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Obama versus Israel: needlessly isolating a valued ally in the Middle East
Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post, “Obama’s war on Israel” and Joel Mowbray in the Washington Times, “Diplomatic storms spread fears of fallout: Assailing friends, ignoring adversaries”, have raised serious questions about why President Obama is needlessly punishing Israel, a valued ally. The Obama effort against Israel appears as a thoughtless attempt to score a pyrrhic foreign policy victory in the fractured Middle East. It comes just prior to AIPAC’s annual Washington Policy Conference where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu after scolding him for allegedly embarrassing Vice President Biden during the latter’s recent visit to Israel. It also comes after a fruitless journey to Moscow by Secretary Clinton seeking support from Russian President Medvedev for UN Security Council sanctions against the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. Instead, the Russians announced the 1000 Megawatt nuclear power facility at Bushehr will shortly go on-line. It is doubtful that either Russia or China will support sanctions. This leaves Israel pondering what support it can expect from the Obama Administration against the annihilationist threat from a nuclear Iran. There is significant skepticism in Israel about Obama’s intentions. A recent Haaretz Dialog poll indicated that 27% of Israelis consider Obama as anti-Semitic.Earlier this week Rabbi Jon Hausman and I did a two hour recorded interview, the first hour will air Saturday, March 20th, on a south Florida radio program, "The Joe Citizen Show". The radio program segment will deal with the specific issues that both Caroline Glick and Joel Mowbray have raised in their Jerusalem Post and Washington Times commentary.
Here are some facts we discussed during the recorded interview:
- the disputed Ramat Shlomo project is already sited on a bare hill in north Jerusalem, so there is no displacement of Arab homes;
- the alleged 'incendiary' announcement concerned Interior Ministry approval of the fourth stage of a seven stage approval process for the Ramat Shlomo project for poor orthodox Jews;
- Israel has sovereignty over all of the unified city of Jerusalem ratified in July 1967;
- Israel has also built housing for Arabs in Jerusalem;
- In October 2009 Secretary of State Clinton congratulated PM Netanyahu on a freeze in West Bank construction, which did not apply to Jerusalem.
- the re-dedication of the Hurva ("ruined" in Hebrew) synagogue last Monday triggered the "Days of Rage" called for by the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement (an affiliate of Hamas inside Israel) that incited continuing Arab protests and attacks in East Jerusalem. They said the Hurva synagogue re-dedication was evidence of Israeli attempts to take control of the Al Aqsa Mosque. PA negotiator Abu Alaaa added more fuel to the fire by calling for a "Third Intifada." The Hurva Synagogue is not even close to the Al Aksa Mosque, but in the Cardo in the Jewish sector of the Old City;
- Further, excavation of the Hurva synagogue site have uncovered artifacts going back to the 8th Century BCE;
- The Hurva synagogue was destroyed by Arabs in an 18th century fire, rededicated in 1864, and blown up in 1948 when Jordanian legionnaires occupied the Old City of Jerusalem and the current rebuilding took over ten years to complete.
Was this diplomatic brouhaha between allies with an alleged ‘special relationship’ needless? We think it was. In our view, the tough language from both Secretary Clinton and David Axelrod, senior political advisor to President Obama, last weekend over the alleged 'insult' to Vice President Biden was unwarranted.
There is further evidence of possible changes in attitude by the Obama Administration reflected in the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Petraeus, CENTCOM commander, conveyed the view that the lack of resolution of the Arab Israeli situation was a major cause for instability in the Middle East. Here is what Petraeus said:
The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world.
Achieving a two-state solution is obviously in America's strategic interest as well, because it would remove one of the major sources of anti-Americanism in the Arab and Muslim world. The vast majority of Muslims reject al Qaeda and its murderous methods, for example, but they share its harsh views about U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A two-state solution won't solve all of our problems in the region, of course, but it would make a lot of them easier to address. It's clear that the U.S. military, which now has a lot of experience in the region, thinks so too. As CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus told the Armed Services Committee earlier today.
Moreover, the Obama Administration has yet to enact crippling sanctions against Iran's nuclear project given legislation passed by both Houses of Congress. Especially important are sanctions against foreign deliveries of refined petroleum products. Iran imports 2/5th of these crucial items from abroad.
Further, there are reports about alleged diversion of so-called bunker buster bombs from delivery to Israel, as requested and agreed to over two years ago, to US air bases on the British-leased island of Diego Rivera in the Indian Ocean. Moreover, after shutting down the F-22 Raptor production program that Israel, Australia and Japan had asked to be continued, the Pentagon has recently indicated delays in production of F-35 Joint Strike fighters. This may result in curtailing replacement deliveries to the IAF for aging F-15b aircraft in the Israeli air fleet.
Notwithstanding the current diplomatic kerfuffle spawned by the Obama Administration, PM Netanyahu will meet with Special Envoy former Sen. George Mitchell in Israel on Sunday. He is scheduled to meet with Secretary Clinton on Monday. He will be speaking that evening at the AIPAC Washington Policy conference. Secretary Clinton will also be speaking there on behalf of the Obama Administration. PM Netanyahu will meet President Obama on Tuesday, since the latter has deferred his scheduled trip to Asia until June as the press of passing Health Care Reform legislation mounts. We shall see what eventuates from these meetings.
Ironically, we have had contretemps of this type before in the special relationship between Israel and the US. Back in 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker, III, tried to force Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir to make concessions at the Madrid conference by withholding $10 Billion in loan guarantees to build much needed housing for the great bow wave of Russian immigration to Israel. The construction of such immigrant housing in settlements on the West Bank was the issue. Strange how things don’t seem to change.
Ask yourself when the 'special relationship' between Israel and the US began? Try July, 1967 under the late President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson, who came from a Christian Zionist background in Texas, as a young Congressman saved an estimated 400 to 500 Jews from the Holocaust. He was a natural friend of Israel. The all important UN Security Council Res. 242 (adopted with US support in November 1967) included language about 'territories' stipulating that Israel should have the right to “secure and defensible borders” in any negotiated agreements.
What prevents this latest impasse between the US and Israel from becoming a stalemate is the significant support for Israel by Americans. A recent Gallup poll indicated that American support for Israel was at an all time high- 63 percent. A new poll commissioned by The Israel Project further indicated that Americans would resoundingly take the side of Israel in a conflict with the Palestinians by an 8 to 1 margin.
President Obama and Secretary Clinton, who are purported to be master politicians, should take these figures to heart and stop isolating the only democratic ally in the Middle East that shares American Judeo Christian values. Lest they forget Israel is the literal canary in the mines of Jihadist Islam. The late President Johnson knew that. Obama and Clinton should. The question is do they?
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