Obama's gesture to the Jews

John Richardson

Crikey !
Just logged on.
Skipped to this article and I get 'the finger'.
Surly,you already have our attention?
Unnecessary.

kenny

well deserved.

Truthtriumphs

Obama's behaviour is entirely consistent with his utterances (except, of course, when he was in campaign mode), and with the political philosophy of those whose counsel he respects.
Robinson's views are in line with the anti-Israel position of the Irish and the Republicans, and indeed, with Ireland's sentiments during WW11.

Paradoxically, Obama's crass anti-Israel posture might work in Israel's favour, by uniting Israelis of all stripes, and by forcing Israel to be less dependent on the US.
The US will ultimately pay the penalty for its betrayal of one of its most important and dependable allies.

Drakken

Everyday here in America the public is getting a heavy dose of reality in reguards to Obama and his minions. The people who voted for him are having second thoughts, and opposition is getting more vocal and pronounced. Obama is a one termer and rightfully so, but can we on the right fix all the damage that this guy is doing?

Timothy Howard

Your title is misleading.

You refer to this act as a "gesture to the Jews" and yet in your post give references to occasions where Israeli sensibilities were upset.

Being Jewish is non synonymous with being Israeli.

Lily Brull

Obama's award to Mary Robinson is consistant with his beliefs and should have surprised no one. The true shocker is the massive electoral support he received from Jews who certainly had knowledge of his lifelong leanings, activities and associates. Shame on them!

Miranda Rose Smith

So six European Union members voted in favor of a decision that condoned suicied bombings as a legitimate means to establish Palestinian statehood. I hope they realize that means they've voted away their right to object to suicide bombings in Europe.

Ronnie

Just in case it is not already clear, anything and everything that happens in the world, no matter where it is and who is involved, is directly related to Israel.

Eyego

I noticed this on the Powerline blog:

The state department's wishful thinking about Jerusalem
View Responses Share Post PrintJuly 30, 2009 Posted by Paul at 5:24 PM
A friend called to my attention the home page of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which is devoid of any material pertaining to Jews or Israelis. Every item visible on the page is about Palestinians.

A fair reflection, I think, of where this administration's sympathies lie and how it sees Jerusalem.

Tom Durkin

"in her capacity as president of Ireland, she also happily provided millions of dollars of support to the PLO, which were used in terror attacks"
without her knowledge presumably?? a bit like some weapons sold end up being used against civilians...

Marcy

Maybe, just maybe Mary Robinson is a Roman Catholic part of the mother church the same church who believes in replacement theology therefore not liking the Jews very much and by her actions sucking up to the Pope, a fellow human. Is she a Catholic ?...I don't know but the thought crossed my mind.

logdon

And another from the Arutz Sheva site.

A7News: Obama’s ‘Hit Man’ Emanuel Splitting US Ame rican Jewry

Obama’s ‘Hit Man’ Emanuel Splitting US American Jewry
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Bibi Denies ‘Self-hating' Quote

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has denied calling White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior Obama advisor David Axelrod “self-hating Jews." The alleged use of that term is particularly timely as Jews mourn on Thursday the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples; Judaism teaches that “causeless hatred” among Jews was the reason for the fall of the Second Temple.

Whether or not the Prime Minister used the term, increasing criticism by American Jews of U.S. President Barack Obama signals a split in the American Jewish community.

The trigger for the growing crisis between Israel and the U.S., and among American Jews, is the issue of “settlements,” which President Obama labeled as “illegitimate” in his speech in Cairo nearly two months ago. He later included Jewish communities in eastern Jerusalem as part of the “settlement” label.

President Obama revealed this week that his White House advisor Rahm Emanuel, whose father was an Israeli and part of the underground resistance movement under the British Mandate, tells him everything he needs to know about Israel.

Emanuel also is the man who choreographed the handshake between former President Bill Clinton, former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn.

He has pushed the president into a head-on collision with the Netanyahu government, but there is a growing opinion that he has also left the president out on a limb. Emanuel’s strategy was to demonstrate that the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) no longer speaks for American Jewry.

