Netanyahu, Obama’s newest prop

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The Democratic Party is feeling the heat for US President Barack Obama’s hostility towards Israel. In an interview with Channel 10 earlier this month, Democratic Party mega-donor Haim Saban characterized the Obama administration as ideologically aligned with the radical Left and harshly criticized its treatment of Israel.

 

Both Ma’ariv and Yediot Aharonot reported this week that Democratic congressmen and senators are deeply concerned that the administration’s harsh treatment of Israel has convinced many American Jews not to contribute to their campaigns or to the Democratic Party ahead of November 2’s mid-term elections. They also fear that American Jews will vote for Republican challengers in large numbers.

 

It is these concerns, rather than a decision to alter his positions on Israel specifically and the Middle East generally, that now drive Obama’s relentless courtship of the American Jewish community. His latest move in this sphere was his sudden invitation to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to visit him at the White House for a “warm reception” in front of television cameras next Tuesday.

 

It is clear that electoral worries rather than policy concerns are behind what the White House has described as a “charm offensive,” because since launching this offensive a few weeks ago, Obama not changed any of his policies towards Israel and the wider Middle East. In fact, he has ratcheted up these policies to Israel’s detriment.

 

TAKE HIS goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. On Friday, the UN’s monthlong Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is scheduled to adopt a consensual resolution before adjourning. According to multiple media reports, Israel is set to be the focus of the draft resolution that will likely be adopted.

 

The draft resolutions being circulated by both Egypt and the US adopt Egypt’s demand for a nuclear-free Middle East. They call for a conference involving all countries in the region to discuss denuclearization. The only difference between the Egyptian draft and the US draft on the issue is that the Egyptians call for the conference to be held in 2011 while the US calls for the convening of the conference in 2012-2013. The draft resolution also calls for all states that are not members of the NPT – Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea – to join the NPT as non-nuclear powers.

 

So while Iran is not mentioned in the draft resolution – which must be adopted by consensus – in two separate places, Israel’s purported nuclear arsenal is the target of an international diplomatic stampede.

 

In 2005, Egypt circulated a draft resolution that was substantively identical to its current draft. But in stark contrast to today’s conclave, the NPT review conference in 2005 ended without agreement, because the Bush administration refused to go along with Egypt’s assault on Israel.

 

Particularly in light of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and the Iranian regime’s expressed goal of destroying Israel, the Bush administration preferred to scuttle the conference rather than give any credence to the view that Israel’s purported nuclear arsenal is a greater threat to global security than Iran’s nuclear program – which, as in today’s draft, wasn’t mentioned in Egypt’s resolution five years ago. The Obama administration has no problem going along with Cairo.

 

Obama’s willingness to place Israel’s nuclear program on the international agenda next to Iran’s is par for the course of his utterly failed policy for contending with Iran’s nuclear program. After his diplomatic open hand policy towards Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was met with a clenched fist, Obama’s attempt to convince the UN Security Council to pass “smart sanctions” against Iran has been checkmated by Iran’s nuclear deal with its newest strategic allies, Turkey and Brazil.

 

That deal, which facilitates rather than impedes Teheran’s nuclear weapons program, has ended any prospect that the Security Council will pass an additional sanctions resolution against Iran in the near future. But then, in order to secure the now weakened Russian support for his sanctions resolution, Obama exempted Russia from the sanctions and turned a blind eye to continued Russian and Chinese nuclear proliferation activities in Syria, Turkey and Pakistan. Furthermore, Obama agreed to make most of the remaining provisions non-binding.

 

In the meantime, and in spite of the fact that his sanctions bid is in shambles, Obama has asked congressional Democrats to stall their sanctions bills for another month. So, too, Obama prevailed on his Democratic colleagues in Congress to exempt Russia and China from their sanctions bills.

 

AS PART of the administration’s attempt to woo American Jews back into the Democratic Party fold despite its anti-Israel policies, last week a group of pre-selected pro-Obama rabbis was invited to the White House for talks with Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and with Dan Shapiro and Dennis Ross, who hold the Palestinian and Iran dossiers on Obama’s National Security Council, respectively. According to a report of the meeting by Rabbi Jack Moline that has not been refuted by the White House, the three men told the Democratic rabbis that the administration has three priorities in the Middle East. First Obama seeks to isolate Iran. Second, he seeks to significantly reduce the US military presence in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. And third, he seeks to resolve the Palestinian conflict with Israel.

 

These priorities are disturbing for a number of reasons. First, isolating Iran is not the same as preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. By characterizing its goal as “isolating” Iran, the administration makes clear that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is not its goal. Moreover, as Iran’s deal with Brazil and Turkey makes abundantly clear, Iran is not isolated. Indeed, its foreign relations have prospered since Obama took office.

 

In his write-up of the meeting, Moline indicated that Ross and Emanuel view Obama’s rejection of Israel’s right to build homes for Jews in Jerusalem as motivated by his goal of isolating Iran. So in the view of Obama’s Jewish advisers, his preferred method of isolating Iran is to attack Israel.

