Obama’s Bullying of Israel

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Faiths & Prayer

Maybe someone at the Obama Administration can explain what’s
going on.

When it comes to tyrants who have dismantled their nation’s
democracies and thrown their political opponents in jail, like Hugo
Chavez, President Obama hugs them with both arms. And if you’re a Middle
East dictator, like King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who brutally
oppresses women and won’t even let them drive a car, for goodness sake,
the President of the United States will bow down to you (you get the
same treatment if you’re the Emperor of Japan). But if you’re the
democratically elected Prime Minister of the Middle East’s only fully
functioning democracy, and America’s most reliable ally, the President
will sic his Secretary of State on you if you don’t follow everything he
demands. Who does President Obama think the Israeli Prime Minister is?
His poodle?

This is scandalous behavior, and over a non-incident.

Jews should be allowed to live anywhere in Jerusalem, as should
Arabs. And had the Israeli government announced that it was preventing
Arabs from living in any part of the Holy City that they choose, I would
have written an equally scathing column criticizing that xenophobic
decision.

During Obama’s Presidential campaign, I was asked to serve as a
national co-chair of Rabbis for Obama. I turned it down. First of all, I
was amazed that the candidate wasn’t going to be on any calls with the
Rabbis who signed up, with the campaign saying he was too busy. Ah, so
you want to just use the Rabbis and not show them basic courtesy and
respect? Second and more importantly, I had a strong inkling that
President Obama would treat Israel this way. Bullying them, pushing
them, pressuring them, into peace deals that compromised their security.

And make no mistake about it. Splitting Jerusalem, as it had been
split up until its unification during the Six-Day War, is the single
gravest risk to Israel’s security. Just imagine a Palestinian capitol,
with Palestinian forces only miles away from Israel’s Knesset and
government buildings. The Palestinian Authority has very little control
over its own security forces and especially its people, with huge
numbers supporting Hamas over the PA. Would Israel really sign a suicide
pact to put all the organs of its government within easy striking range
of Palestinian rockets? Haven’t we seen this happen already with Sderot
and Gaza? Can anyone even imagine the consequences if Sderot became
Jerusalem?

But all this is beside the point. Israel is not one of America’s 50
states. It’s a sovereign nation. For President Obama and Secretary
Clinton to treat Israel with such disdain, and handle its elected
officials as if they are naughty school children, is disgusting. I would
like to see a single other example of an international leader subjected
to the kind of public berating that has taken place between Hilary and
Bibi over the past few days. It’s beneath the office of the President
and the Secretary of State.

And please don’t give me the tired arguments about how much America
does for Israel. America gives Egypt billions in aid each year. Yet,
Obama showed Hosni Mubarak extensive courtesy when he visited Cairo,
even though Mubarak is a dictator who has for decades rejected America’s
call for democratic reforms.

And what of Iraq? We spent hundreds of billions of dollars and tens
of thousands of American casualties to liberate the Iraqis. Anyone hear a
thank you from Iraqi politicians last week as they went to their second
free elections since the liberation? Yet their leaders are treated with
utmost respect by our government.

Mr. President. Stop treating Israel contemptuously. By putting all
the burden on Israel to make peace and making no demands on the Arabs to
democratize, you not only undermine America’s commitment to liberty but
you scuttle your own efforts at peace. War between the Arabs and
Israelis has raged for six decades because the former has always sought
to delegitimize and destroy the latter.

I don’t see you making peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mr.
President. Why do you so insist that Israel make an accord with a
Palestinian Authority that cannot even control the terrorist
organization Hamas?

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is founder of This World: The Values Network.
Write to him at info@shmuley.com

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. Follow him on twitter @RabbiShmuley.

post a comment

Henrietta22

posted March 17, 2010 at 8:11 pm

Wow! What a different take on what our President and Secretary of State had to say about N. and his announcement when Both the Vice President and S. of S. Clinton were there for talks about peace between Israel and Palestine. You must not like your countries Adminstration Rabbi, try thinking of the situation from America’s take on it.

Robert

posted March 18, 2010 at 1:39 am

Does one have to tell a rabbi that two (or more) wrongs don’t make a right? The mere fact that our policy toward Arab nations is screwed up beyond belief doesn’t mean our coddling of Israel isn’t, too.

Michael

posted March 18, 2010 at 3:44 am

Shortly after VP Biden left Israel, the Palestinian Authority named a public sqare in Ramallah for a terrorist who has th emurder of 17 Israelis to his credit, many of them children. Yet Sec. of State Clinton chose to phone PM Netanyahu and harangue him for 45 minutes over the extension of a Jerusalem neighborhood to include a barren hillside.
This week the Palestinians declared a “day of rage” over the rebuilding and dedication of a Jerusalem synagogue that was destroyed twice by Arabs – first in the 18th century and last in 1948. It is not “settlements” and not th eabsence of a Palestinian state that enrages the Arabs. It is the presence of Jews in “their” land. It is the very existence of a Jewish State in the “Arab” Middle East.
Israel has every moral and legal right to build in Israel’s capital – and everywhere else in the Jewish homeland. Netanyahu was elected on this ticket – and the US should respect it’s ally, the only democracy in the region

New Age Cowboy

posted March 18, 2010 at 3:55 am

It seems like nobody in the Middle East is willing to compromise. At this rate folks in the region will be pointing fingers 100 years from now.
I don’t want Israel to be bullied, and I don’t want U.S troops jeopordized. I also don’t want the U.S. to go broke policing the region.
I would be just fine having an open immigration policy for Israeli Jews. They can be my neighbors, and even marry into my family.
I just don’t think Zionism is sustainable.
Besides that it’s time for the U.S. to kick it’s Middle Eastern oil addiction. The U.S. is a republic; not an empire.
Let’s just extricate ourselves from the whole mess.

Alicia

posted March 18, 2010 at 10:20 am

I have been a huge defender of Israel for years, but I agree with Tom Friedman’s column where he said that Biden should have gotten on the plane and gone home after the announcement about the 1600 new units was made. Alliances work both ways.
If Israel wants the U.S. to remain a strong supporter, then the Israeli government needs to stand up to its right wing – oh, darn, the right wing is controlling the Israeli government. That’s a problem. Obama is not bullying Israel – far from it. He’s the first president in a long time who has had the guts to actually ask for something in return from our so-called ally.

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jili

posted March 18, 2010 at 12:17 pm

kevin

posted March 19, 2010 at 9:41 pm

Rabbi this point you made says it all “I don’t see you making peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mr. President. Why do you so insist that Israel make an accord with a Palestinian Authority that cannot even control the terrorist organization Hamas?” I would add to that ‘walk the walk brutha, or shut the &*^# UP!’ but then I’m not a rabbi. I’m not even Jewish but I am a strong supporter of Israel, been then often, also been to Jordan – no comparison. Israel is a free and democratic society. God bless Israel (since He’s finished blessing the USA)!

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posted March 25, 2010 at 6:54 pm

Obama’s behavior towards America’s #1 ally is horrendous. It is beyond belief. Thanks for speaking up.

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posted March 25, 2010 at 7:34 pm

Its a shame to see that Isreal will degrade itself in such a manor. Its disturbing to see how a people that have suffered through something so horrible as the holocaust can in turn commit such heinous acts against another peoples.

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