Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Friday 27 May 2011

Obama: For Israel's Sake, Best Not Given A Second Term?

In the National Review Online, Stanley Kurtz (author of Radical-in-Chief, published in 2010) has a long and searching article examining President Obama's record regarding the Palestinians, and tellingly entitles it "Pro-Palestinian-in-Chief" - with the subtitle "Obama's hard-Left tilt is real".

Dr Kurtz begins:
'It’s time to revisit the issue of President Obama’s Palestinian ties. During his time in the Illinois state senate, Obama forged close alliances with the most prominent Palestinian political leaders in America. Substantial evidence also indicates that during his pre-Washington years, Obama was both supportive of the Palestinian cause and critical of America’s stance toward Israel. Although Obama began to voice undifferentiated support for Israel around 2004 (as he ran for U.S. Senate and his national visibility rose), critics and even some backers have long suspected that his pro-Palestinian inclinations survive.
The continuing influence of Obama’s pro-Palestinian sentiments is the best way to make sense of the president’s recent tilt away from Israel. This is why supporters of Israel should fear Obama’s reelection. In 2013, with his political vulnerability a thing of the past, Obama’s pro-Palestinian sympathies would be released from hibernation, leaving Israel without support from its indispensable American defender.
 To see this, we need to reconstruct Obama’s pro-Palestinian past and assess its influence on the present. Taken in context, and followed through the years, the evidence strongly suggests that Obama’s long-held pro-Palestinian sentiments were sincere, while his post-2004 pro-Israel stance has been dictated by political necessity.'
 And after taking us carefully through the evidence he concludes:
'The record is clear. Obama’s heritage, his largely hidden history of leftist radicalism, and his close friendship with Rashid Khalidi, all bespeak sincerity, as Obama’s other Palestinian associates agree. This is not to mention Reverend Wright — whose rabidly anti-Israel sentiments, I show in Radical-in-Chief, Obama had to know about — or Obama’s longtime foreign-policy adviser Samantha Power, who once apparently recommended  imposing a two-state solution on Israel through American military action. Decades of intimate alliances in a hard-Left world are a great deal harder to fake than a few years of speeches at AIPAC conferences.
 The real Obama is the first Obama, and depending on how the next presidential election turns out, we’re going to meet him again in 2013.'
 This is a hair-raising article.

Read it all here: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/268159/pro-palestinian-chief-stanley-kurtz?page=4

7 comments:

  1. Daphne,
    It is hair-raising that so many (including you, I fear) have so distorted Obama's position.
    The National Review is helping to create the "big lie" and it sickens me.
    It's really quite scary that some people are panicking or are pretending to panic because they simply don't like Obama.
    Obama is a friend to Israel.

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  2. Thanks, David - I recall that these things were being said about Obama back in '08.
    The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, of course...
    He seems very cautious and so far is in the mainstream...
    And I don't have a vote ;~)

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  3. I've added a question mark to the post header, just to be fair - should have done so before.

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  4. Some backers are uneasy:

    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-israel-fundraising-20110525,0,3949541.story

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  5. "Tough love," which I believe is what Obama is offering, is not easy to hear.

    "Happy talk," per e.g. George Bush, is always a delight but fades away to nothing.

    That's the distinction: Obama's tough love versus Bush's happy talk.

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  6. My dove (he denies the label) at home believes the Palestinians should have East Jerusalem as their capital ...

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  7. "Obama: For Israel's Sake, Best Not Given A Second Term?"

    For Israel's Sake and for all us "Infidel's" sake!!

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