I’ve expressed my misgivings about Hope ‘n Change’s attitude toward Israel. In spite of his anti-Semitic mentors and associates over the years – including the likes of Samantha Power, I wanted to hope for the best. But no more. From Thursday’s New York Times:
It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.
When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.
This shift, described by administration officials who did not want to be quoted by name when discussing internal discussions, is driving the White House’s urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal. It increases the likelihood that Mr. Obama, frustrated by the inability of the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to terms, will offer his own proposed parameters for an eventual Palestinian state.
Mr. Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up “costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure” — drawing an explicit link between the Israeli-Palestinian strife and the safety of American soldiers as they battle Islamic extremism and terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Let’s see if I understand this. Israel’s an ally, an outpost of Western culture and democracy in the midst of a lunatic asylum called – politely – “the Islamic World”. It’s surrounded by millions of people who want to slaughter every Jew they can get their hands on. Yet, Hope ‘n Change and his “progressive” friends want to kiss up to the very Muslim anti-Semites who openly admire Hitler and talk about a new Jewish genocide.
Furthermore, Israel’s existence in the Middle East is a red herring used by Islamists to mask their theological hatred of the rest of the world – including Muslims they consider insufficiently zealous. For it’s Israel’s existence – let’s be very candid here – that’s the real issue. To expect Israel to enter into a “peace agreement” with people who don’t recognize its existence is folly leading to tragedy.
If we’re really concerned about our involvement in Middle East conflicts, we could (a) deal decisively with Iran and (b) enact an energy policy that frees us – and the rest of the world – from the need to import Middle East oil. Accomplishing these two objections would effectively defund most of the terrorism in the world.
But Hope ‘n Change would doubtless have been a smash hit in 1938, praising despots and bargaining away the rights of the Czechs and Poles. There was a balancing of interests going on then, too.
More from Ed Morrissey.
Related posts:
Twitter
Facebook
RSS
LinkedIn
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you, thank you — for writing exactly what I have been thinking. I sent out emails with fact based (and foot-noted) details of Mr. Obama’s pro-Palestinian activities as he was running for President. No one cared. No one wanted to believe it.
Now everyone is blind to what is happening (with the exception of Mayor Koch
Why is the Jewish community still supporting him? Poll after poll shows that they are!