by Daniel Pipes
I predicted two months
before the November 2012 presidential vote that, should Barack Obama be
re-elected, "the coldest treatment of Israel ever by a U.S. president
will follow."
Well, the elections are
over and that cold treatment is firmly in place. Obama has signaled in
the past two months what lies ahead by:
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Choosing three senior figures — John Kerry for secretary of state, John Brennan for CIA director, and Chuck Hagel for defense secretary — who range from clueless to hostile about Israel.
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Approving a huge gift of advanced weapons — 20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks — to the Islamist government in Egypt despite its president, Mohammed Morsi, having become increasingly despotic and calling Jews "blood-suckers, … warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs."
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Reiterating the patronizing 35-year-old tactic relied upon by anti-Israel types to condemn Israeli policies while pretending to be concerned for the country's welfare: "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are."
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Ignoring evidence of Cairo importing Scud missile parts from North Korea.
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Rebuffing the 239 House members who called for closing the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington in response to the PLO's drive for state-observer status at the United Nations.
Asked about Obama's
nomination of Hagel, Ed Koch, the former New York City mayor who,
despite his astringent criticism of Obama nonetheless endorsed him for
re-election, offered an astonishing response: "I thought that there
would come a time when [Obama] would renege on … his support of Israel
[but this] comes a little earlier than I thought." Even Obama's
pro-Israel supporters expected him to turn against the Jewish state!
These anti-Israel steps
raise worries because they jibe with Obama's early anti-Zionist views.
We lack specifics, but we know that he studied with, befriended,
socialized, and encouraged Palestinian extremists. For example:
A picture from 1998
shows him listening reverentially to anti-Israel theorist Edward Said.
Obama sat idly by as speakers at an event in 2003 celebrating Rashid
Khalidi, a former PLO public relations operative, accused Israel of
waging a terrorist campaign against Palestinians and compared "Zionist
settlers on the West Bank" to Osama bin Laden. Ali Abunimah, an
anti-Israel agitator, commended Obama in 2004 for "his call for an
even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," code words
for distancing the U.S. government from Israel. In turn, Obama praised
Abunimah for his obsessively anti-Israel articles in The Chicago
Tribune, urging him to "keep up the good work!"
Abunimah also reveals
that, starting in 2002, Obama toned down his anti-Israel rhetoric "as he
planned his move from small time Illinois politics to the national
scene" and Obama made this explicit two years later, apologizing to
Abunimah: "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now,
but we are in a tough primary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I
can be more up front."
And Obama dutifully
made the requisite policy changes, if in a cramped and reluctant manner
("I have to deal with him every day," he whined about Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). He supported Israel in its 2008-09 and
2012 wars with Hamas. His administration called the Goldstone Report
"deeply flawed" and backed Israel at the United Nations with lobbying
efforts, votes, and vetoes. Armaments flowed. The Israeli exception to
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty remained in place. When Ankara
canceled Israeli participation in the 2009 "Anatolian Eagle" air force
exercise, the U.S. government pulled out in solidarity. If Obama created
crises over Israeli housing starts, he eventually allowed these to
simmer down.
Returning to the
present: Netanyahu's likely re-election as Israeli prime minister this
week will mean continuity of leadership in both countries. But that does
not imply continuity in U.S.-Israel relations; Obama, freed from
re-election constraints, can finally express his early anti-Zionist
views after a decade of political positioning. Watch for a markedly
worse tone from the second Obama administration toward the third
Netanyahu government.
Recalling what Obama
said privately in March 2012 to the then-Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev ("This is my last election and after my election, I have more
flexibility"), there is every reason to think that, having won that
re-election, things have now "calmed down" and, after a decade of
caution, he can "be more up front" to advance the Palestinian cause
against Israel.
I also predicted in
September that "Israel's troubles will really begin" should Obama win a
second term. These have begun; Jerusalem, brace for a rough four years.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3288
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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