 

Add that to his third priority of establishing a Palestinian state by the end of next year and you have a US president for whom bashing Israel is his first and third priority in the Middle East.

 

When one factors in his willingness to put Israel’s purported nuclear arsenal on the international chopping block, it is clear that there is no precedent for Obama’s hostility towards Israel in the history of US-Israel relations.

 

THIS BRINGS us to Obama’s meeting next Tuesday with Netanyahu. Obama’s continued commitment to his anti-Israel policies indicates that there are two possible scenarios for next week’s meeting. In the best case, the meeting will have no substance whatsoever. It will be nothing more than a public display of presidential affection for the Israeli premier.

 

The more likely scenario is that Obama will use the meeting as an opportunity to pressure Netanyahu not to attack Iran’s nuclear installations; not to attack Hizbullah’s and Syria’s missile depots, launchers and silos; and to extend the prohibition on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria beyond its September deadline and expand the prohibition to Jewish home construction in Jerusalem.

 

Regarding the latter scenario, it can only be
hoped that Netanyahu has learned from his previous experiences with Obama. In December, in the hopes of alleviating US pressure, Netanyahu announced an unprecedented 10-month ban on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria. For his efforts, Netanyahu was rewarded with an escalation of American pressure against Israel.

 

After he pocketed Netanyahu’s concession on Judea and Samaria, Obama immediately launched his poisonous assault on Israeli rights to Jerusalem.

 

Likewise, Netanyahu’s willingness to outwardly support both Obama’s effort to appease Iran and his efforts to pass anti-Iran sanctions in the Security Council gained Obama a year and a half of quiet from Jerusalem. During that time, Iran has moved within months of the bomb and the US has abandoned its goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

 

This experience has one clear lesson: If Obama seeks policy concessions from Israel during their meeting, Netanyahu must reject his entreaties. In fact, it may even be counterproductive for Netanyahu to abstain from responding in the hopes of buying time.

 

If on the other hand, Obama avoids discussion of substantive issues and devotes his meeting with Netanyahu to a discussion of Michelle Obama’s war on obesity, Netanyahu should consider what Obama did to the family of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl while the president signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act last week.

 

Pearl was decapitated in 2002 by jihadists in Pakistan. Among other things, his killers claimed he had no right to live because he was Jewish. At the ceremony, Obama barred Pearl’s father, Judea Pearl, from speaking. In so doing Obama reduced Daniel Pearl’s family to the status of mere props as Obama vapidly and reprehensibly proclaimed, “Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world’s imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is.”

 

This appropriation of Pearl’s murder and denial of what it represented served Obama’s purpose of pretending that there is no jihad and that radical Islam is not a threat to the US. And by silencing Pearl’s father, the president turned him into an unwilling accomplice.

 

Netanyahu should take two lessons from Obama’s behavior at the ceremony. First, Netanyahu must do everything he can to avoid being used as a prop. This means that he should insist on having a joint press briefing with Obama. He must also insist on having a say regarding which journalists will be included in the press pool and who will be permitted to ask the two leaders questions.

 

Second, Netanyahu must not become Obama’s spokesman. As part of his unsuccessful bid to convince Obama to change his policies towards Israel, Netanyahu and his advisers have gone on record praising Obama for his support for Israel. These statements have stymied attempts by Israel’s US supporters to pressure Obama to change those policies.

 

The Israeli official who has been most outspoken in his praise for Obama and his denial that Obama’s policies are hostile towards Israel has been Ambassador Michael Oren. Oren has repeatedly praised Obama for his supposedly firm support for Israel and commitment to Israel’s security – most recently in an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday. Moreover, according to eyewitness reports, in a recent closed-door meeting with American Jews, Oren criticized the Republican Party for attacking Obama for his animosity towards Israel.

 

This quite simply has to end. As foreign officials, Israeli diplomats should not be involved in US partisan politics. Not only should Israeli officials not give Obama undeserved praise, they should not give Republicans undeserved criticism.

 

At the end of the day, American Jews have the luxury of choosing between their loyalty to the Democratic Party and their support for Israel. And in the coming months, they will choose.

 

The government of Israel has no such luxury. The government’s only duty is to secure Israel and advance Israel’s national interests in every way possible. Netanyahu must not permit Obama’s public relations campaign to divert him from this mission.

 

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

 

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36 Comments

  • Terry, Eilat - Israel 05/28/2010 at 10:40

    I saw Ambassador Oren on Fox – I almost threw up at this obnoxious display of diplomatic double-talk & outright misrepresentation.
    I think most informed people understand the duplicitous nature of Obama’s ”charm offensive” & find it merely offensive. He takes us for fools but the sad fact is that many Jews are exactly that – fools. And not just American Jews, Israelis are perhaps bigger fools.
    I expect nothing from Netanyahu, most certainly not any real courage in standing up to Obama. Netanyahu will continue the charade, Obama will succeed in using him as a prop (or should I say a dupe). Netanyahu will be used & abused & become a tool while the liberal idiot Jews in America will continue their willing self-deception that all is well.
    I’m not going to say more – suffice it to say that I have no hope in our future.