Mondoweis Blogger Philip Weis, who continually attacks a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, wrote last month, “Obama's game is to defeat the Israel lobby from within. He could not defeat the lobby from outside it…. But now he is cracking it like a nut, and counting on Jews to do the cracking.”

That strategy has turned into a wall of opposition, both in Israel, where the president’s popularity rating is near-zero, in the U.S. where Emanuel has simply ignored opposing views of major Jewish organizations, and in the normally anti-settlement American press.

Washington Post vs. Obama

The liberal and highly influential Washington Post has criticized President Obama on his policy towards Israel, and an editorial on Thursday went even further. Under the title “Tough on Israel - Why: President Obama's battle against Jewish settlements could prove self-defeating,” the newspaper’s editors wrote:

“One of the more striking results of the Obama administration's first six months is that only one country has worse relations with the United States than it did in January: Israel. The new administration has pushed a reset button with Russia and sent new ambassadors to Syria and Venezuela; it has offered olive branches to Cuba and Burma. But for nearly three months it has been locked in a public confrontation with Israel over Jewish housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

The editorial criticized the president for his “absolutist demand” for a freeze on all building for Jews in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. “Palestinian and Arab leaders who had accepted previous compromises immediately hardened their positions; they also balked at delivering the ‘confidence-building’ concessions to Israel that the administration seeks. Israeli public opinion, which normally leans against the settler movement, has rallied behind Mr. Netanyahu.”

The newspaper warned that any compromise by President Obama may leave him “diminished among both Israelis and Arabs.”

The turning point against President Obama may have been the meeting in the White House earlier this month with American Jewish leaders. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations requested a discussion with President Obama, but Emanuel decided who would attend.

He used the opportunity to attempt to create an impression of solid support for President Obama and show off the relative new J Street lobby. Unlike AIPAC, it is active politically and endorsed and campaigned for Congressional candidates who fit their agenda, which includes Israel’s surrendering all of Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem that were restored to the Jewish State in the 1967 Six-Day War.

At the same time, he excluded National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), both of which support a Jewish presence in all of Israel.

The latest confrontation on a new project for Jews in eastern Jerusalem prompted Alan Solow, chairman of the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, to state this week, "Hundreds of Arab families have moved into Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem and the same right should be accorded to Jewish residents to live wherever they choose in Jerusalem. No government of Israel has or can pursue a discriminatory policy that would prevent the legitimate presence of Jews in any area of the capital."

In response, five leftist groups, including Americans for Peace Now and J Street, criticized supporters of Jews’ rights to build in the area. It added, “Unilateral actions that inflame tensions, impair negotiations and make the ultimate resolution of issues surrounding Jerusalem more difficult are unhelpful and should be avoided at this particularly sensitive moment."

While Emanuel is trying to strengthen his position, he faces another challenge on the Obama administration’s health plan. Emanuel’s brother Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel is Obama’s “health czar,” and the plan is being widely panned in American media, leaving the White House Chief of Staff with two potential failures for the President.

Manuel

Obarmy is certainly proving to those of us who sussed him long before the US presidential election, just the sort of man we knew him to be. For those gullible enough to vote for him, he is now on the long road to infamy, hate and ridicule for what he is doing to the reputation of the USA.
The US Consulate in Jerusalem is just another step in his vilification of Israel, and here, sent to me by American friends, is Obarmy's latest kinfe into Israel's security and for that matter the security of everyone of us in the west. This is a green light to islamiofacist terrorists everywhere to "get on with it":-
"You just spent $20,300,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; housing, food, the whole enchilada.
Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know....
Something happened.... H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs. You may want to read about it.. It wasn't mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.
Obama funds $20.3M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn't make the headlines...
By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees
and "conflict victims" in Gaza .
The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States,was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.
In other words, our president has knowingly and deliberately paved the way to turn America into what Europe has become -- virtually filled to capacity with Islamist extremists!
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order
provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the
Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Let 's review....itemised list of some of Obarmy's most recent
actions since his inauguration:
His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory. [Guess what! The first international figure who was invited to Iran following the ouster of the Shah and returning of Khomeini to Tehran was Yasser Arafat.]
His first one-on-one television interview with any news organisation was with Al Arabia television.
He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.
He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centres closed.
He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the "terror attack" of 9/11.
Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the
blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.
Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:
www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488 "

