Opinion

September 13, 2011

Opinion: Is Obama Israel's enemy or defender?

By Douglas Bloomfield

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Two interesting emails arrived about the same time on Sunday morning.  One was the text of a speech to the nation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel owes President Obama “a special measure of gratitude” for his help in rescuing Israelis trapped in their Cairo Embassy by a violent mob.

The other was from a frequent emailer telling me once again that the President of the United States is an enemy of Israel and the Jews.

The latter didn’t compose this scurrilous email himself, but the very act of distributing it to all of his friends and acquaintances constitutes an endorsement.

I usually just hit the delete button, but the timing on this one warranted a response.

It informed me Obama was “mentored by…an avowed Communist,” his mother sent him to “a socialist school,” he really is a Muslim who falsely claims to be a Christian, “he sought the endorsement of the Marxist Party,” he attended a church listening to the preacher “spew hatred for America and preach black liberation theology.”  What’s more, Palestinians in Gaza held a campaign ‘fund raising telethon” for him, he was endorsed by “Louis Farrakhan, Muammar Qadaffi and Hugo Chavez,” and during the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance “he stood with his hands over his groin area.” He has appointed gays, socialists, communists and other radicals, used American tax dollars to “resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States,” and “Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society.”

There’s more, but you get the idea.  What’s not mentioned openly is what some of these writers may regard as his greatest offense: He’s black.  How on earth could a black man be elected president unless the vote was rigged?

Not all of those who spread the anti-Obama attacks are racists but may simply be exploiting the racism of others to promote the idea that he is anti-Israel.

Along the way they keep raising the bar on what constitutes pro-Israel. An increasingly strident former colleague said my failure to share his pro-Likud, pro-settlement, anti-Arab viewpoint was “yet another indication of Bloomfield’s own lukewarm support for Israel.” 

Anyone who fails to adhere to their strict dogma becomes a target for right wing extremists. Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick has called Obama “the most hostile US president Israel has ever faced” and possibly “a grave threat.”  Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America said the President’s actions suggest “a distaste or even hostility towards Jews and Israel.” And African-American religious right activist, Bishop E.W. Jackson, said Obama’s views of Israel and Jews were shaped by anti-Semitism in the black community, “his Muslim roots and experience in Farrakhan’s Chicago.”

Here’s what happened: A mob ransacked the embassy and was closing in on six Israeli security guards stranded inside.  Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeatedly tried to call Egypt’s new strongman, Mohammed Tantawi, but were told he could not be located.  So Netanyahu called Obama, and Barak called Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

The Prime Minister reported to the Israeli people about Obama’s actions: “I would say it was a decisive moment—fateful, I would even say. He said, ‘I will do all that I can.’ He did that. He applied all of the means and influence of the United States of America, which are certainly substantial. And I think we owe him special thanks.”

The incident, wrote Israeli journalism Shimon Shiffer, “unequivocally demonstrated Israel’s existential dependence on America” despite two-and-a-half years of “constant deterioration in our ties with the White House” under Netanyahu’s leadership.

Netanyahu’s speech may also have been in response to stinging criticism from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in both the Bush and Obama cabinets, that the US has given Netanyahu so much in terms of security and gotten nothing in return. Gates said the prime minister is not only ungrateful but also endangering Israel by refusing to grapple with Israel’s growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces by holding on to the West Bank, according to the Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg.

If Obama is so anti-Israel, why has his administration provided access to top-tech weapons Bush refused, expanded high-level intelligence sharing, given diplomatic cover at the UN, vetoed an anti-settlements resolution, refused to attend the Durban III conference, and is now standing almost alone against the Palestinian statehood bid?

It’s all a ruse, explained one blogger, to lull Israel into dropping its guard so he can surprise it by imposing a peace plan it doesn’t want.

Or maybe the answer is the one provided by an editorial in the politically conservative Orthodox paper Hamodia.  Politico reported Hamodia praised Obama’s “immediate and effective” response to Netanyahu’s call for help, noting. “Much has been made of the strained relations between Netanyahu and the White House in recent days; but in this test of standing by one’s allies in a matter of life and death, Barack Obama came through. He merited to be Hashem’s instrument of salvation. The Jewish community all over the world offers him our heartfelt thanks.”