    Reply
  • Anonymous 05/28/2010 at 12:22

    Not to worry, Caroline.
    Mr. Obama and his army of Mexican illegals are digging his presidency’s oily grave just as quickly as they can. Ariba!

    Reply
  • Marc Handelsman, USA 05/28/2010 at 12:34

    Prime Minister Netanyahu has enormous pressure on him from the Obama Administration. The Prime Minister may tell President Obama what he wants to hear. However, Israel is planning for war with Iran and its proxies. Israel will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and there will not be compromise on that issue. As to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Mr. Netanyahu may make unwise compromises to appease Mr. Obama. An inevitable regional war is coming soon to the Middle East, and Israel will be the ultimate victor in spite of defeatists.

    Reply
  • zsa 05/28/2010 at 12:53

    What’s the point of supporting Israel when their leaders are doing everything to aid the people who would destroy them? I have no connection to Israel, but I’ve supported Israel and defended it because of the difference between right and wrong. As with anything in life at some point you question, what’s the point of trying to help someone or something that doesn’t want to be helped? Maybe the energy is best served elsewhere.

    Reply
  • Marcel 05/28/2010 at 13:40

    Netanyahu is the perpetual,enduring,immutable prop who has snookered his followers since day one.
    He’s so proud of his accomplishment of seducing his loyal idiots that an air of smugness follows him wherever he goes.
    How can you expect the sock puppet not to be what he is ?
    Amb. Oren and Defense Minister Barak are a reflection of their boss and his treatment of those who protested ‘Rham the Damned’s visit to Jerusalem and the continuing abuse of Zionist known as settler’s is who Netanyahu is.
    His arrogance and prop use of his core supporters in service to a failed foreign agenda that endangers Israel’s survival is factual and historic. If you think he will act differently than he has always done ,by now you should feel very low,cheap and used by the old sock puppet or has the smelly sock got you mesmerized ?

    Reply
  • bruce 05/28/2010 at 15:29

    caroline you can not believe any thing that comes out of president bongos mouth as he is a pathological liar.he hates white people,jews and america just look at the hate cult he belonged to with “rev”.wright, who before taking over a chicago church was a member of Farrakhan’s nation of pisslam.he never mentioned god in his so called sermons unless it was to say god dam america and israel or spout marxist bull sh*t.you should watch glen beck on fox news to see what is going on in this country and how we are waking up to the treason of the national socialist democrats.for get bongo he is pisslam ass wipe defend your self start by rooting all the muslims out of Gaza and Judea Sumeria.flatten syria and lebanon then iran any way you can.

    Reply
  • Steve 05/28/2010 at 16:04

    With Michael Oren, Ehud Barak, and Shimon Peres speaking for Israel’s foreign policy of Dhimmitude I wonder where Avigdor Lieberman is in all this. Just another opportunistic politician no doubt. I expect Bibi the Dhimmi will help put lipstick on Abu Bama’s pig and find stealthy ways of obeying his lord and master.

    Reply
  • TheRightsOfMan 05/28/2010 at 17:57

    I am dismayed to say that Netanyahu has shown himself to be almost humble when dealing with Barry Soetoro (aka Obama). What happened to the ‘take no prisoners’, heroic leader that Israelis thought they elected and need so desperately. Does he not see that BHO will betray Israel in favor of any third world islamo-fascist dictator? I see nothing good coming from his trip to Washington.

    Reply
  • Sue 05/28/2010 at 21:22

    Terry
    I urge you not to let ‘no hope’ be your end point. I agree with you- watching this play out is completely depressing; where are Israeli leaders with vision and backbone and the willingness to act? The thing is, and I know how this sounds in a secular world, the God of Israel made eternal covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob over the land of Israel…and they are just that. Eternal. There is no end point at which God says the land no longer belongs to the Jews. All of it. Jerusalem too. All of it.
    However bleak it looks, Israel is here to stay. God has a plan for the world with Israel and Jerusalem at the very heart of it. In His perfect timing, He will step in. It’s my belief that the way God will step in to save Israel will have us all awestruck. So hold on.

