Even Obama's ineptitude cannot mask his profound hostility

DanGrover

Surely the purpose of a bargaining chip is that you... use it to bargain with? If you're just going to keep it and never even consider giving up land to the 67 borders, then it isn't really a bargaining chip, it's just another hostile point of contention. I don't think the peace talks need more hostile point's of contention.

Truthtriumphs

We are where we are because of the reckless irresponsibility of former Israeli PMs, who gave away what was not theirs to give, with nothing in return.
The goalposts have been continually moved in the Arabs' favour, each time with resulting in increased hostility to the idea of peace with the Jewish state.

Krauthammer asks...
"whether this perverse and ultimately self-defeating policy is born of genuine antipathy toward Israel or of the arrogance of a blundering amateur..."

In obama's case, both are true.

A few short years ago, President Reagan said..
"As we look to the future of the West Bank and
Gaza, it is clear to me that peace cannot be achieved by the formation of an
independent Palestinian state in those territories".

Just so, and events in the intervening 29 years have proved him right.
Netanyahu should have gone much further in spelling out Israel's national interests, but it was, at least, a beginning.

Raymond D

I am convinced Obama DOES know of the existential danger facing Israel. Even more so, if he enforces a withdrawal to the 1948 /67 ceasefire lines. Trouble is, he does not particularly care. If Israel is causing to much "trouble", then, as far as he is concerned, they can all jump in the lake. Or the Mediterranean. Whichever is closest.What a man to have as president of the United States !

Stephen Rothbart

I really do not know what to make of Obama.

Even before he was elected President, I had read enough of his and Michele's close associations with Palestinian activists, and anti-Semites like Ayres and Farrakhan, as well as his preferred palce of worship and the odious Rev Wright, to know he was going to be no friend of Israel.

This became clearer when he started appointing his White House team and included Samantha Powers and Susan Rice to it.

Having read the piece by Stanley Kurtz, it is obvious that my original concerns were founded in fact.

But how can this man Obama be so very incompetent?

Since the very start of his Presidency he has blundered from one foreign policy disaster to another.

He leaves the radical clerics alone for a free pass to abuse their own people in Iran, and Syria, yet not in Saudia Arabia.

He calls for Mubarak to step down with immediate effect, but thinks Assad is a reformer to work with, with that grinning fool Hilary Clinton making contradictory announcements every few minutes.

It is a disaster.

No wonder the Arab world is fooled. I don't know where Obama stands anymore, and it is clear that nor do they?

With Bush's "you are either for us or against us" it was clear where he stood. They may have hated him, but his position was clear.

But who knows what the US foreign policy is now with Obama in charge?

Mubarak was a key ally for the US for 30 years, yet Obama dumped him. Assad and Iran were key enemies for 30 years, and Obama leaves them alone.

Obama tells the electorate in 2008 that Jerusalem must never be divided, then the next day says that it should be, and then denies it on ABC in an interview, saying he was misquoted, until his first speech was replayed and then, well, the Americans still voted him in, so what does telling the truth matter. Just as you look "cool" while you do it.

Like the financial markets, confidence is everything. If the news is good, you invest on the good news, if it is bad, you invest on the bad news. If you have no idea if the news is good or bad, you don't invest, because to do so is dangerous.

Obama's foreign policies are all over the place. No one knows what the hell is going on or who or what he stands for.

That is immensely dangerous for the world.

It takes a special kind of ineptness for a person to be the most pro-Islamic, pro-Palestinian American President the United States has ever had, and yet still be accused of being a Agent of Zionism.

It would be laughable, if it were not so dangerous to us all.

Raymond in DC

Obama acts as if the US is powerless to dissuade the Palestinians from policies it opposes or deems reckless. But that's not the case.

The US directly funds the Palestinians with hundreds of millions of dollars annually, plus a few hundred million indirectly through the UN - to fund UNRWA activities for example - not to mention specific aid projects, security assistance, scholarships, etc. Heck, Clinton even promised some $200 million to help close the Palestinian's "budget gap" - as if the US were operating in the black! Why doesn't Obama suggest such funding would be "reviewed" in light of Palestinian (mis)behavior?

