Obama's first year on Israel
Only last month, we learned that Israeli officials have been singing the praises of President Obama for his willingness to address their defense concerns and for actions taken by his administration to bolster Israel's qualitative military edge-- an edge eroded, according to Israel, during the final year of the George W. Bush presidency. (The Bush administration violated security related agreements with Israel in which the U.S. promised to preserve the IDF's qualitative edge over Arab armies.)
I'm sometimes asked what it would take for me to conclude that Obama was not pro-Israel. If Obama had forced Israel to withdraw from territory it justifiably held, if Obama had suspended arms sales to Israel , if Obama had backed UN resolutions condemning Israel, if Obama had honored the graves of Nazi soldiers , if Obama had used loan guarantees to pressure Israel , if Obama had denied Israel arms and airspace to attack Iran, if Obama had pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Gaza elections, thus conferring on it a legitimacy it could never have otherwise earned , I'd be concerned. Previous Presidents have done exactly that (click on the links for details). But not Obama.
We also know that President Obumbler claimed that the justification for the State of Israel's existence is the Holocaust, thus ignoring 3,000 years of Jewish history (even Harry Reid recognized that). We know that he compared the plight of 'Palestinian refugees' to the plight of Jews in the Holocaust. We know that he chose to give the Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu, both of whom are virulently anti-Israel. And all of this in his first year in office, when he is constrained by both midterm elections and his own re-election bid in 2012. Imagine what he will be like in 2013 or in 2015 if God forbid he is re-elected!
• Steve Rosen, AIPAC's director of executive branch relations for 23 years, wrote that Obama's appointments are no cause for concern from a pro-Israel perspective.
• Rosen was very concerned about Chas Freeman, but that appointment by Dennis Blair was never final and was rescinded--exactly what we'd expect from a pro-Israel administration that listens to the pro-Israel community.
• On May 1, Obama renewed sanctions against Syria because it posed a continuing threat to US interests. Obama, in a letter to Congress notifying it of his decision, accused Damascus of "supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining US and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq."
• Obama was the first President to host a seder in the White House. To my right wing friends who try to read "signals" the way the ancients read animal entrails: What signal do you think Obama was sending to the world?
I could go on refuting Sheffey's claims point by point, but you all get the picture and I have work to get done. The multi-cultural Obama is not pro-Israel. He is a dangerous rival of Israel's and of Jews everywhere.
Israel Matzav: Obama's first year on Israel
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