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Why does this bother only the ZOA and The New Republic, among a few? The Jewish left is quick to bust Israel when they think Israel slips, but then they duck for cover when Jews are caught in a smackdown.

Here are the videos that were supposed to make a difference for longer than it took to watch; the CNN coverage of Israel in Haiti and the “legendary” story as told on ABC’s World News Tonight. CBS called Israel “the Rolls Royce” of rescue. And watch NBC.

Keep these videos of Haiti in the attic, like a lonelyheart’s souvenir, of a time when for a couple of days we really thought we’d be loved but were dumped.

Here is the statement by the ZOA: “The Zionist Organization of America is critical of the fact that President Barack Obama” for having “mentioned several other countries helping Haiti but conspicuously omitted one whose assistance to Haiti has exceeded that of all others apart from the U.S. itself – Israel.

“In the wake of the massive Haitian earthquake on January 12, Israeli dispatched medical and disaster relief teams to Haiti which among others things set up a field hospital which includes operating rooms; an intensive care ward; a maternity ward; a pediatric ward; incubator units; a pharmacy; x-ray equipment; 90 beds; 66 intensive care beds; and two delivery beds. To date, the Israeli 250-member emergency relief delegation from the IDF Home Front Command, comprising a search and rescue team as well as medical staff for the field hospital, has treated 960 victims, including dozens of children. Israelis have performed more than 290 lifesaving operations and delivered 16 babies in the hospital’s maternity ward. Moreover, the Israel Forum for International Aid (IsraAID) has sent a delegation of 27 medical and logistical staff to Haiti which has provided emergency medical assistance and distributed humanitarian supplies. Also, Magen David Adom has sent a team to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, which has assisted in providing medical assistance at the Red Cross field hospital.

“In contrast, former President Bill Clinton was outspoken in praise of Israel’s efforts in Haiti, saying, “I don’t know what we would have done without the Israeli hospital at Haiti … The Israeli hospital was the only operational facility which was able to perform surgery and advanced tests. In the name of the aid workers that operated in Haiti, in the name of the people who live there, and on a personal level I want to thank, we all want to thank, Israel from the bottom of our hearts.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is disappointing, to say the least, that President Obama did not see fit to mention Israel among the nations assisting Haiti…”

The New Republic’s Editor-at-Large, Marty Peretz, writes, ”The Arabs don’t care a fig, not for their impoverished and backward own, and certainly not for strangers. That’s why their presence in Haiti amounted to a couple of bucks from Saudi Arabia and maybe from some other sheikhs…. Here, however, where there is major story of an Israeli and humanitarian success, the President doesn’t mention it, perhaps because praising Israel stands in the way of the current policy of talking down Arab intransigence and hostility to Israel’s existence while focusing publicly on alleged (and untrue) Israeli unwillingness to make concessions… Yes, I think that the labors of the Israelis were edited out of Obama’s speech, either by his speechwriters (who have made dissing Israel their fort) or by his own oh-so-delicate but dishonest censoring mechanism.”

Adds Klein of the ZOA – ”No one could have been offended had President Obama mentioned Israel among the other countries that deserved honorable mention, except those who hate Israel. Regrettably, not mentioning Israel in this context seems to have been a sop to such people.”

There are already Jews who say, in all sadness and fear for the future, that Obama is the most anti-Israel president ever, or at the very least he is in the running. Good and honest men can disagree about Israeli policy. But If he can’t even say a good word now about Israel’s purest moment of lifesaving goodness — even holiness — in Haiti, one has to wonder. What kind of person is this? And again, where are all the rabbis and Jewish journalists who vouched for him? Route 17 is a lonely road.