In addition, the US upgraded the diplomatic standing of the PA's representatives some months back. Why isn't *that* put in jeopardy?

The simple fact is the US under Obama will not use the "soft power" instruments it has against the Palestinians, which means they have no motivation to change their behavior. The default position for this crew is to pressure Israel. It's a wonder that 12% of Israeli Jews still think Obama is "pro-Israel" when his inclination is clearly contrary.

Michael White

But you can't negotiate much if your only useful card is on the table at the start.

It's like George Osborne opening negotiations on the EU Rebate just after it's been publicized that it will be surrendered in full.

David Booth

The more one sees and hears of President Obama the more you realize what a duplicitous bastard he is. For short term political advantage and cheap sound-bites he would sell his own grandmother, of whom he appears to have quite a few! And because he is the darling of the Liberal press spearheaded by our very own BBC no one challenges him.
An example was when he signed the Book of Commemoration on his recent visit to the UK he put the year as 2008.
Can you imagine the what the press would have made if President Bush had made the same mistake.
The best I can say about President Obama is that he give "Snake Oil Salesmen" a bad name.

adam

The US has no real leverage over Syria or Iran, anything they do cannot embarrass the US. However Mubarak was different, he was an ally who got billions in aid, so anything he did had the potential to embarrass the US.

That's why the US had to let Mubarak go. but has no real leverage over Syria or Iran because they get nothing.

Netanyahu would also be best advised not to pull the tail of a US President so blatantly and publicly. There are many subtle ways a US President can get his revenge, which are not even noticeable to the untrained eye.

Always keep on good terms with a US President.

ahem

A clear warning to supporters of Israel from the Kurtz article:

"In 2013, with his political vulnerability a thing of the past, Obamaâ™s pro-Palestinian sympathies would be released from hibernation, leaving Israel without support from its indispensable American defender."

Archie

Very true, Miss Phillips. Perhaps Obama will overcome - or at least mask - his antipathy towards Israel, much as he has done with the UK? I for one am not holding my breath!

gary ashton

does any one have a link to the full text of Netanyahu's speech to congress, i'm having trouble finding it on the web. i think he made a great, simple and effective statement in it about asking the palestinians to state, 'israel has a right to exist' as a prerequisite to peace.

gary ashton

israel is another czechoslovakia for western leaders to sacrifice to the barbarian.

Andre

http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechcongress240511.htm

Will J

I presume you've seen the BBC reporting this morning? Most biased I've seen for some time. I sent the following comment to the BBC to complain, but since there's no chance of it being published there I though I'd post it here too:

You coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this morning is clearly heavily biased, with the Palestinians presented as the "goodies" and Israel as the "baddies". The Palestinians are associated wherever possible with the Arab Spring, the Israelis with oppressors, being characterised as being stuck in the past. Netanyahu's speech is headlined with the Palestinian reaction to it "dismay", rather than objectively, or with the enthusiastic American reaction to it. Jeremy Bowen presents Congress as simply biased. The Nakba is portrayed entirely from the Palestinian side. No mention is made, as usual, of the fact that in 1948 and 1967 Arabs were the agressors trying to destroy Israel, nor of the fact that the reason Israel is opposing the recent favourable treatment of Hamas is because Hamas continues to be committed to the destruction of Israel. These are not side issues but basic to understanding the conflict and why Israel (and America) acts as it does. By omitting to mention them you, seemingly deliberately, portray Israel and America as unreasonable and the Palestinians as simply fighting legitimately for a just cause. Please get some balance into your reporting, not least by not being so selective with the facts.

MikeW

Launching the cynical Cast Lead operation as a blatent test of obama's support for israel early days into his presidency it is suprising you expect much support at all. First impressions count, and israel didn't make a good one.