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Barack Hussein Obama is, indeed, extraordinarily hostile to Israel.  Many of his efforts that benefit Israel are performed firstly for his own benefit.  Leaning on the Egyptians to avoid the slaughter of diplomats was his way of avoiding becoming another Carter with his embassy crisis in Teheran.  Netanyahu probably had to clarify for the community-organizer from Chicago that it really was in his best interests to help in Cairo lest Hussein-Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East finally collapse completely.  Hussein-Obama is no friend of Israel.  In the final analysis, he will be seen as not having been good for the USA, either.

Comment by Jake in Jerusalem on 9/13/11 at 1:43 pm

Mr. Obama washed his hands.  He messed in so much dirt before: toast at Arafat speechwriter table, visit to Egypt, betray of Mubarack, “vision” of peace in ‘67 boarder lines…  Honestly, I wonder, did he dance with his so called “Palestinian” friends on 9/11 gathering? 
Whatever it was, today he washed his pants…
And great thanks for savings Israeli’s lives.

Comment by Arkady on 9/13/11 at 2:23 pm

Time out & back to square 1: can someone review for me why exactly would a UN recognition of an Arab “Palestine” be so bad for Israel? After all, does Israel really think it can hold onto the WeBa Arab population indefinitely? Forgetting questions of morality and justice, how about practicality? If on this there is agreement, then we all know that all myths of creation are steeped with battles and overcoming fatal and violent objections. The human psyche requires this. If a victorious struggle absent, the Arabs of Palestine will feel obligated by honor to continue violent self-justification forever.

Comment by Samir (1) on 9/13/11 at 2:24 pm

TSo now Israel will strive all it can to defeat the recognition, but if failing, have gained the possibility that the nascent Palestine will have achieved its Birth Myth, and not need to resort to endless violence to prove its right to exist.

Comment by Samir (2) on 9/13/11 at 2:26 pm

Obarna installed the Muslim Brotherhood, maintains a close relationship, and called his hand to prove to himself of his control over the Brotherhood he installed.  President Hilliary is advised by radical islamic body persons, Phillip Reins and Huma Obedin Weiner.  On 91311 NY demoncratic Voters replaced Weiner’s 9th NY district seat with a republican. First republican since 1920 elected near ground zero.
How extreme and obvious must radical islamic muslim terrorist action become.  Supporters of Alan Keyes have never been referenced as a racist yet his services were readily available rather than Obarna.  Only 10% of voters in Chicago supported Alan Keyes.

Comment by millennium1000 on 9/13/11 at 11:42 pm

Only a non-thinking, knee-jerk liberal maniac could fail to see that B. Hussein Obama is anything other than the greatest threat to Israel’s existance than Adolph Hitler. Shame on you for not caring enough for Israel and for Jerusalem to tell the truth. Bibi is not the problem…he actually loves Israel. The real problem is people like you who are not Jews of the heart and who sell Israel & Jerusalem to save your own skin. G-d bless Israel and Jerusalem and give her victory over all her enemies including B. Hussein Obama.

Comment by Hagion on 9/14/11 at 6:04 am

He’s a Jew Hater.  WTH is wrong with this “journalist”/“writer”.  If you like him you hate us, well I LOVE US, I hate this guy.  Get with the program Writer.  I for one won’t be taking THAT TRAIN TO TREBLINKA.

Comment by S. GOLDSTEIN on 9/14/11 at 12:23 pm

If the e-mailer had harbored anti-black sentiments then I wonder what his position was with respect to Herman Cain’s candidacy for the GOP nomination as well as any criticism the poster may have leveled against Joe Biden or Jimmy Carter.  Some in the last election voted for Obama because they wanted a first black president. Past shady associtions and experience were less important than skin color.  Helping Israel is no guarantee of being anti-Jewish.  Richard Nixon made several anti-Jewish slurs but he still shipped military supplies to Isreal during the early days of the Yom Kipper war.

