WHAT MORE WILL IT TAKE? JERROLD L. SOBEL
Posted By Ruth King on September 11th, 2012
On March 26, 2010 Newsmax published an article entitled, “Obama Snubs Netanyahu at White House.” For those of you with collective memory loss, if you remember, up to that point this was just the biggest of many snubs by the Obama Administration against the Israeli government.
The President first proscribed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his March 2010 visit to Washington. What elicited his ire? A recent decision by Netanyahu approving Jewish construction in what has always been considered by American Presidents, Israel’s capital, East Jerusalem. This 2010 flogging of Netanyahu over Jerusalem was a precursor to what occurred at the Democratic Convention last Tuesday night, the disavowal of unequivocal support for Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel and the exclusion of God from the Democratic platform. Most embarrassing for the President and his party, it became a lose/lose proposition for him. Struck by the unanticipated fallout over God and Jerusalem, Obama hastily reversed his stand and had the references readmitted. But only after 3 votes were taken to secure the 2/3 majority needed for reinstatement; voice votes which to many were still non-conclusive. Following what many delegates considered a “railroading,” and to the tune of a cascade of boos, Jerusalem and mention of God was reluctantly reintroduced. Most upset was a large delegation of Palestinians Democrats from Michigan, convinced the final vote was bogus.
Caught between the proverbial rock and and a hard place, in one sweep, Obama raised the eyebrows of Israel supporters while alienating a sizable portion of his far left base. From bad to worse, the best was yet to come; the Democratic spin on this fiasco.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), a woman with credibility issues of her own explained, the exclusion of language recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in the 2012 Democratic national platform as a “technical error” that had not been discussed at all during the drafting process. During a CNN interview last Thursday she went on to say: “Essentially, with Jerusalem, it was a technical omission and nothing more than that”….”There was never any discussion or debate commentary over adding or subtracting it.”
That really seems plausible, doesn’t it? ”There was never any discussion or debate?” When putting their convention together what did they talk about, the cooking channel? It’s only Jerusalem. She would have you believe that an issue of this magnitude wasn’t even considered by the party big wigs; not even the incumbent big wig himself.
Wasserman Schultz calls Jerusalem Omission from Platform a “Technical Error”
Never to be outdone in the spin department, New York’s Senator Charles Schumer chimed in: “It’s not that someone had a plan, Let’s back off the long Democratic Party policy that Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel.”….”It was just sort of left out….“Told of the omission, Obama directly ordered the language to be restored.”
Chuck Schumer: Jerusalem Omission in Democratic Platform a Mistake
Stretching the credulity of the Democratic party, he too characterized this sordid snafu as just a mistake. But if it were just a mistake and this Administration truly does recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, why for 3 1/2 years has Obama incessantly badgered the Jewish State over housing construction in her own capital? The President can’t have it both ways. He can’t agree with the party’s platform and then berate Israel for developing Jerusalem her ancient capital. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent, let’s be real about this. There is no evidence President Obama remotely recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Going Back to the 2010 incident, former Press Secretary Gibbs made it clear the snub which denied Netanyahu the red carpet treatment usually reserved for heads of State was made to send a message. There were no photos taken with President Obama, and Netanyahu was made to wait in an adjacent room until the President finished his dinner; a dinner the Prime Minister was not invited to partake in. Gibbs was quite candid about the message being sent. In the eyes of the Administration, Netanyahu’s refusal to freeze construction in Jerusalem was the biggest obstacle to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians.
Think about this for a moment. Israel’s professed best friend, the President of the United States is not indifferent towards the final status of Jerusalem, which would be bad enough, but by public castigation of Netanyahu over construction in his own capital, Obama unmistakably revealed his hand. In his mind, Jerusalem is up for grabs. Try as they may, the President and his adherents can not get away from this. To those which support him but also profess love for Israel, what more would it take for you to see Obama’s lack of support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?
In Obama’s defense, many of his proponents are quick to retort that military cooperation has never been stronger between our two countries as it is under his watch. What they fail to grasp is military coordination and state of the art weapons are meaningless long term in face of political isolation caused by Obama’s accentuated rift with Israel over truly recognizing Jerusalem as their capital.
Several weeks ago on July 27th, White House Spokesman Jay Carney refused to state the U.S. position on the location of the Jewish capital during a press briefing. Despite constant pressure from reporters, he adamantly refused to name Jerusalem Israel’s capital. Caught in an unexpected quagmire of questioning, all Carney could do was stutter his way into repeatedly saying, “You know our position.” How could they when he didn’t?
There’s evidence, and then there’s overwhelming evidence. I think most of my readers in the legal profession would agree, if it went to trial there’s a pretty strong case, Obama would lose on professed recognition of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. What’s the significance of this?
It places Israel at a political disadvantage, not so much the resumption of the bogus “peace talks” there are many reasons that’s a non-starter anyway. But by denying the Jewish State unequivocal support on Jerusalem, Obama has opened her up to increased pressure by the international community on the legal status of Israel itself.
What could be more generous to the Palestinian position than the President of the United setting the parameters of negotiations in their favor for the past 3 1/2 years? What could be worse for Israel in future talks than having her trump card already played by a friend not acting like a friend, not even like a neutral in his position on Jerusalem?
So in another case of “believe what I tell you, not what you see” Schumer and company will have you believe the dominant issue of Jerusalem, which has occupied much of this President’s foreign policy throughout his entire term was just an oops omission in the Democratic platform. The Senator then went on to say: “Told of the omission, Obama directly ordered the language to be restored.” Told of the omission? Are we also being asked to believe the President of the United States, the incumbent running for re-election, the head of his party, did not read the Democratic platform beforehand?
This is an insult to the intelligence of the American people regardless what party you belong to. In terms of credibility, it’s on par with an earlier prevarication that a highly articulate, intelligent man sitting in a pew, and mentored by a racist preacher for 20 years had no knowledge of the preacher’s mindset. Once again folks…. What more would it take?
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