David

This would be the profound hostility that caused the Anti-Defamation League and Ehud Barak amongst others to welcome the speech?

A speech which in content matched a statement to which Netanyahu put his own name less than a year ago?

A set of principles with Israeli generals and previous Israeli leaders like Ariel Sharon subscribed to?

Presumably all the above were hostile to Israel?

Andy Gill

Obama is pinning his hopes on the risibly entitled Arab Spring, and believes that pressuring Israel and pouring billions into Egypt and Tunisia will bring the new regimes onside in the war on terror.

When extremist anti-American regimes in place cuddling up to Iran, he will be begging Israel's forgiveness.

Raymond Douglas

Well done , will j, for your complaint to the BBC about their reporting and Jeremy Bowen. I did a similar thing a few weeks ago. As usual, I got the bland brush off that is so typical of our beloved BEEB! Still, it was right that you protested.

Andre

gary ashton
does any one have a link to the full text of Netanyahu's speech to congress
Yes its at http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechcongress240511.htm
apologies for earlier non-explanatory post

gary ashton

andre
thank you. wow, it's a great speech, no wonder it's so difficult to find anywhere. all i heard were the edit soundbytes on the news that had no context without the rest of the speech.

Alex Bensky

Obama has made it clear he is no friend of Israel. I hope the Arabs and other haters of Israel, however, are not too encouraged by this. The Congress--and by the way, most of them from states that have few if any Jews--made it clear that they, and the American people, are pro-Israel.

Democratic Party leaders are now insisting that Israel shouldn't be a partisan issue in the next election. I can see why they'd want this.

Augustus

"...since the moment Obama burst upon the political stage, the evidence from his background, his friends and his mentors showed he shared the profound antipathy to Israel that is the boilerplate prejudice of the hard-left."

Very true! When he made a whirlwind visit to Israel he revealed abysmal ignorance of the region. Alluding then to the
Six-Day War of 1967 when Israel,
in a war of self-defense, gained
or actually regained Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights,
Obama admitted that Israel might
be justified in retaining parts of this land as a security buffer, but, he added that the
Israelis "got to consider whether getting this buffer is worth the antagonism of the other party." An astonishing and fallacious assumption that the core of the Israeli/Arab conflict is territorial, not ideological. Obama dismisses out of hand the stark evidence that a large majority of these Palestinian Arabs refuse to accept Israel's existence within any borders. And a majority of those even condone suicide attacks against Jews, believing, it seems, that to die when killing Jews is the greatest good, having been exalted to 'slay and be slain for Allah'. Obama chose ME advisers who trivialize the theological nature of the Islamic threat confronting, not just Israel, but the United States itself, choosing instead
to be a 'realist'. But he will learn too late, as somebody did before him, that appeasement has
dangerous consequences. This neophyte President who likes to pose as a 'realist', exchange experience for fluency and glibness, infatuated with his own oratory and demagogic slogans, may appeal to youth, or
people lacking knowledge of the adamant and harsh realities of international politics. People mindless of history and the enormity of evil confronting civilization. But as a President
of the United States he is proving a complete disaster, both for America and Israel.

Andrew

Obama is the Antichrist.

Luckily, under democratic control. As yet.

Gershon

@MikeW

Operation Cast Lead: December 27, 2008 – January 18, 2009

Obama's inauguration: January 20th, 2009

Shlomo

A pro-Israel Democrat needs to run against Obama in the 2012 Democratic Party primaries. As an American voter, I can neither abide Obama nor the Republican reactionaries.

MikeW

Gershon - made my point perfectly - operation and its aftermath designed to put pressure on obama in his first days...

Judd

Obama must be doing something right if he's 'offended' both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Smart guy.

Jerry

President Obama wishes to avoid the use of the US veto at the UN of the Palestinian state gambit because...

1) He must vote against a Palestinian state.
2) He does not wish to anger the Palestinians by voting against it.
3) He does not want to do anything that favors Israel
4) He wants to win the next election and cannot do so if he treats Israel like dirt in public. This was Obama's takeaway lesson from Netanyahu's visit.