Comment by John Walker on 9/14/11 at 1:58 pm

Israeli journalism Shimon Shiffer who quoted the incident at the Embassy in egypt, “unequivocally demonstrated Israel’s existential dependence on America”, obviously does not believe in God. The incident in egypt was not an existential threat. If God forbid, that the diplomats would have died, Israel would have continued to exist. Israel needs to stop depending on the usa to be their savior and look to God. He will direct “ALL” of Israels weapons when the time comes.It would be well, for the arab nations surrounding Israel, to become aware of what kind of weapons Israel has,To avoid unnecessary deaths, but i believe they are drunk and in a stupor from their hatred of Israel.

Comment by andy prigge on 9/14/11 at 3:01 pm

What a bunch of Republican-right craziness.  I was a Republican when Earl Warren was the Governor of California and the Supreme Court Justice.  But the Republican Party has become a deceitful, arrogant, Christian right party. It hates Blacks and Jews, even though it has it’s tokens.  If each of you, except Samir, would get some reality in our rabid attacks with their false accusations and attributions, there might be some discussion.
I do not like President Obama for his give-aways to the oil and insurance industries and to the super-rich, but he has provided unfaltering support to Israel.  You may not like his choice of words, but his actions are always for Israel and the Jewish people.

Comment by Dani El on 9/14/11 at 7:03 pm

Stop your insane attacks and become upright men.  Stop spreading lies and get some proof of your allegations, not innuendos and distortions of reality. 
G-D sent 6 million of our brothers and sisters to their deaths in the Holocaust.  President Obama saved the Embassy staff.

Comment by Dani El on 9/14/11 at 7:05 pm

Nothing here is black and white, but President Obama supported the Muslim Brotherhood’s bloody theft of the Egyptian government and cost many more than six lives.  His mission is not that of any man’s life, but something else his eye coveted.

Comment by Marko on 9/14/11 at 8:51 pm

Why is it that anyone who disagrees with Obama must be a racist? I do not see him as a direct enemy of Israel, but he is certainly not a friend either. By simply suggesting the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations start with the pre 1967 borders on national television is irresponsible and did nothing more than incite further while openly embarrassing the Israeli government by blindsiding them. His timing was impeccable and leads to many more questions than answers! As for saving the Israeli diplomats in Egypt, I applauded the decision, but I question the motive and timing….the campaigns have started, after all.

Comment by Ray W on 9/17/11 at 3:01 pm

@Samir - Israel has offered a free and sovereign Palestinian state on many occasions with more land than they control now, with one condition…..that they recognize the right of Israel to exist… but they just couldn’t bring themselves do so. Israel would be more than happy to see a sovereign Palestinian state in exchange for peace, but that is not possible under Hamas since their charter specifically calls for the eradication of Israel. As such, if Palestine is born under these conditions it would no longer be a skirmish, occupation or whatever you choose to call it; it would become a full scale war.

Comment by Ray W on 9/17/11 at 3:02 pm

@Ray: well known. Now ask yourself why the Falasteenian refusals. The answer is simply this: it would be the giving up of the only glue that upholds the Fal. Arabs’  definition of self as a “people”. They would need to abandon a struggle born in the 1920’s (birthed by ‘Haj Amin el’Husseini). The trauma would simply be too much. Bibi knows this, and insists on the psychologically impossible. Could YOU give up on Israelite Biblical history? Israel needs to deal with the Fals as they are.

Comment by Samir (1) on 9/17/11 at 5:41 pm

Next: deal with reality. The Falasteenians need to have all the problems associated with an own State, an imperative for focusing on realities. If the UN can provide this, then that’s one way. Is it the end-all and be-all? Far from it. All the real questions would still need to be decided: borders, economy, how to deal with Jews living in WeBa. All this without going to war, since it would be squaring a circle, without even a π to help.

Comment by Samir (2) on 9/17/11 at 5:42 pm

I am blown away by the foaming responses here. I think BO is bent toward Muslim comes from his roots. The hostility he showed toward Israel comes from his early associations and his view of Netanyahu as a man of the “Right”. Yet, I don’t think he really “hates” Israel. Some of the anti-Obama rhetoric here is needlessly inflammatory and hateful. Dani El, your slander of the Right is no less hateful and it projects your own bigotry.

Comment by Avi on 9/20/11 at 6:01 pm

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