    Reply
  • Geoffrey Britain 05/28/2010 at 21:37

    “Israel will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and there will not be compromise on that issue.”
    According to military experts, Israel lacks the needed resources to mount an effective attack upon Iranian nuclear facilities using conventional arms. If that’s true, and that appears to be the consensus among experts, then only an Israeli first-strike, nuclear attack can stop Iran.
    But that’s not going to happen because it’s a political non-starter.
    Were Israel to launch a first strike nuclear attack, the repercussions would destroy Israel.
    Obama would have his excuse and would eagerly participate in a world-wide economic blockade and embargo of Israel.
    Israel can survive the cutting off of American aid.
    Israel cannot survive a total economic blockade and embargo.
    That is the first of many realities Israel must face.
    Obama isn’t going to lift a finger to stop Iran, he’s already decided that he can live with a nuclear Iran.
    Which means Iran is going to get the bomb.
    Israel is going to have to figure out how to live with it too.
    That’s the next reality Israel must accept.
    Israel has already proven that she can withstand conventional armies and conventional attacks.
    It is a nuclear attack upon Israel, direct or terrorist, which poses a mortal danger to Israel.
    Israel’s liberal left will stick their heads in the sand and propose acceptance of conditions that will lead to Israel’s surrender and dissolution or genocidal extermination.
    Between the Israeli left and Islam, the left is the far greater threat because they are blocking the implementation of effective defensive strategies.
    That is the third reality Israel must accept.
    There is only one effective strategy for dealing with a nuclear Iran and nuclear Islamic terrorism.
    That is the fourth reality Israel must accept.
    That strategy accepts that if necessary, Islam will continue to throw logistical resources at Israel, for the next 1000 yrs.
    That strategy recognizes that Israel is under assault from Islam, that ‘rogue’ nations and terrorist organizations are merely Islam’s agents in its war with Israel.
    That is the fifth reality Israel must accept.
    That strategy recognizes that Muslims do not value their nation’s, tribes or individual survival and, that there is only one thing that Muslim’s cherish more than Israel’s death…the survival of Islam itself.
    Therefore, the only strategy that has a prayer of deterring a nuclear attack upon Israel, is to make Islam itself accountable.
    That strategy would consist of a new doctrine that would declare that any nuclear attack upon Israel, by any nation or terrorist organization… will bring a nuclear response; the utter destruction of Mecca, Medina and the Dome of the Rock.
    Islam would now face a choice; a nuclear attack upon Israel will result in all of Islam’s holiest shrines, ceasing to exist within moments of a nuclear attack upon Israel.
    That is the sixth reality Israel must accept.
    Announcing such a doctrine with its identification of Islam as Israel’s enemy, will necessitate Israel acknowledging its possession of nuclear weapons and Israel accepting the consequences of telling the US to-go-pound-sand. The ending of US aid to Israel.
    That is the seventh reality Israel must accept.

    Reply
  • Terry, Eilat - Israel 05/29/2010 at 5:19

    Sue.
    Being rather secular myself, I would remind you that G-d helps those that help themselves. And, the sad fact of the matter is that Israel has a long history of shooting itself in the foot. As Steve says above, look who speaks for Israel – Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, & Michael Oren. We have no leaders, almost all of our politicians end up being salesmen for foreign gov’t.’s – they see their job as ”selling” us on the policies of those that care nothing for our survival. Now you can include Netanyahu in the long list of co-opted politicians.
    I don’t think it takes a genius to understand that even if a Palistinian state is forced upon us, this will be the end of the conflict. On the contrary, it will begin a new phase in which the new aim will be a bi-national state, an end to the Jewish state.
    At present, we have a most serious military threat against us from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, & Hamas. Even if we launch a preemptive military action against these forces, we will suffer quite bit of damage. And, if we don’t launch a preemptive military action, we can be sure that they will attack us when they feel the time is ripe, and we will suffer even greater damage.
    With hundreds of missiles falling on our civilian centres, we would be justified in using nuclear weapons. But, our leaders would rather sacrifice our lives than face the international condemnation of such an action.
    This miserable state of affairs is the fault of our own politicians. This is the result of seeking ”peace” & the world’s approval.
    So, I see no reason to be in any way optimistic about our future survival.
    G-d will not help us because we are unwilling to help ourselves.

    Reply
  • Marcel 05/29/2010 at 7:41

    ‘Iran is going to get the bomb.
    Israel is going to have to figure out how to live with it too.’
    Yes Geoffrey, but must Israel live with neverending failed, secular, quisling leaders who can only emulate Neville Chamberlain as their guide and only point of reference ?
    G. Islam will continue to throw logistical resources at Israel, for the next 1000 yrs.
    Isalm is not even going to wait 10 years let alone 1,000 years.
    Many logistical rsources are being thrown at Israel from Gaza since the Quisling Bulldozer obeyed his master Bush in 2005 and
    Netanyahu’s limited approach is only tit for tat,a losing plan of battle that keeps the ststus quo alive and his master in Washington happy.
    G. Make Islam itself accountable
    Israel does not have the wisdom,faith or moral strength to do this as the brainwashed politically correct masses would rather be accepted and loved by the cannibals than survive.
    They see Islam as a morally equal religion and not the evil that surpasses Nazism.
    Why else would they make agreements with the new and improved Nazi’s instead of destroying them ?
    They’re going to wait till the death count has passed 6 million Jews to figure this out.
    How else could the father of Oslo be President,the loser whose only skill is in attacking fellow Jews be Defense Minister and the speech maker who always does the opposite of what he says be Prime Minister of Israel ?
    This wise stratgedy of threatening the heart of Islam would elicit fear and awe from Israel’s enemies who only understand brut force,something a neutered,femmenized Israel suffering from the mental disorder of liberalism with apologetic and groveling leaders no longer has.
    Never again is only a chic slogan used by the lemmings who stand for nothing and retreat under the least pressure.
    The greatest threat Israel faces is their faithless leaders who only know how to prostate to fellow men with bigger sticks than they have.
    There is a reason why the faithless grasshoppers who left Egypt died in the Midbar before they reached the land of God’s promise.
    It’s going to take great destruction on Israeli cities for Israel to return to brut force but they will at the 11th hour.