Nathan

Oh please! This article and so many of the comments on it demonstrate terrible and utter naivete. No conflict can be resolved while both sides use the inflamed rhetoric and one-sided approach to history which we see in this article and so much that is said and written by both Israelis and Palestinians and their "supporters". Peace can only come when there is a willingness to humbly face past truths and stop thinking of each other as "the mortal enemy". Sadly, both sides in this conflict see such a position as weakness, and so they dig deeper trenches for themselves and graves for their children. "We are right." "We are good." The mottos of those who will never make peace.

Therefore it is inevitable that Obama, in seeking and suggesting sensible compromises which could be made, will upset both sides. They both want him unequivocably on THEIR side. They think that then they will WIN. But there will be no winning here. The only hope of peace lies in compromise. Obama, in pointing this out, is speaking the only truth available, and I admire him for it. No wonder the leaders of both sides dislike him. He is demonstrating how mad and self-aggrandising their policies are. Speaking the truth is not ineptitude, it is the only honourable action available to a leader who will be criticised whatever he does (or if he does nothing).

Daulat Ram

I just cannot understand what all the fuss is about.

What do Jews amd Christians really have to lose when the Muslims take over?

Is not Islam the sister of Christianity and the daughter of Judaism? Do not Muslims venerate Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Job (Ayoub), John the Baptist (Yahya), Jesus (Isa) and Mary?

Does not Islam uphold monotheism and the Mosaic creed with utmost fervour?

Do not Muslims endorse the Jewish dietary code?

What on earth is the big battle about? If you are vanquished it will be by one of your own selves.

I have plenty to worry about in an Islamic triumph. But then, I am Hindu idolator and polytheist.

Derek BLADES

President Obama has shown no hostility whqatsoever towards Israel. On the contrary, he he is trying to rescue Israel from the suicidal path towards a one-party aparthdeid state on which Netanyahu and his right-wing religious whackos are now embarked.

David Cameron and the leaders of other EU states understand the dangers as well as Obama does.

Stephen Rothbart

Nathan, is speaking the truth saying how you stand for the freedoms of liberty and democracy, applauding the Libyan and Tunisian revolutions and the Egyptian revolution (where you demand it's leader stands down immediately), but doing nothing against similar oppression in Iran, Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia?

Please do not allocate a moral superiority to Obama, he none.

Obama is just like any President dealing with real politik. He has to avoid upsetting his allies for oil and where he has no power.

But in chosing to side with the dissidents where he can be seen to take the moral high ground, and leaving the violent despots alone, in fact for a while even praising Assad and leaving his Ambassador there, he just shows himself to be a dangerous hypocrite.

Better to have kept quiet than make a fool of himself.

The message he has sent out to the Arab world is that the United States is not trustworthy and a fickle friend.

Diplomatically he is a disaster to the region. He has managed in a matter of 2 years to upset the Israelis and the Palestinians, the pro and anti-Gaddaffi forces in Libya, Egypt and the anti-Assad Syrians.

His only "friends" now in the region are Iran, who can now see him as weak and ineffectual, Syria (ditto), and Saudi Arabia because they know the world needs their oil.

If you can judge a man by his friends, well.....

Thank you Nathan for the first sensible comment on this wholly despicable blog.

I have tried twice without success to say in my own words what you have said much better. Peace be with you.

Robert Bruce Lewis

And, Nathan most of the Israeli people agree with OBAMA not Melanie Phillips.

Okey

The 1922 lines should be the starting point of any negotiations between Israel and the Arabs of The Land of Israel.

Augustus

Derek Blades - Try suggesting relocating half a million Muslims and see what a fuss people like you would make then!

JOHN ROOSEVELT

What is so damning about the way Obama pontificates about the conflict in the Middle East is that he seemingly betrays any sense of history.

