by Ruthie Blum
Mr. President, everyone is aware of the pressure you have been applying on Israel to bring about peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians. Can you give a single example of pressure on the PA?
On Tuesday night,
Israel's Channel 2 network aired an interview with U.S. President Barack
Obama, conducted by respected Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan. This was
yet another tine of Obama's multi-pronged charm offensive, to make sure
the Jews who supported and funded him do not abandon him and the
Democratic Party as the 2016 presidential election draws near.
Coming on the heels of a
sit-down with Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic and an address to the
Adas Israel congregation in Washington, it was not the least bit
original. On the contrary, it was basically a repeat of everything Obama
has been saying to assure Jewish donors that he has Israel's best
interests at heart.
This is among many
reasons that Dayan need not be patting herself on the back for scoring
the coveted one-on-one at the White House. Indeed, she was merely
serving as a pawn in Obama's transparent maneuver to capitulate to Iran,
and to keep Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warnings about Iran
from being taken seriously.
Still, a tough
investigative journalist like Dayan could have made better use of the
microphone. But for this, she would have had to avoid slipping into
idolatry mode and keep herself from fawning like a high-school girl in
the presence of a movie star whose poster hangs over her bed.
Since I don't have that
particular problem in relation to America's "leader-from-behind," I
prepared an alternative list of questions I would have liked to hear
Obama answer.
1. Mr. President, your
tense relations with Prime Minister Netanyahu are no secret. Can you
give a single example of his having disobeyed your demands and commands?
Did he not agree to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, freeze
settlement construction, release terrorists, and apologize to Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the 2010 events surrounding the "Free
Gaza" flotilla?
2. Mr. President, in
your recent speech at the Adas Israel synagogue, you quipped that
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wasn't the "easiest
person" to negotiate with. This elicited sympathetic laughter from the
audience. Can you give a single example of his having accommodated
Secretary of State John Kerry's shuttle diplomacy efforts?
3. Mr. President, you
have said that it is imperative that Israel "live up to the core values
on which it was founded." Can you give a single example of its not
having done so?
4. Mr. President, you
have expressed concern that in the absence of a "two-state solution,"
Israeli democracy would be in jeopardy. Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly
agrees with you on this, as is indicated by his public endorsement in
2009 in a speech at Bar-Ilan University. Prior to his election in March,
he acknowledged that this would not happen during his tenure, given the
realities on the ground. After the elections, due to pressure from you
and others, he said that he would resume negotiating with the PA, albeit
with caveats. What about this position is problematic? Has the PA done
anything to cause you to disagree with Netanyahu's assessments?
5. Mr. President,
everyone is aware of the pressure you have been applying on Israel to
bring about peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians. Can you give a
single example of pressure on the PA? For example, have you addressed
any mosques in America and appealed to congregants about the
commemoration in the PA of Nakba Day, mourning the establishment of the
State of Israel in 1948? Have you insisted that Palestinian television
cease teaching young children to take up arms against Jews?
6. Mr. President, you
have said that "all options are on the table" where a nuclearizing Iran
is concerned. Yet now you are claiming that there is no military
solution. Meanwhile, Iran denies the clauses of the framework agreement,
signed in Lausanne in April, which is to be finalized at the end of
this month. Furthermore, its stockpile of nuclear fuel has increased by
20% over the last 18 months; the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels have taken
at least four Americans prisoner; women's rights activist Atena
Farghadani was just sentenced to 14 years in prison for posting a
cartoon on Facebook, mocking Iranian politicians who supported an
anti-contraception bill; a trial has begun against Washington Post
Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian for espionage and "disseminating
propaganda against the Islamic republic." Rezaian, an American citizen,
has been held in Iran's torturous Evin Prison, mostly in solitary
confinement, and subjected to fierce interrogations, while being denied
medical treatment for his deteriorating health. Are you still planning
on going ahead with the deal?
7. Mr. President, you
always show great concern for "the children" of the world. For instance,
you say that children in Ramallah should have the same opportunities
for a bright future as children in Israel. Do you feel the same way
about children in Iran? If so, why did you refrain from helping the
Green Movement when it attempted to overthrow the mullah-led regime in
2009? Why did you say it was not your place to intervene on their
behalf?
8. Finally, Mr.
President, you have categorized Netanyahu and his friends in the U.S.
Republican Party as forging foreign policy based on fear, rather than
hope. Can you give a single example of a hope-based policy that has
panned out since you took office?
Ruthie Blum is the web editor of Voice of Israel talk radio (voiceofisrael.com).
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=12785
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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