    Reply
  • A fan 05/29/2010 at 7:45

    Thank you Caroline, for your intelligent and morally unambiguous commentaries. And thank you for always staying focused on the most vital issues and not getting sidetracked like so many other commentators by insignificant matters of the day. Please continue pointing out the truth which might help more people face the facts about the world we live in. Every person you reach is another small victory in the global ideological struggle. And since we are so woefully outnumbered, it makes every clear and eloqeunt voice of reason that much more important.
    Sadly, I believe you are right when you say that Obama’s invitation to the White House is not a sign of true friendship, but the barely disguised political move of a savvy politician intended only to win Jewish votes. I only hope Netanyahu will find a way to avoid being trapped by this sudden and obvious move to win Jewish support before the elections while at the same time trying to deny Israel any room to maneuver. Netanyahu should go into this meeting armed to the teeth, and be prepared for whatever trap Obama has planned, and do everything in order to get a concession from Obama in return for this political photo op.

    Reply
  • Marcel 05/29/2010 at 9:47

    ‘God helps those who help themselves’
    My dad would tell me that big lie often until I asked him to show me where it was written in God’s word.
    He never fed me that lie after that.
    The Lord only helps those who call upon Him,trust in Him and fear Him.Those who trust in their own flesh are cursed Jeremiah 15:7
    He is humbling proud Israel beyond their own abilities where all their own effor is useless as he has done often.
    2Chron 20,2 Kings 19.
    You have to get beyond self,even beyon Israel to her Maker and look at the portrait He is painting.
    If you miss the bigger picture you swirl around in the hopeless sewage of hopeless self.
    That’s the swimming hole Steve has chosen.
    The BIG Picture
    His patience with sinful man is come to an end.
    He is finally answering the prayer/request in our day of His faithful servant Melek David.
    ‘Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.’
    Psalm 104:

    Reply
  • Marcel 05/29/2010 at 10:22

    My mistake, A man who trusts in his own flesh is cursed is Jeremiah 17:5
    Thus says the LORD,
    “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
    And makes flesh his strength,
    And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
    “For he will be like a bush in the desert
    And will not see when prosperity comes,
    But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
    A )land of salt without inhabitant.
    “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
    And whose trust is the LORD.
    “For he will be like a )tree planted by the water,
    That extends its roots by a stream
    And will not fear when the heat comes;
    But its leaves will be green,
    And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
    Nor cease to yield fruit.
    “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ”
    “I, the LORD, search the heart,
    I test the mind,
    Even to give to each man according to his ways,
    According to the results of his deeds.

    Reply
  • Geoffrey Britain 05/29/2010 at 19:47

    “With hundreds of missiles falling on our civilian centres, we would be justified in using nuclear weapons. But, our leaders would rather sacrifice our lives than face the international condemnation of such an action.
    This miserable state of affairs is the fault of our own politicians. This is the result of seeking ”peace” & the world’s approval.” Terry, Eilat
    In a representative democracy such as Israel, the ‘fault’ ultimately lies with ‘the people’. The miserable state of affairs that Israel finds herself in is the result of the people seeking peace and the world’s approval…instead of seeking God’s approval.
    Were Israel to seek God’s approval first, then she would know that war ends when the other side sues for peace (surrender) NOT when “Just-War-Theory” dictates.
    For excellent explanations of the false reasonings that are leading Israel and America astray see: Just War Theory and The Narrative
    “Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”

    Reply
  • Sue 05/29/2010 at 20:01

    Terry
    I understand the mess Israel is in. Caroline and a few articulate others with their eyes wide open have been keeping us informed for some years now.
    I still say, hold on. This God whose help you seem so sure is not coming will step in. When the end of human capability is reached, watch. God exists. Actively. His plan for Israel (the land and you, His people Israel) is literally and non-negotiably forever. As a God who sees His plans through, no one can ever undo them: no government, not Iran and her proxies, not the US, not Oren, Peres, Barak or Netanyahu, no bomb, no jihad diplomacy, no passivity, not a single person not helping him/herself.
    God is boiling mad. There’s not a whiff of passivity in the way He feels about Israel. Watch Him roar.