Sean Healy

I yield to nobody in my dislike for Mary Robinson, but it was inaccurate for Lantos to say she provided funding to the PLO while Ireland held the EU presidency. The role of president in Ireland is largely ceremonial, much like the British queen. It would be absurd to lay responsibility for something Gordon Brown did at the feet of Elizabeth II.

The other stuff is right on.

Augustus

Breaking News! Barack Obama To Receive Psychiatric Help -

White House sources have today confirmed that Barack Obama is receiving psychiatric care. The Problems apparently started after the President's closest aides observed his behaviour becoming increasingly erratic.
But it was after Obama became delusional that alarm grew amongst his staff. "It's all rather embarrassing actually. The President clearly believed himself to be in charge of, well, planning permission in Jerusalem."

It was then that White House staff had to face the fact that Obama was seriously ill. "At first I thought that he was just seriously stressed", states one source, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. "But then he got on the phone to the Israeli Ambassador and began issuing bizarre instructions." Specifically, confirms the aide, Obama ordered the Israeli Government to halt work on an apartment building near Sheikh
Jarrah.

"It was embarrassing to say the least", confides another aide. "There we are with people being killed on the streets of Iran, and there's Obama marching around the Oval Office, screaming down the phone
to Tel Aviv about this new block
of flats and demanding that it not go ahead!" And the aide continues, "It was apparent to everyone there that Obama was delusional. We had no choice but to organize the appropriate help for him."

Rumours suggest that Obama has been assessed by a consultant psychiatrist at the White House,
and that a regime of medication
has been set up. Although the details remain under wraps, rumours suggest that Obama is experiencing some form of obsessive compulsive disorder.

"This behaviour is sure troubling, no doubt about it", stated a member of the secret service. "Sometimes, in the early hours of the morning, our boys will come across the President wandering around, muttering and mumbling about that 'bloody Bibi'. We sure hope he gets better soon."

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Prime Minister, has conveyed his 'heartfelt wishes for Obama's speedy recovery' during a phone call with the Israeli
Ambassador. He is reported to have said: "I am truly sorry to
hear of Obama's difficulties. We will, of course, disregard his irrational demands over what Israelis can and can't do in the Israeli capital, Jerusalem. As far as I am concerned, it never happened and I won't mention it ever again. Our thoughts are with Obama and his family at this time."

Suki

American Thinker is on cracking form this weekend and thinks Hillary may splinter away from Obama and try to take a large block of the Jewish vote with her!

"You can't get to Obama's Left. So Hillary's first target is the Jewish vote, which looks ready to walk away from Obi. Hillary is giving them a choice - without the painful necessity of having to vote Republican. And the nice Jewish ladies in New York still love Hillary. They are hopeless."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/is_hillary_revolting.html

mifouf

Yes indeedy-boo. The One is indeed launching another deliberate insult at U.S. Jews. It helps to acclimate them to their poowerlessness and get them mentally ready to accept further destruction of U.S. support of Israel. It forces U.S. Jews to choose sides: whether to be Liberal or to be Jew. Most U.S. Jews are choosing to be Liberal, and therefore they go along with Obama. Just look at the policies that J Street advocates. You will not hear a peep from U.S. Jews about the egregious award of our most prestigious civilian award to Mary Robinson, aka Mrs Durbin1.

John West

Look, Obama wasn't ‘elected’ by American Jews, who constitute maybe 2% of the population, largely concentrated in states in the Northeast and along the Pacific coast that tend to vote Democratic anyway. Remember that under the American system the states pick the President, which is the meaning of the Electoral College that seems to so befuddle everybody.