However one interprest the the rectitutde of the competing claims to Palestine, one thing is perfectly clear and very pertinent to any serious dialogue about peace i.e. the Arab position has always been largely defined by Islamism and the rhetoric used by the Arabs and muslims has always been consistent.

Salient elements in the rhetoric - all present in Arab leadership speeches since the the rise of Fascism in Europe - are:

- the Jews have no place at all in Palestine.

- all the Jews should be killed

- the Jews are a venal race

- the jews are worse than Nazis

- there will never be peace whilst the Jew remains in Palestine

- there should be an indpendent, democratic, state for the Arabs, only, in all of Palestine.

- the arabs have a sacred duty to declare jihad against the Jews and their supporters.

It's extraorodinary, that the Arabs have always had an ear for the ideological sound bytes that have appealed to the West. In an ocean of appalling totalitarianism, the independent Palestine was always spoken of as if it would be an oasis of democracy. They Arab propagand has not really changed at all over 70 years - Jihad, genocide, democracy...and few - on any side - have ever spoken of anything but "solutions" based on ethnic "cleansing".

In this context, Obama's sanctimonious posturing re the '67 lines is as crass as it is insidious...and he must expect the Jews, not to mention anyone who doesn't sympathize with Arab calls to genocide - to object (unless he is truly an ingenue Weatherman)

Here is what a top Arab official said. You have to be a brave betting man to put money on when it was said - last week? In 1967? 1947? 1922?:

"TO THE ARAB PEOPLES YOU ARE NOT AN EXISTING FACT - YOU, THE JEWS, ARE A TEMPORARY PHENOMENON. CENTURIES AGO, THE CRUSADERS ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES IN OUR MIDST AGAINST OUR WILL. AND IN TWO HUNDRED YEARS, WE EJECTED THEM...UP THE VERY LAST MOMENT AND BEYOND, THEY (THE ARABS) WILL FIGHT TO PREVENT ...YOUR STATE...THEY WILL NEVER RECOGNISE IT..THEY WILL NEVER MAKE PEACE".

Step right up! Place your bets! Place your bets!

George

@Robert Bruce Lewis

That is demonstrably not true. The majority of the left wing Israel press agrees with Obama. The majority of the Israeli people agree with Netanyahu.

JOHN ROOSEVELT

Derek Blades: "On the contrary, he he is trying to rescue Israel from the suicidal path towards a one-party aparthdeid state on which Netanyahu and his right-wing religious whackos are now embarked."

What? "One party, apartheid state"? Are you serious?

Are you trying to make a distinction, here? You are suggesting that Israel is in danger of becoming something different from EVERY single Arab state or state-to-be in the region - even if this were true?

Are you suggesting that the Arabs have not ALWAYS wanted an exclusively Arab/Muslim state in Palestine and even the British and the UN always planned for as much of a separation of the Arabs and Jews in Palestine as possible in any envisaged solution?

You are a shamelessly propagandistic nit-wit.

Go to the back of the class - IMMEDIATELY!!

JOHN ROOSEVELT

Robert Bruce Lewis
May 29th, 2011 11:34am
And, Nathan most of the Israeli people agree with OBAMA not Melanie Phillips."

..and the dish ran away with the spoon...

Truthtriumphs

Robert Bruce Lewis
May 29th, 2011 11:34am

"And, Nathan most of the Israeli people agree with OBAMA not Melanie Phillips."

Rubbish.
Your source produces no evidence...just the usual dissembling from the so-called 'peace now' fraternity to serve its own agenda.

Truthtriumphs

Okey
May 29th, 2011 11:40am

"The 1922 lines should be the starting point of any negotiations between Israel and the Arabs of The Land of Israel".

And end point.

Raymond in DC

Alex Bensky writes, "The Congress--and by the way, most of them from states that have few if any Jews--made it clear that they, and the American people, are pro-Israel."

