Obama's Pro-Israel decline

We continue to hear from the White House that President Obama remains committed to the security of the State of Israel even as his record, since becoming President, has shown otherwise. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, President Obama and his surrogates repeatedly attempted to mollify legitimate concerns within the Jewish community that the then Senator Obama was somehow “anti-Israel” or espoused policies which were detrimental to Israel’s security. In Obama’s speech to AIPAC on June 4, 2008, President Obama stated “I will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.” The Obama campaign’s pandering to the Jewish community consisted of whitewashing his long twenty year association with the virulent anti-semite radical preacher Jeremiah Wright and downplaying Obama’s friendship with PLO leader Rashid Khalidi as mere Republican smears despite the fact that the LA Times uncovered a recording of Obama praising Khalidi at a Pro-Palestinian event which it refused to reveal in order to protect the Obama campaign from a potentially damaging situation just days before the November election. (No doubt the liberal LA Times would have divulged the Khalidi recording if Obama was a Republican). Apparently, Obama’s deceptive Jewish outreach campaign proved effective as the Jewish community voted for Obama in huge numbers. However, Obama can no longer rely on a political strategy to convince Jewish voters that he is pro-Israel. He has a record now which is not so unequivocal indicating an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. In fact, if Obama proceeds in the way he has vis-à-vis Israel, he may go down in history as the President that caused the most harm to U.S.-Israel relations.

Here’s Obama’s record on Israel since becoming President: You be the Judge.

- On the President’s historic trip to Cairo in June of 2009, where he attempted to restore relationships with the Arab world which produced the 9/11 hijackers, Obama made an outrageous speech comparing the Holocaust to “Palestinian dislocation.” He stated “The Jewish people were persecuted. …anti-Semitism …culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust…. Six million Jews were killed…. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland." In other words, Obama was opining in that speech that the Jews who were victims of genocide in the 1940’s are now committing a Holocaust on the Palestinians in 2009. Mr. President, you are severely mistaken. Israel is the most humane county in the world and has even sent its own soldiers in harm’s way in order to protect the lives of innocent Palestinians. No country who has been so viciously terrorized by an enemy as has Israel would ever attempt to risk the lives of its own soldiers, who are legitimately fighting a war of self-defense, in order to avoid killing innocent civilians living on enemy territory who in some cases may even be aiding Hamas and Fatah in attacking Israeli cities.

_ Obama continually has made outlandish statements criticizing Israel’s settlement activity which is nothing more than a real estate development project in Washington DC or Chicago, IL. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September of 2009, Obama used very sharp and divisive language in asserting that the U.S. does not accept the legitimacy of settlements while merely prodding the Palestinians to end their longstanding and sadistic incitement of violence against Israelis. (After Obama’s speech to the UN, Former UN Ambassador John Bolton stated that Obama put Israel on the “chopping block”) In an interview with Foxnews recently, Obama called Israeli building in its capital city, East Jerusalem, as being dangerous. Mr. President, is it dangerous for Californians to build apartment complexes in Sacramento or for New Yorkers to build homes in Albany? I don’t think so.

- According to the Palestinian Authority, the Obama White House has told them that they are “disgusted” with Israel and vow to help the Palestinians create a Palestinian State within two years on the 1967 borders which would no doubt result in the destruction of the Jewish character of the State of Israel. A return to the 1967 borders would be the end of an undivided Jerusalem as the Jewish capital of the State of Israel which Israel could never agree to or accept. It would be tantamount to the U.S. ceding Washington DC to the Canadians.


- More alarming is Obama’s reticence towards Iran. During the campaign, Obama famously retorted that he would be willing to sit down and negotiate with Ahmadenijad, a Holocaust denier who wishes to wipe Israel off the map. While Obama has not yet met with Ahmadenijad, (U.S. negotiating teams have already met with a low-level Iranian diplomatic team) he has refused to begin the process of implementing sanctions against Iran even as Iran has showed no signs of terminating its nuclear program despite U.S. demands to do so. He is wholeheartedly opposed to military action against the Iranians. Obama appears to be acting under the naïve and erroneous assumption that the Iranians can be convinced that their nuclear arsenal should be disbanded through negotiations. Clearly, the news that the Iranians are testing their nuclear weapons in “war games” as Foxnews called it (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576195,00.html) indicates that Iran is having none of Obama’s convincing tactics. While Iran threatens to launch missiles on Tel Aviv, Obama is stalling in an effort to buy diplomatic time. This is a very serious threat from Iran and Obama’s reluctance to take action is only encouraging the Iranians not discouraging them.We could be seeing a nuclear Holocaust on our hands which could result in the destruction of the Jewish state if Iran is not prevented from implementing their nefarious plot. Israel can’t wait for Obama to make a decision and neither can Western civilization. The time to act is now or Israel will be forced to go into Iran alone which could have disastrous consequences for Israel if she is unable to succeed in stopping Iran’s nuclear program.


- The snub of the Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Washington recently overwhelmingly indicates the disdain that President Obama has for the State of Israel. When Prime-minister Netanyahu traveled to the U.S. for the GA conference, he requested a meeting with President Obama. Unfortunately, President Obama waited to the very last moment to inform Netanyahu that he would even meet with him. But, there were a few catches. No day meeting which meant Netanyahu had to have his meeting during the late evening hours. No photo-op opportunities with the media. No press conference either before or after the meeting. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Netanyahu could not even be transported to the White House in a U.S. government vehicle. He arrived in a private van which is contrary to protocol. Is this a way to treat the Israeli Prime-minister who is the leader of a country that is one of the U.S.’s staunchest allies? What disrespect! Apparently, the snub was a signal to Netanyahu by Obama that he is not happy with Israel. Contrast the Netanyahu snub with the luxurious state dinner at the White House last week where Obama wined and dined the Indian Prime-minister.


We know who rates at the Obama White House and it’s not Israel. Only time will tell whether the Jewish community will be fooled again in 2012.

Obama's Pro-Israel decline