Moreover, odds are that any Democrat would have won. Of modern American presidents who served two consecutive full terms, only Reagan succeeded in securing the election of an immediate successor of the same party (the previous instance was Ulysses S. Grant, who was succeeded by Rutherford B. Hayes in the disputed election of 1876). Neither Eisenhower nor Clinton were able to do it, despite each having retained substantial personal popularity upon leaving office. Plus, of course, Bush fils was highly unpopular and McCain arguably was the worst candidate since Michael Dukakis. No one who saw his eloquent and gracious concession statement could miss his palpable relief at not having been elected.

Eventually, America will vomit up Obama, for reasons having nothing to do with the Jews or Israel. The question—as someone notes above—is how much damage he will have caused in the interim.

Tony Allwright

Not content with insulting Jews, Mary Robinson then insulted the Irish people by aborting her term as president before full term simply because Koffi Annan made a better offer at the UN.

Actually anti-Semitism in Ireland is closely linked to anti-Unionism, especially in Northern Ireland. Thus the Star of David and the Union Jack fly together in one part of town while the Tricolour and Palestinian flag fly together in another.

Though this bigotry is less explicit in the South, the Republican movement has long been antipathetic to Jewry, and during WW2 surreptiously supported the anti-Jew Germans.

Thus Prime Minister De Valera famously signed his condolences on the death of Hitler in 1945.

More recently, a statue has just been reinstated in Dublin to the
IRA's Seán Russell, killed during WW2, which is
the only such monument in the EU which glorifies a wartime Nazi collaborator and stooge. 

So unfortunately, Mary Robinson's disgraceful behaviour doesn't attract much criticism in Ireland.

N

Timothy Howard, good point! I had a comment to say but read your post first; you are correct "Jewish" and "Israeli" are not the same thing. However, given that that Israel was founded as a Jewish state one can kind of assume that Jewish and Israeli are related.

Sheila

The uprising against Obama has spawned this poster that is appearing on street corners. Very funny.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/barack_obama_laughingstock.html

Alex Bensky

Mary Robinson once hit on the core problem with Israel: It was "too Jewish."

Curiously, I don't think she's identified being "too Irish" as one of Ireland's problems, criticized France for being "too French" or found fault with China for being "too Chinese."

Only Jewish nationalism incurs her scorn. It's a custom of critics of Israel to protest that their criticism is unfairly termed anti-Semitism, and I'm sure there's an innocent explanation why, out of all the peoples in the world, Ms. Robinson seems to have a problem only with Jewish nationalism. Anyone have any ideas as to what it might be?

ahad ha'amoratsim

Timothy Howard "Being Jewish is non synonymous with being Israeli." Very true. And Mary Robinson was one of the architects of the two Durban conferences, where people who hated Jews and not just Israel were given free rein to perpetrate hatred and lies that slandered Jews and Judaism under the guise of slandering Israel. Perhaps you were unaware of this fact.

ahad ha'amoratsim

By the way, Tim Howard, Obama is also a fan of Hugo Chavez, who in the guise of criticizing Israel has accused Venezeluan Jews of being standoffish, disloyal, deicides and part of an international banking conspiracy to weak Venezeula. See, I can tell the difference between anti-Jewish and anti-Israel. So can Melanie and so can most of the other supporters of Israel who post on this site. Apparently you cannot.

Ben

To Timothy Howard:
Being Jewish IS synonymous with being Israeli.
Every REAL JEWS has an eternal connection to the land of Israel
G-D's chosen tribe, G-D's chosen city...Jerusalem

Silvi

As an Irish person I can say, that when it comes to foreign affairs, the Irish haven't a clue and just want the plaudits that feel-good fuzzy 'do-goodery' bring. Pace Geldof and the soi-disant Bono. They are so unbelievably arrogant and naive.

Kevin

@Tony Allwright
I think any nation suffering attrocities at the hands of their oppressors would seek help from anyone willing to help them no matter what the cost. The fact that some of our countrymen looked for assistance from Germany to help us in our struggle against ENGLAND matters not. Do not say that Ireland is Anti-Semetic just because of this. In those times any country that was opposed to England was the better of two evils, because the attrocities commited in Ireland by the English are not that much differnt from those comitted by German Nazis. Ireland is not anti Jewish or anti Semetic..