    Reply
  • Steve 05/29/2010 at 21:06

    God is not obligated to save anybody whether they call upon Him or not. I’m sure plenty of religeous Jews throughout history and especially in the concentration camps called upon the Lord and still died.
    No, it’s not in the Torah, it’s in experience – God saves those who save themselves though admittedly sometimes He lends a hand or an outstreached arm but more usually it’s by someone like the sons of Hur who do something practical.

    Reply
  • President Bongo? 05/29/2010 at 22:22

    Did someone here refer to President Obama as “President Bongo”?
    Let’s be clear on one thing: in no way is the anti-Obama cause helped by racist sounding epithets that reference the president’s African background and in turn paint his critic as bigoted.
    I oppose the President because he’s behaving like a fool. He’s failing to fix the economy. He’s failing to alleviate the world’s most serious security threats. He’s failing to act to protect the environment from the worst disaster ever to fall under any US president’s nose. But I have nothing but admiration for the color of his skin and the continent of his heritage. And I will never associate politically with anyone who could sink to the level of calling him “President Bongo”.

    Reply
  • Walter 05/30/2010 at 0:04

    Caroline said,
    “THIS BRINGS us to Obama’s meeting next Tuesday with Netanyahu.
    …Netanyahu should consider what Obama did to the family of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl while the president signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act last week.
    …Netanyahu should take two lessons from Obama’s behavior at the ceremony. First, Netanyahu must do everything he can to avoid being used as a prop.”
    +++
    My hope would be, that Bibi would meet with Jewish community leaders, on his upcoming visit to the USA.
    Period.
    Obama?
    Obama who?
    But i know that i would only be ‘whistling Dixie’ in such a hope.

    Reply
  • Walter 05/30/2010 at 1:11

    Geoffrey Britain said,
    on May 28, 2010 9:37 PM
    “That strategy recognizes that Israel is under assault from Islam, that ‘rogue’ nations and terrorist organizations are merely Islam’s agents in its war with Israel.
    That is the fifth reality Israel must accept.
    That strategy recognizes that Muslims do not value their nation’s, tribes or individual survival and, that there is only one thing that Muslim’s cherish more than Israel’s death…the survival of Islam itself.
    Therefore, the only strategy that has a prayer of deterring a nuclear attack upon Israel, is to make Islam itself accountable.”
    Good thinking Geoffrey.
    AND Geoffrey continues,
    “That strategy would consist of a new doctrine that would declare that any nuclear attack upon Israel, by any nation or terrorist organization… will bring a nuclear response; the utter destruction of Mecca, Medina and the Dome of the Rock.”
    Again, good thinking Geoffrey….
    ….BUT, Israel should also include Iran’s, and Saudi [and any other easily targetable Arab] oil field’s, on that target list.
    Make it a REAL threat to the ‘civilised’ world.
    i.e.
    “Hey USA, our great friend, get *your* Arab moslem friends to pull their heads in, because if they attack Israel proper, with a fusillade of thousands of missiles, this is what we will determinedly try to do, in response.
    WE WILL DESTROY THE ARAB OIL FIELDS WITH NUKES.”

    Reply
  • Walter 05/30/2010 at 1:58

    Terry, Eilat – Israel said,
    on May 29, 2010 5:19 AM
    “Being rather secular myself, I would remind you that G-d helps those that help themselves.”
    +++
    That is a falsehood, taught to the hearts of men, by the wicked.
    Our God, helps those who are righteous [in judgement];
    Amos 5:15
    Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate:
    Proverbs 15:9
    The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
    10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
    11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
    Please believe, God has our measure, every one of us!
    And the world of men, is fated to suffer.
    “Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
    …Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
    O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!…”
    Isaiah 48:1-22
    Zechariah 7:7
    Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

    11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
    12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
    13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
    Psalms 1
    All the curses which will come upon the covenant breakers;
    Deuteronomy 28
    Deuteronomy 29:2
    And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
    3 The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
    4 Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
    OT laws taught the covenant people two principles,
    1/ mercy must be extended to the repentant wrongdoer, but also,
    2/ righteous judgement must be brought against criminals/oppressors.
    God’s mercy is for the wicked, who repent.
    But the unrepentant, wilful wicked, can expect the ‘stick’ from God, not mercy.

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  • Anonymous 05/30/2010 at 2:35

    The best thing Netanyahu can do is to snub the invite. Obama’s ego will cause Obama great stress and loss of face. Or he can go and be used by someone, who intends Israel harm.
    God Bless you Caroline

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  • Terry, Eilat - Israel 05/30/2010 at 6:39

    Sue & others …..
    While I think your faith is most admirable, it is too passive for my taste. While I don’t want to get into a theological discussion, I would say that the reason we have free will is so we are able to act. Our future is determined by our actions (or inactions), individually & collectively as a nation.
    To President Bongo.
    I think you are being far too politically correct. And why do you admire the colour of anyone’s skin? Skin colour is not an achievement, merely an accident of birth. It is a neutral fact. Nor do I understand your admiration for Africa which is in reality quite a disaster. Nor is there anything wrong in describing Obama as being very similar to a Third World radical – I’m from a Third World country & I’ve known many of these idiots. As a matter of fact, they are the principle reason Africa & other Third World countries are such a disaster.
    Geoffrey Britain.
    Thanks for the links – I completely agree. I tend to agree with you also that it is in some measure the fault of the Israeli electorate because we accept this incredibly disfunctional political system.
    It seems that we have sent submarines armed with nuclear weapons to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps Netanyahu has grown a set after all.

