Dear Secretary of State Clinton:
We are writing to express our outrage and displeasure at the manner in which the Obama Administration has disrespected our friend and ally the State of Israel.
There has not been a crisis between Israel and the United States of this magnitude in over thirty years. Unfortunately, it is not surprising that a crisis has occurred as the President has demonstrated repeatedly that he does not have a positive view of the Israeli government or the Israeli people. A crisis of this magnitude was an accident waiting to happen given the rising tensions between the two nations since President Obama took office.
However, you Secretary of State Clinton, are largely responsible for exacerbating a simple disagreement between friends into a full fledged public crisis that inflamed the Arab world unnecessarily.
After Prime-minister Netanyahu apologized to Vice-President Biden for "embarrassing" him by announcing a decision to build 1600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem where Arabs have never lived, you decided to take a matter that seemed to be already resolved and gave it more life support. Mrs. Clinton, there was absolutely no reason for you to state in an interview on NBC that Israel "insulted the United States" which was completely unwarranted and sent shock waves across the world.
Unfortunately, your statement on NBC was not the only statement from the administration. David Axelrod called Israel's decision an "affront" and "destructive" and Robert Gibbs suggested that Israel needed to make more concessions before the crisis could be resolved.
Several Republicans and Democrats criticized the Administrations caustic rebuke of the Israeli government. Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, stated that "Israel is a sovereign nation and an ally not a punching bag." Indeed, he is right. Friends do not "embarrass" friends by publicly attacking them in a public arena in such a ferocious manner when there is a disagreement which is exactly what your administration did to Israel. Other political leaders, like Joe Lieberman and John McCain, have expressed concern that focusing on criticizing Israel will detract from confronting Iran. They too are right.
However, the Obama Administration does not seem to be getting the message. Incredulously, you recently stated that "Israel must show that it is committed to peace" and that the "onus is on Israel to restart the peace process." How can you say in good faith that Israel must show that it is committed to peace?
Ever since the peace process started in the early 90's with the Oslo accords, Israel has bent over backwards to accommodate the Palestinians even when they do not deserve to be accommodated. Did you forget how Israel gave the Palestinians an unprecedented offer in 2000 during your husband's administration only to have it rejected by Yasser Arafat? Since then, Israel has released scores of Palestinian prisoners who belong in prison; many whom return to killing Israelis after being released. Israel has ceded to the Palestinians significant portions of the West Bank and Israel kicked its own citizens in 2005 out of their homes in order to leave Gaza. Do you remember how horrifying it was to watch Israelis remove other Israelis from their homes often by force with the hopes that peace would finally be realized in the region?
It is absolutely unheard of for a nation to physically remove its citizens from their homes as part of a peace initiative. You would think the Palestinians would respond favorably to such an initiative. Well, that's not what occurred.
The Palestinians to this day still indoctrinate their children to hate and murder Jews. The PLO Charter to this day does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The Palestinian Authority continues to glorify terrorists. The Palestinian Authority continues to cooperate with Hamas and is still involved in promoting terrorist attacks against Israel. Have you forgotten about the scores of homicide bombings that killed and maimed innocent Israelis at the hands of the Fatah organization which is led now by Mahmoud Abbas whom you claim to be a "peace maker?"
We would like to know, Secretary Clinton, when the Palestinians have ever showed a commitment to peace in the entire history of the peace process? When have the Palestinians ever made concessions to the Israelis? When has this administration ever criticized the Palestinians for "insulting the United States" for promoting the murder of Jews? We find the indoctrination of children to not be "helpful" either. And, yet Israel who has confronted years of Palestinian violence and years of blood libels in the Palestinian media, is now labeled by your administration as a peace breaker rather than the party who is eagerly awaiting for a peace partner that is nonexistent in the Palestinian territories.
We are also appalled that your administration would criticize Israel for building homes in their capital city of Jerusalem by calling it an "affront" but have no such criticism for the Palestinian Authority, who around the same time that Vice-President Biden visited the region, chose to name a square after a terrorist who killed 37 Israelis and an American photographer in 1978. Apparently, building homes for innocent people is an affront but glorifying a terrorist is an acceptable action. Since when should the Palestinians have the right to determine what is an affront and what is not an affront?
It is quite clear that your administration is opposed to Jerusalem being the undivided capital of the State of Israel. Otherwise, your criticism of Israel for making a miscalculated mistake would have been temporary and private in nature. Well, we have some advice for you. Pressuring Israel to relinquish its claim to Jerusalem is not "helpful" and is a waste of your bureaucratic time as Jerusalem is not negotiable and will always remain the undivided capital of the State of Israel until the end of time.
Notwithstanding the unhelpfulness of attacking Israel for building homes in its capital city, what ever happened to President Obama's belief that the U.S. should not meddle in other country's affairs? Does that proposition not apply to Israel? Israel has never told the United States how and when they can build homes in Washington DC. Just like you do not dictate to Britain or France what should be included in their housing codes, Israel should be afforded the same diplomatic courtesy.
Unfortunately, this crisis created largely by your administration has not been innocuous but rather it has had its deleterious effects. Riots erupted in Jerusalem in response to your administration's excessive rebuke of the Israeli government and some elements within the Palestinian Authority have even called for a third Intifada.
Similarly as the Netanyahu Government probed the announcement of the building of homes in Jerusalem during Vice-President Biden's visit, we call on the Obama Administration to probe how it could isolate a pivotal ally of the United States and cause an unnecessary diplomatic crisis that has prevented the international community from focusing on the nuclear threat posed by Iran.
We hope that Israel will never be smeared again by this administration as it was in the last few weeks.
Sincerely,
The American People
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2 comments:
Amen to that, sir.
I hope Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden see copies of this letter as well. Thank you for a well thought out response to the blunder made by our administration.
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