Judeosphere

The recent plot of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to bomb synagogues in Chicago has received notably sparse commentary among the “usual suspects.” No discussions or analyses from Mondoweiss, the Guardian, Stephen Walt, Andrew Sullivan, Salon or the Huffington Post.

Perhaps part of the conspicuous silence is due to the fact that the story broke on a Friday, and weekend commentary was focused on Jon Stewart’s rally to restore sanity. But, not a single peep from these folks? There’s certainly no shortage of commentary on other blogs. Over at the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg had this to say:

What is not surprising at all is that the people — presumably, though we shouldn’t assume for certain, Qaeda-affiliated terrorists — who manufactured these bomb are fundamentally annihilationist in outlook, meaning that they have as a primary goal the killing of Jews, everywhere. This shouldn’t be a controversial conclusion to make, but there are many people out there who believe that al Qaeda and its fellow travelers are angry over settlements. They are not. They are angry over the continued existence of Jews.

Still, come Monday, I expect we’ll here more commentary. The question is, how will the aforementioned pundits spin the story to reflect their anti-Israel worldview?

I predict the following two themes:

(1) In the typical inversion of Goldberg’s logic, pundits will argue that this proves that Israel’s actions foster anti-semitic attitudes, and that U.S. support for Israel is putting American Jews at risk.

(2) This was clearly an attempt by Al-Qaeda to cause further harm to the Democrats’ prospects during the midterm elections. Why would Al-Qaeda prefer a Republican victory? Expect folks to pull out this story from the 2006 midterm elections:

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. “The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen — the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq — are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost,” Zawahri said, according to a full transcript obtained by ABC News.

Zawahri calls on the Democrats to negotiate with him and Osama bin Laden, not others in the Islamic world who Zawahri says cannot help. “And if you don’t refrain from the foolish American policy of backing Israel, occupying the lands of Islam and stealing the treasures of the Muslims, then await the same fate,” he said.

Translation: President Obama and the Democratic Party’s failure to confront “The Israel Lobby” will continue to inspire Al-Qaeda attacks against U.S. targets.

Have I missed any other likely spins? Feel free to add any in the comments section.