Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Snubs Israel
Friday March 26, 2010
Who knew the Great Unifier would become so disagreeable?
Miffed that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu didn't immediately do what the U.S. had so discourteously demanded of him regarding a new settlement proposed for East Jerusalem, President Barack Obama abruptly excused himself Tuesday evening after a 90-minute private meeting with the prime minister to attend an intimate dinner with Mrs. Obama. Mr. Netanyahu was not invited, and was left instead to the company of the president's subordinates. "I'll be around," Obama reportedly said. "Let me know if there's anything new."
Conservatives will be quick to condemn this snubbing as just the kind of thing we should expect from a Democratic president, but I'm not so sure. President Bill Clinton understood and respected the profoundly important relationship America has with what not only its strongest ally in the Middle East, but also the only successful democratic society in the Middle East.
Even President Jimmy Carter, for all his faults (and there were plenty), understood the gravity of maintaining good relations with Israel. His bond with the country resulted in the Camp David Peace Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his sworn enemy, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Carter brokered the deal with patience, hard work and determination, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prizefor his efforts -- a prize he clearly earned.
Obama's actions are certainly not representative of a peace prize recipient. They aren't even representative of an American president. In fact, no other president before him has treated the head of a friendly foreign state so distastefully.
Does President Obama have a legitimate gripe with Israel? Arguably. On March 9, 2010, the day Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel, an ill-timed press-release was issued announcing the construction of 1,600 new residencies in Eastern Jerusalem. The White House responded with a stern rebuke of the building settlement and demanded Israel immediately freeze construction. Netanyahu, every bit as independent as Obama, has not obeyed the administration's command.
Nevertheless, he didn't deserve to be, for all intents and purposes, seated at the kiddie-table, either. Obama didn't even pause for pictures with the prime minister -- unheard of behavior from a U.S. president. If anything, the move created more distrust between Israel and the U.S. According to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, the Israeli delegation became suspicious of the phone lines they were given, and decided to leave rather than risk having a the White House administration listening in on their sensitive discussions with Israel officials at home.
In any case, Obama's actions embolden Palestinians to make new demands on Israel, and they seriously weaken Netanyahu in the eyes of not only his country, but the rest of the world.
One has to wonder, given Obama's predilection toward Palestine since taking office, whether that wasn't the point of the snub. After all, just a day before Israel allegedly "embarrassed" Biden by announcing the new settlement, the White House announced it was loosening sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba. The sanctions lifted were in the area of online communications, which was previously a key part of the Bush White House's strategy to keep enemies of the United States from being able to plot against it (as well as Israel).
Meanwhile, there is some speculation that the White House was behind the recent expulsion from London of an Israeli diplomat (Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, is accused of allowing its agents to use forged British passports in carrying out the suspected assassination of a Hamas commander. No formal charges have been filed, and nothing has been proven). There are also indications that unless Israel backs down from its plans to construct the new residences in East Jerusalem, the U.S. could be preparing to withdraw military support from one of its most faithful historic allies, leaving the tiny country to fend off a host of hostile Islamic nations fueled by more than 70 years of anger at the Jews.
The question for the world's most recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient now becomes, "Just who's side are you on, Mr. President?"
Source : About.com Guide to US Conservative Politics
Mark Levin on Obama and Israel
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