I read a report this morning from someone visiting a family member in a Veterans hospital in the US. The TVs were tuned to Netanyahu's speech, and the wounded soldiers, their families, and uniformed officers were cheering Netanyahu's words along with the Congress. And it wasn't just the references to American exceptionalism - something Obama doesn't really believe in - they were cheering.

Clearly Obama does not represent the American consensus, which is overwhelmingly favorable to Israel.

Truthtriumphs

Nathan.

"The only hope of peace lies in compromise."

Problem is, compromise is a one way street in this ongoing war...only expected from and delivered by Israel.
Name one iota of compromise delivered by the Arabs.

It's people like you who think you're so reasonable, who make the world a dangerous place, because they allow the tyrannical their tyranny.

Why don't you listen to Chamberlain giving his "peace in our time" address to the British people after he returned from his meeting with Hitler....it's on YouTube?
It brings home the folly of the man, and people like you, more powerfully, than just reading it.

Thomas

All the faithful workers in the hasbara hive are busy buzzing away to patch up the damage thought to have been done by the US President, who has in fact not strayed from standard US doublespeak. The buzzing tells us more about the paranoia of the hive than about any shift in US policy.

David Knowles

He may be sincere toward the Palestians. The problem is that Obarma lack the balls to confront Israel and there congress puppets, he had the chance last year to deliver a stern message to the Israelis that he would not accept there position by obtaining or even voting for UN resolution, he vetoed it.

He seem to only care about his political survival, and it appears that no matter what believes he will sacrifice those believes if its suites him politically.

If he really cared for the Palestinians he would not be backing away from pressuring the Israelis, he be increasing it every chance he gets, he would embarrassed the Israeli prime minister on TV, the primister left himself open to several attacks if Obarma chose to take them. But again this would damage his political position so he did not.
I can see why the Palestinians have given up on Obarma, an unless he playing a clever game and will turn on the Israelis come September. I some how doubt it.

Augustus

MikeW -
"Gershon - made my point perfectly - operation and its aftermath designed to put pressure on obama in his first days..."

You show complete ignorance of the 2008/9
Operation Cast Lead. This was nothing whatsoever to do with Obama's election, but
a reaction to the thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centres, often targeting, btw, Israeli children on their way to school. Israel has the right under international law to take a proportionate response (i.e. a response commensurate with the overall threat to it's security and welfare) to attacks on its territory and citizenry. And looking at the bigger picture
as a whole, you, or anyone else for that matter, will find it very hard to deny that
all the social problems that Palestinian Arabs have experienced during the last six decades were the direct result of Arab nations not wanting to accept them as brothers in their countries, rather than any mistreatment that Israel has done to them.

Truthtriumphs

David Knowles
May 29th, 2011 8:24pm

"He may be sincere toward the Palestians. The problem is that Obarma lack the balls to confront Israel and there congress puppets"

Your grasp of the realities of the I/P conflict is of the same order as your grasp of grammar and spelling.

Adam B.

Niall Ferguson tells the usual Obama adorers in the media a few home truths:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvhaAO2Q17c

David Pakter

"Every cloud has its silver lining" as the saying goes and the clouds hanging over the present and very sad White House situation are no exception.

Come the next US Presidential election, regardless of who seems to possess the most intelligence and integrity to deal with the Mid East situation honestly, even handedly and transparently, he/she will know what the American people are looking for and will respect and expect and he/she will be mindful to keep his/her promises vis a vis Israel's right to exist or know that he/she will never see a "second term".

That seems the case now regarding US President Obama and I rather doubt that there is very much the present President can do at this point to alter that sad fact.

"Sorry" does not make it and backtracking, equivocating and/or trying to explain and re-explain his position/s will only make things worse for him at this point.

I grew up on the tougher streets of New York City where I was once informed a certain well known criminal organization kept to a rather rigid code of expected behavior re enforcing loyalty to that organization.

They simply never waivered in the belief that "once is a habit". In short a man who betrays the organization, even once, regardless of the reason/s, has proven he has the "capicity" to betray and thus could easily do so again and again and again.

I voted for this President and gave of my hard earned treasure to support his being elected.

