Obama and Israel-Imperialism or ignorance?

BARACK OBAMA’S AGENDA FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE

ALL POLITICIANS HAVE AN AGENDA, SOMETIMES FOR THE GOOD AND SOMETIMES NOT, SOMETIMES THEY ARE UP FRONT AND HONEST ABOUT IT AND SOMETIMES NOT.

Stealth agendas work in a democratic society when the public isn’t paying attention. Here is where Barack Obama’s Middle East “peace agenda” comes into play. He and his Secretary of State and other acolytes are making constant public pronouncements towards Israel using words such as “rock solid”, “unbreakable” and many other words swearing commitment to Israel’s security. His actions speak differently and unfortunately we often do not see the dangerous intent behind his actions.

An honest difference of opinion is settled between “friends” privately and through discussion in which each helps the other to understand their differences and why. When Barack Obama publicly and loudly makes demands that are potentially destructive and show a callous disregard for Israel’s needs and spiritual issues, he is showing either ignorance or an ominous warning that his desire to be loved and accepted by the Muslim countries is more important than Israel’s continued existence.
Kind words mean nothing when used as a cover for attendant attempts to demean and denigrate. The President has shown repeatedly a strategy to demean and denigrate when faced with disagreement with his policies. Review this strategy in action against opponents to his policies on stimulus, health care, financial regulation, tea party participants. Instead of mature discussions of differences we get attempts at adolescent schoolyard derision.

Even after Prime Minister Netanyahu instituted compromises that were difficult and unpopular, such as dismantling hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints and opening the Allenby Bridge 24 hours to allow greater flow of goods, the Presidents attitude was dismissive while making even more demands of Israel. What demand was made from the Arab side? What action was taken? Would they stop teaching hatred of Jews in their schools, glorifying terrorists in their streets? These are not very difficult things to do if their leadership cared one iota about a true peace. How can you have peace with a populace that has been taught virulent hatred from birth for the other side? There is no sign the President has even tried to pressure PA President Abbas and his minions.

What if the Abbas-Salaam Fayyad government did show honest signs of wanting peace, what would Hamas do? What would happen in Gaza? Has President Obama thought even momentarily what that would mean? Certainly no public demands have been made by the President on the Arab side, in the manner he has insisted on from Israel. Insinuating that Israel is responsible for the violence of the Arabs is a clear sign that either the American administration is ignorant of the past history or has decided Israel has no right to exist thus accepting the Arab narrative.
While the United States is large, wealthy and rich with natural resources, Israel has none of those advantages. Israel cannot take chances with the survival of her people and their sovereignty and the sooner President Obama understands that truth, the sooner he can come to some agreement with Israel, the most earnest and loyal of allies. There are many advisors close to President Obama who do not wish to continue the alliance with Israel and have written and publicly spoken to that idea. To name just a few, Jimmy Carter’s former advisor Zbigniev Brzezinski, Jim Jones, Robert Malley, Samantha Power, Rashid Khalidi and others. Jews all over the world have a stake in Israel’s survival, whether or not they realize it or wish to admit it. More importantly the democratic world has a stake in the survival of the only open, democratic society in that region of the world. Israel is surrounded by some of the most regressive and oppressive regimes on the planet. Can we afford to lose the tiny wink of freedom and democracy for the sake of appeasing dictatorships whose primary value to the outside world is oil?

Former Ambassador Martin Indyk’s recent diatribe clearly threw down the gauntlet “Israel has to adjust its policy to the interest of the United States or there will be serious consequences” to Israel. The absolute arrogance of this statement demanding Israel put its own interests on the backburner in order to do the bidding of President Obama overlooks the fact that Israel is not a colony of the United States. Indyk’s interview with Israel Army Radio and his op-ed in the NY Times were designed to verify Obama’s policy and let Israel know clearly how enraged the President is with Israel’s lack of obedience.

As for Mr. Obama’s rumored intent to replace Prime Minister Netanyahu with Tzipi Livni points further to the President’s refusal to face reality. Ms. Livni’s poll numbers have dropped precipitously since the last election and the Prime Minister’s have increased. Ms Livni could have formed a government after the last election if she would have agreed to protect the unity of the holy city of Jerusalem. Mr. Obama must face the reality that Jerusalem is a rare case of unanimity on the part of the Jewish people. Three Thousand years of longing and prayer will not be broken to please Mr. Obama. Apparently he does not know what happened when Jerusalem was not in Jewish hands, or has no interest in the preservation of the sanctity of the city. If he succeeds, which is highly unlikely, in unseating the current government he will see a more nationalistic government in its place.

If Mr. Obama understood Israeli society he would know that after more than 2000 years of surviving every persecution known to man, Jews have learned “we stick together or hang separately”, to steal a phrase. Nothing unites Jews more than being threatened with extinction. Some of the empires who have tried? Ancient Egypt, the Philistines, the Assyrians, Babylon, Persia, Greece, The Roman Empire, The Byzantine Empire, The Crusaders, The Spanish Empire, Nazi Germany, The Soviet Union, and now Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, El Aksa Martyrs Brigade, Iran, Syria and so on. Israel may be one of the smallest nations but it is the largest in determination, dedication and belief in a G-d given mission to improve the world. It is not an accident this tiny group of people has survived for so long against the constant tyranny of the majority. Mr. Obama, you might want to rethink where you are placing your bets.

To reward loyalty with contempt and humiliation while handling enemies with a velvet glove reverses the standard foreign policy notion of keeping the trust of friends and fear in ones enemies. With remarks that have come out of Poland, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine, it seems Israel is not the only friendly country who feels betrayed.

We all want a good relationship with this natural ally for whom we have great affection, but at what cost? How far can we travel with this partner before Barack Obama leads us down a path of destruction?

Israel’s Prime Minister has visited Washington three times, entering the White House in back doors, being treated with none of the standard courtesies toward other heads of state, such as press conferences, dinners and photo ops, which may seem unimportant on the surface if not put into a larger context. Since January 20, 2009 the list of actions that demonstrate, not just naiveté, but an intent to distance the United States from Israel to fit Mr. Obama’s larger agenda, which appears to be switching the America-Israel alliance to an Arab-American alliance.

The old children’s taunt “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me” has been proven over and over again to not be true. Words not only can hurt, they often drive violence and death.