43%-50%) and does about as well as she does among Jewish voters in a matchup against John McCain (she beats McCain 66%-27%, Obama wins 61%-32%).

Of course, Jewish Republicans will probably be quick to note that 27% or 32% would mean an improvement for McCain over the 24% of the Jewish vote that President Bush’s won in 2004 against John Kerry. But considering that very little attention is being paid right now to McCain’s pro-life record and his other conservative domestic positions, it’s probably way too early to argue that McCain is poised to make serious inroads among Jews.

That said, Kerry did do about five points worse among Jews than Bill Clinton and Al Gore did; so, if nothing else, these Gallup numbers and past history suggest that — if he were to face Obama — McCain might have a better shot at holding on to the gains that Bush made between 2000 (when he took just 19% of the Jewish vote) and 2004.

During his hour-long appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, Barack Obama discussed Iran and criticized Hillary Clinton’s handling of a question about what she would do if the Islamic Republic attacked Israel.

A quick look at John McCain’s top Jewish backers — and how his campaign is raising eyebrows with a planned meeting at a Jewish club that has drawn criticism over its lack of African-American and Hispanic members. [UPDATE: The meeting has been moved.]

Hillary Clinton channels Yom HaShoah while discussing free trade.

Politico’s Ben Smith reports that Jewish Obama supporters are raising money for an ad in the New York Times.

Dorothy Wickenden argues in the New Yorker that McCain is smearing Obama on the issue of Hamas.

Daniel Pipes — whose vocal role in attempting to label an Arabic charter school in New York a “madrassa” drew attention this week — says the record suggests that Obama really did see himself as a Muslim growing up.

The Forward’s Jennifer Siegel looks at the emergence of Middle East policy as a wedge issue in the Democratic primary fight.

In the late but too fun to ignore category… Daniel Treiman says “oy” over a spiraling Obama-related spat involving William Kristol, Andrew Sullivan and Leon Wieseltier.

Ann Lewis touts Hillary Clinton’s performance among Jewish voters: Read the rest

Holocaust Remembrance Day fell this week, and Hillary Clinton was certainly on message — in discussing trade!?!

At the union hall in Gary, she grew so animated in describing the plight of old-line industrial workers that she described them in language from the oft-repeated poem, attributed to the German pastor Martin Niemöller, about the victims of Nazism. “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist,” goes the version inscribed on a wall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. After coming for the trade unionists, it continues, “they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.”

In Mrs. Clinton’s version, she intoned: “They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced, and nobody said anything.”

“So this is not just about steel,” she finished.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. doesn’t seem to have any trouble this week ruffling feathers, especially his longtime congregant, Barack Obama. But there were signs that he was making an effort not to rile up at least one group: American Jews.

JTA’s Ron Kampeas has the story.

Some months back JTA sought an interview with Barack Obama’s controversial ex-pastor Jeremiah Wright. We were told by Trinity United Church of Christ that the pastor wasn’t giving interviews. Well, Wright is staying quiet no longer.

On Sunday night, he got a standing ovation from 10,000 attendees at an NAACP dinner in Detroit (video here).

Last week, he sat down with Bill Moyers of PBS for an broadcast interview. (Video and transcript here).

And today Wright spoke this morning to the National Press Club in Washington (audio link here.).