I thought he understood the dangers that surround Israel. I have been sorely disappointed and the love is now gone.

Perhaps Obama really does mean well but that will not save Jewish lives in the trenches during the next Mid East war.

"Once is a habit" and Israel's survival is too important to leave to a roll of the dice.

As he is the first of his tribe to win the White House I am quite grieved that his "advisers" have steered him in the wrong direction, over and over again. Perhaps by some miracle he can still save his ship but frankly the odds are against that happening.

No one at this point really believes what he says when he speaks about the Middle East- his words always ring hollow, even theatrical and forced.

As President Lincoln long ago so wisely stated:

"You can fool some of the people all the time
And all of the people some of the time;
But you cannot fool all of the people all of the time".

I prayed with all my heart that this man would not become a one term President.

But he has set back so many different things all simultaneously that my heart weeps.

It is a tragedy in every single respect, all the way around. And not just for Israel and the Palestinians but not least of all -for Barack Obama himself.

Rob-NY

Why is America always tasked with the role of peace broker in this conflict when they should be taking sides? Israel today is the most important and valuable ally of the United States with strong cultural, historical and diplomatic alliances. In stark contrast the Palestinian leadership has supported every enemy the USA has had from Hitler to Saddam Hussein to Gaddafi and everyone in between. Their people celebrated on 9/11 and mourned when OBL was dispatched. The Palestinians get more aid than any other group of people on earth and perhaps that is the problem.

Okey

Thomas, you have used the metaphor of "busy bees" to characterise the Zionist posters on this site.

Why no mention, however, of the anti-Zionist vipers?

Augustus

Davis Pakter - I enjoyed your post. Now that
the border of Gaza with Egypt has been re-
opened, with all the danger of Hamas able to smuggle as many powerful rockets as it wants, and with elections in Egypt coming up in September with the Muslim Brotherhood destined to finish up with a strong influence in Egyptian politics, I wonder, if there is a coming war with Israel, just how Obama will react. Will he act decisively? I doubt it. More likely he will wait and see how it plays out, and
prevaricate. Such a situation, and it is by no means an unthinkable one, requires a determined and committed president to take Israel's side against terrorist foes. But in any event, one thing's for sure, the cold peace between Egypt and Israel has come to an end.

Combatlogo

Obama should finally face down AIPAC and the rest of the Israel-first lobby and cut Israel loose - no more taxpayers' dollars and no more US lives wasted in a Neo-Con crusade for the country to which their owe their true allegiance.

Raymond in DC

Robert Bruce Lewis writes, "And, Nathan most of the Israeli people agree with OBAMA not Melanie Phillips." Juan Cole is a propagandist and a third rate scholar, and the polling he quotes is bogus.

Polling conducted last week revealed that only 12% of Israeli Jews believe Obama is pro-Israel, while some 42% believe he's pro-Palestinian. Whatever some prominent Jews (like Haim Saban) say about Obama coming to Israel to make his case are wasting their time. Israelis have already taken a measure of the man and found him wanting. No speech he can give will negate his actions (or lack of same).

Even this week at the G8, Obama tried to force a reference to the "1967 lines" into the consensus statement; Canada made sure that didn't happen. Obama wants Israel to settle the border and security issues and only later, maybe, when Israel has little to bargain with, to discuss Jerusalem and refugees.

I can't believe so many of my fellow Jews still support this poseur. What will he do if he's reelected and loses all constraints?

MikeW

Augustus, ignorant as I may be, the fact that its always tempting to justify such events by putting them in as wide a context as possible. Unfortunately it has the effect of clouding the point - demonstrated by the other posters that have allowed it to decend into the same circular argument we hear time and again. The point was not to solve the entire problem in the middle east and bring world peace, it was about Obama and his approach to israel.

I put forward that those thousands of missiles fired (deplorable actions I wholeheartedly agree) were not a new development. I believe that the timing of that particular operation was carefully timed to simultaneously capitalise on the impotence of the outgoing administration and test the response of the new. Alas it did not get the outcome Israel hoped for.