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  • Steve 05/30/2010 at 10:26

    The Tanakh also says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. We have seen both righteous Jews and wicked Jews murdered. What was Havel’s sin that he deserved being murdered by divine decree by Kayin?? For the orthodox to agree with the Nazis that six million Jews deserved by divine decree to be murdered because there was some sin they did not repent of is just as much an abomination as Christianity is.
    God saves those that save themselves.

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  • Steve 05/30/2010 at 10:53

    Bibi the Dhimmi shouldn’t have a meeting with Abu Bama until at least Abu Bama has apologised for his past rudeness and for trying to force Israel into the NPT. Instead Bibi the Dhimmi is going to Paris first to thank the Europeans oh so much for letting Israel into the OECD which will only make it easier for them pressure Israel by economic means after the Jewish leadership has been paid off with some goodies. Bibi the Dhimmi will let Abu Bama off the hook. Maybe he’ll reiterate Israel’s refusal to enter into a unilateral nuclear disarmament but of course everybody will ignore it except his supporters back in Israel who will be falsely relieved that he didn’t sell out to the Americans and PA after all. Bibi the Dhimmi is helping Abu Bama show that he’s really not all that much an anti-Semite. It helps Abu Bama get money out of American Jews that way. In private Bibi the Dhimmi will apologise for breathing and remain silent while Abu Bama insists that the PA get a corridor splitting Israel in two, all settlement beyond the green line is frozen then removed, East Jerusalem is likewise made Judenrein, and it’s the Jewish State that gets demilitarised. Bibi the Dhimmi will keep smiling while Abu Bama jocularly says “We’re on the same page, right?” Then Bibi the Dhimmi will slowly implement his master’s demands deftly balancing them against such objections as his “coalition partners” make.

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  • Geoffrey Britain 05/30/2010 at 19:28

    “Again, good thinking Geoffrey….
    ….BUT, Israel should also include Iran’s, and Saudi [and any other easily targetable Arab] oil field’s, on that target list. Make it a REAL threat to the ‘civilised’ world. i.e.
    “Hey USA, our great friend, get *your* Arab moslem friends to pull their heads in, because if they attack Israel proper, with a fusillade of thousands of missiles, this is what we will determinedly try to do, in response. WE WILL DESTROY THE ARAB OIL FIELDS WITH NUKES.””
    Walter
    I had thought of something similar Walter and left it off due to length considerations.
    As long as Obama rules out military pressure, I think there’s little that America can do to dissuade Iran’s overt aggression.
    The Saudi’s value their oil fields however and so does America its need for oil, so even the threat of attacking the oil fields with air strikes using conventional bombs might be of value in placing pressure upon those countries.
    I’m not sure that nuking it wouldn’t ultimately, be counter-productive but I’m certainly open to improvements and additions to my proposed doctrine of deterrence.
    Whatever the doctrine’s exact makeup, to be an effective deterrent, the message that should Israel be attacked with nukes, Islam and the West are going to pay an unthinkable price, has to be paramount.

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  • JoeinLA 05/31/2010 at 12:13

    Well, Obama will not get to use Bibi as a prop after all — which is a good thing. Now let’s see if the US has the starch to veto the expected one-sided UNSC resolution condemning Israel for defending itself when savagely attacked by the so-called “peace activists” brandishing daggers and other weapons on the Gaza aid flotilla.

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  • Steve 05/31/2010 at 12:53

    Even Bibi the Dhimmi admits that for Israel to fire on the peace loving humanitarians who nearly stabbed and beat the Israeli commandos to death constitutes self-defense. But now he has something for which to apologise to Abu Bama who will make more explicit meetings between the State Department and Hamas and demand IAEA inspection of Israeli facilities.
    Meanwhile Israeli Dhimmis (ie. Ambassadors) all over Europe are submitting to demands for instant “explanations”. I don’t expect Lieberman to insist his diplomatic personnel refuse to submit to interrogation or make any statement until complete instructions are received.

