ED ZIEGLER: OBAMA’S ISRAEL
EdZiegler.Blogspot.com
For many years our elected officials have stated that Israel is an important ally to the United States. As with any political issue there are differences of opinions. The treatment of Israel is one such issue. The opinion, actions and lack of actions toward Israel by the current Administration presents a picture of how the President considers Israel.
While campaigning for the presidency in 2008 the then Senator Barack Obama said, “We must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.” In August 2012 Obama’s Press Secretary Jay Carney, avoided a direct answer as to which city the U.S. recognizes as the capital of Israel. It should have been an easy answer since, in 1995, Congress passed a law that states the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In 2010 President Obama humiliated Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu by not extending the usual red carpet treatment given to visiting dignitaries, and this to an ally. There was no press conference, no photographed handshake and Netanyahu was taken through a side entrance. President Obama also decided not to eat (as normal) with the dignitary (Netanyahu) and eat with his family instead.
During 2009, 2010 and 2011 President Obama visited approximately 46 countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq and Egypt where he bowed to King Abdullah showing respect to a higher leader. Yet In the three plus years he did not make time to visit Israel supposedly, a good ally.
In an highly unusual set of actions during the same period three members of Obama’s administration publically attacked Israel. Secretary Of State Hilary Clinton ordered Israel to stop building a settlement in Jerusalem. She also instructed Israel to issue a formal pledge that peace talks would focus on core issues such as the future of Jerusalem and the borders of a Palestinian state. What about the Palestinians recognizing the state of Israel and it’s boarders?
The President’s Senior Advisor, David Axelrod, attacked the building of Israeli settlements on NBC TV’s Meet The Press. It is extremely unusual for a White House official to launch an attack on a close US ally on television.
Next, during a Fox News interview House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, attacked Israel for weakening “the trust that’s needed for both sides to come together and have honest discussions about peace in the Middle East.” Gibbs also stated that Benjamin Netanyahu should start “coming to the table with constructive ideas for constructive and trustful dialogue about moving the peace process forward.” Thus implying Israel is hampering the peace talks and not the Palestinians. It is interesting to note that rarely does the Obama Administration say anything negative about Islamic countries or Islamic terrorist organizations or of their refusal to negotiate with Israel.
In 2011 The Obama White House went before the Supreme Court to defend its refusal to list “Jerusalem, Israel” on the passports of Americans born in the Israeli capital. According to Adina Kutnicki, a Zionist Conservative blogger, the US consulate in Jerusalem eliminated Hebrew and replaced it with speaking Arabic following President Obama’s directive.
In April 2012 New York Senator, Chuck Schumer, harshly criticized the Obama Administration’s attempts to exert pressure on Israel. This made him the highest-ranking Democrat to object to Obama’s policies toward Israel.
Schumer, along with the majority of members of the House and Senate, signed letters to President Obama politely suggesting the U.S. keep its disagreements with Israel private, a tacit objection to the administration’s very public rebuke of the Jewish State over construction in Jerusalem.
In July 2012 “Newsmax.com” reported that former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton called Barack Obama “the most hostile President toward Israel since the Jewish state was created,” saying his policies have “actually set the peace process back” in the Middle East. Responding to Vice President Joe Biden’s claim that Obama “has done more for Israel’s security than any president since Harry Truman,” Bolton declared, “That’s just ridiculous.”
Bolton added, the reported administration’s intelligence leaks could hurt Israel’s chances of successfully knocking out Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel has made arrangements to use an Azerbaijan air base to re-fuel F-16 & F15 jets. Bolton sees the administration’s leak of sensitive information as part of a larger problem.
It has been well established that the UN is highly biased against Israel. Here is one example where the Obama administration supported the United Nations to set up an independent commission, to investigate Israel’s behavior in the Gaza flotilla incident. This is an extraordinary action singling out one country (Israel), since all kinds of much worse incidents happen around the world without spurring UN investigations. Secondly the investigation will clearly be one-sided, focusing entirely on Israeli behavior and not on Turkey or on Hamas.
The internationally known commentator and columnist, Charles Krauthammer, who is also a Harvard trained Psychiatrist and a Jew, said that any Jew that votes for Obama again has been in a coma the last 3 1/2 years when it comes to President Obama’s negative attitude towards Israel and the damage he has done to the security of Israel.
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