Okey

Combatlogo: yeah, don't "give" Israel all those dollars.
Instead, hand them out to all those great friends of the USA: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Hamas et al., and embrace even more firmly those true American patriots such as CAIR, Van Jones, Michael Moore, Samantha Powers, Bill Ayers et al.
I hope you'll be happy with the consequences, dude.

Edward in the USA

Combatlogo May 30th, 2011 12:49pm,

Are you still upset that your side surrendered unconditionally to the US, UK and SU?

Stewie

Lets think laterally. Israel might be the ancestral home of biblical stories, but really, it's a desert with few resources and it's surrounded by the *most* unpleasant of people.
Jews, take up you skills, your money, your business acumen and decamp. Move all 7 million to the State of California. It has *so* much more going for it. We only need the Middle East until their cheapest oil is consumed, then let it slide back into the sand.
Your supporters in Corporate and Political America will welcome you. Ordinary Americans will welcome you. The Mexicans in CA are such lovely respectful hard working people, you will get along real well with them. And if you are addicted to transforming deserts the USA has plenty of empty space to practice on.
Get it on!

Truthtriumphs

Stewie
May 31st, 2011 3:09pm

"Lets think laterally. Israel might be the ancestral home of biblical stories, but really, it's a desert with few resources and it's surrounded by the *most* unpleasant of people.
Jews, take up you skills, your money, your business acumen and decamp. Move all 7 million to the State of California".

That is hilarious....I love it, and in a sense you're quite right.

But seriously, doesn't it just show the real and timeless connection the Jews have to the land, and that despite all, it is their only real home, a place in which they can live without the fear of eviction, dependent on the prevailing zeitgeist of the host population?

Etabori

Obama is not a friend of Israel. He just wants to get reelected.

Stewie

Truthtriumphs
May 31st, 2011 4:24pm

I agree they have a long connection to the current lands of Israel but come on, it isn't a natural holiday destination.
The USA is the second (modern) home of the people of Israel and I think they should cut a deal to move there, one and all. America needs them too, to reverse their economic and industrial decline (and sideline Democrats).
Just as long as they leave any collectivism or wishy washy marxist ideas back in the sand. Oh, and leave the religious extremists, you know those ones who won't work or fight, to battle it out alone with Hamas.

Edward in the USA

Stewie said:

"The USA is the second (modern) home of the people of Israel and I think they should cut a deal to move there, one and all."

That's like saying London is the second (modern) home of the people of Pakistan.

Jason Barker.

Last week I visited in North Wales the Museum of Lloyd George, one time British Prime Minister. I could not but notice some details about Israel with this comment about the 1967 six day war. It mentioned that Israel had only regained land that they had lost during another conflict back in 1949. If this is the case then it is another good reason why we should oppose Obama.

fivish

Obama like most lefties does not have any time for international law and treaties when they contain inconvenient tuths. Truths such as Israels right to all the land west of the Jordan river. Truths such as the denyal of Arab political rights west of the Jordan river.
Truths such as Jordan is Palestine!

An American

David Parker,

It always surprises me that intelligent people like yourself voted for Obama and are now disillusioned with him. He told the American people exactly what he planned to do with his 'change'...yet you didn't listen.

Weren't you concerned when he raised his arms like a Messiah and proclaimed that he would lower the seas as his adoring followers fainted by the dozens? Didn't that ring an alarm for you?

Everything that I wrote on Melanie's blog over two years ago about Obama has come true.

This dangerous socialist ideologue has done a good job of pushing the US to the brink of no return. His plan was to destroy and rebuild his socialist paradise. And only the Teaparty has stopped him.

Obama and Hillary have ruined absolutely everything that previous US presidents accomplished in the Middle East. They have given us an Islamic winter with a future nuclear holocaust in our future.

But I also blame the Davids of the world. And no amount of regret will make me forgive you.