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  • Marcel 05/31/2010 at 13:48

    It’s getting harder for Israel to exert force against her enemies.
    They would rather have the Jews disarmed and go quietly to their death as they have done so often before.
    That is why the world is in an uproar again.
    The North Korean sinking of the South Korean ship did not result in the fever pitch rage and madness that the Islamic world will raise this to on the global stage.
    Israel is paying for it’s BIG MISTAKE of 2009
    Looking back to January 2009 and D.M. Barak’s (IDF) failure to defeat Hamas in order to please Israel’s Washington pimp.
    Israel continues to pay a big price for this serious failure to defeat Hamas.
    All of Israel’s goodwill and appeasement for a non existent peace has had the opposite effect.
    It has only been seen as weakness and defeatist by everyone. Even one time friend and ally Turkey has dumped the retreating,defeatist Israel and united with Israel’s enemies for the final kill.
    The script ‘Blame Israel’ is one thing the damned world agrees upon.
    It would be wise to return the concept of victory to the vocabulary of the IDF and remove the loser politicians who are always apologizing and appeasing everyone.
    The impertinent punk president Obama wants an immediate explanation from Israel on the latest planned Islamic offensive on the high seas.
    The same idiot whose army keeps killing innocent Afghan civilians without let up.
    Why does Israel put up with this incredible arrogance and disrespect.
    It is a God send that Obama will be twiddling his crude oily thumbs instead of meeting with his number one kickball Tuesday
    Israel awakens to the reality that peace with Islam is impossible.
    The true face of Turkey was always beneath the shallow surface.
    It is time to realize that this global ambush is directed against the Holy one of Israel and the Nation He created.
    God vs The World.
    Guess who loses.
    ISRAEL is here to stay and bye,bye Islam.

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  • exdemexlib 05/31/2010 at 14:36

    Hopefully, Bibi will learn, but strange things happen in Israel…
    It’s too painful to list the many many things Israel has given up and gotten worse than nothing in return.
    Sharon gave up Gaza,
    Bibi has made terrible and embarrassing concessions, and if he STILL doesn’t learn,
    then,
    Caroline, please, for the sake of our people, please, would You consider running for PM ?

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  • Too Right-wing 06/01/2010 at 2:13

    I realize before I even mention anything that I will be dismissed. But being so right wing is not great for any society, it is just as detrimental as being extremely left wing. As an American I am fairly disgusted by many of the comments I have read here, but then again you are probably disgusted by mine. No problem, living in a democracy, we can all be disgusted but stay civil.
    I wish nothing but the best for the Israelis as I do for Palestinians. I doubt anything will come from that, because both sides are very reactionary and blames the other for all their problems and actions. It is a refusal to look within our selves for a solution.
    President Obama speaks for the American people, not the Israeli people. You have your own representation and you should only have expectations for them, not for the president of another nation.
    If the comments here represent what Israel believes, I hope our government really considers who they consider allies, but then again sometimes it is all about strategy.
    Good luck on your issues.
    And thank you President Obama for speak for Americans and not Iranians, Israelis and the rest of the disgruntled bunch…
    An American

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  • Dave 06/01/2010 at 2:46

    “It is hard to think of any cause other than Israel-bashing that could unite such disparate forces.”
    I guess humanitarian is not in your vocab.
    Open your eyes.

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  • justbehuman 06/01/2010 at 5:03

    No, Dave; the original comment is correct, and you are the one who needs to open his eyes. These disparate forces never agree on “humanitarian” causes. Some examples: the extreme right doesn’t care about injustice against blacks and the left couldn’t care less about gays and women suffering under Islamic shari’a law. Muslim groups don’t know the meaning of the word humanitarian. They care for no one but themselves, and even then are willing to martyr their own children. Yet all these disparate entities can get together on the subject of Israel and the Jews. Here they all agree. Humanitarian indeed.

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  • DaveP 06/01/2010 at 9:57

    Quote: It is these concerns, rather than a decision to alter his positions on Israel specifically and the Middle East generally, that now drive Obama’s relentless courtship of the American Jewish community.
    Whatever. But Obama was a born a Muslim, educated as a Muslim, and his heart is with Muslims.
    Once he has the dhimmified American Jewish vote, he will treat them with the usual and normal contempt that a dhimmi deserves.

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  • Sara in Florida 06/05/2010 at 13:16

    Caroline, there are many of us who admire you from afar and wish you could/would be Golda Meir II–but then we’d miss your brilliant analyses and your contributions to such satires/parodies as We Con the World…It’s a Hobson’s Choice!
    Look, Netanyahu and Oren know full well they’re between a rock and a hard place with American politics and that they have to prance around the Jewish Democrats and not openly tell them to go screw themselves by proclaiming the reality they fully understand in Obama, et al.
    We 22% of American Jews who voted for McCain/Palin need to work as hard as possible on that brain-dead 78% counterpart of Jewish Democrats in 2010 and 2012–e.g., supporting Joel Pollack in Illinois (running against Helen Thomas’s buddy Jan “Single Payer” Schakowsky) and Colonel Allen West in Florida (running against Ron Klein, a useless Obama sycophant),and jettisoning Alan Grayson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and similar Democrats in Florida and elsewhere.
    Cross your fingers that Helen Thomas’s Third Reich Commentary makes it into SOME of the Lamestream Media’s most widely read outlets–as of Saturday morning, June 5, the NYT was silent as a lamb.

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