Why is the Obama Administration So Devoted to Criticizing Israel?
by Newt Gingrich
At a fundraiser in New York last week, President Obama said his administration “has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration.”
Is the President looking at the same record we are? Last week’s news abounded with evidence that his administration often coddles forces opposed to Israel’s very existence while his officials publically brutalize Israel in the diplomatic arena.
Hostility towards Israel has become a habit for members of the Obama administration. His ambassador to Belgium argued last week in a speech to the European Jewish Union that pervasive anti-Semitism among Muslims was Israel’s fault. “A distinction should be made,” he said, “between traditional anti-Semitism, and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” This outrageous attempt to dismiss “hatred for Jews” as a political problem should have immediately disqualified the ambassador from continuing to serve in President’s administration.
Also last week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta declared that Israel needed to “just get to the damn table” with Palestinians, implying that Israel is the primary obstacle to Middle East peace.
Who is it, exactly, that Israel needs to “get to the damn table” with? Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, has stopped short of even recognizing Israel’s right to exist. He has also repeatedly insisted that Israel abandon its right to defend its borders even after a Palestinian state is created.