Tony Allwright

So, Kevin (without a surname), England's atrocities against Ireland in the 1930s and 1940s were "not much different from those committed by the German Nazis", eh? Then where exactly were those English death camps where the Irish were gassed in their millions? And what cities did the English ethnically cleanse of all Irish inhabitants?

Look, you are entitled to love, worship and admire the Nazis, as enemies of England, all you like along with their collaborators and stooges whether Petain or Seán Russell. But you are really on shaky ground when you try to justify this by presuming moral equivalence between on the one hand the fascist regimes of the Axis powers and on the other the democratic Allies (including England), which - thank God - destroyed them in 1945.

As for anti-Semitism in Ireland, name me one Irish politician - just one - who is openly pro-Jew or pro-Israel. Actually there is one - Alan Shatter, but he is Ireland's only parliamentarian who is himself a Jew. All others know they would enrage most of their constituents were they to dare express pro-Zionist views, even if they had them.

PS - For the record, I am not a Jew.

Ardillaun

Melanie Phillips and her friends are getting more than a little carried away here. Let's just make a few facts clear about Mary Robinson and Ireland.

1. She has been a longtime opponent of the IRA - which is more than one can say for some her American critics like Peter King.

2. She cannot be held responsible for every event that occurred at Durban.

3. She has consistently condemned anti-semitism.

4. Ireland's history of sectarian strife is well-known. But to say it has been a hotbed of anti-semitism is ridiculous.
Not one Jew has been killed in Ireland in a sectarian attack. Not one, ever. How many other European countries can make that claim?

5. Ireland was not pro-Nazi during WWII. It was neutral but pro-Ally, as recently released documents show ever more clearly. Believe it or not, Ireland could not be any more friendly to Britain than it was without risking civil war. There was a small matter of seven centuries of armed occupation to bear in mind at the time.

Ardillaun

'As for anti-Semitism in Ireland, name me one Irish politician - just one - who is openly pro-Jew or pro-Israel.'

I can't name one who is but a few who were. One former Irish pol who was most definitely pro-Israel was Conor Cruise O'Brien who wrote a book on the subject. Another who was well regarded by some in the Jewish community was Michael McDowell. The Zionist For a Day award surely goes to Bertie Ahern (according to Rory Miller):

'In 1999, Ahern visited Israel and met Netanyahu. At the press conference he said Netanyahu had told him that with the Palestinians trying to murder Israelis, Israel should not give up land. Ahern said this position made sense to him.'

Ireland's neutrality in the Second World War was a product of her history. De Valera could not have fought alongside Britain even if he had wanted to. Instead Ireland was covertly pro-British, as the record shows on matters such as internees. This position vis-a-vis a former colonial ruler was fairly restrained compared to, say, Finland's to the Soviet Union.

Michael

Tom Durkin: Being obtuse hurts your ability to see the truth. Terrorists willfully attack women and children to cause as much death as possible. The IDF does not willfully attack civilians. It is the hamas terrorist group that uses civilians as human shields that causes their citizens to be killed. A HUGE difference and one any sane and unbiased observer would take note of. It is difficult for you though as you obviously believe the soldiers should kindly ask for the human shields to be moved out of the way before shooting. Oh wait a minute: The IAF drops leaflets in advance warning of pending attacks against hamas strongholds. I know, to somebody like you that is reminiscent of the Nazis dropping leaflets to create terror. In reality it hurts the Israeli army's chance of success and hamas prevents the people from leaving thus maintaining their human shield. But you keep on closing your eyes to the truth in order to justify your hatred. Mary Robinson does not deserve a medal: she deserves our scorn.

Joe Cohen

It appears we have elected a President with short memory that allows him to forget promises made to Israel. It appears he is anything but a friend to our only true ally in the Middle-East and the only country to stand by us should there ever be a need. If he continues to slap Israel in the face the best way to turn the other cheek is to make certain he is not reelected.

George Kende

For which eminencies and/or extraordinary human qualities was granted by President Obama the Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson?