In 2009, shortly after taking office, Obama's political advisers began working on a new approach to the long enduring conflict between Israel and the Palestinian authority. The final policy was stunningly anti-Israel even though the Democrat party and the Obama administration claimed the the new approach would help Israel in the long run. This is a view consistent with Sen. Hagel's opposition to the move to list Hamas as a terrorist organization and his deeply held view that Israel is the problem, not the Palestinians. The implementation of the policy, however, shook the Israeli government right to the core. It is a new policy that calls for the easing of the US - Israeli relationship in favor of a more neutral sympathetic approach toward the Palestinian people. In other words, Israel would not count on US to stand up against continued Palestinian undermining of the Jewish state, and on matters related to its own national security - namely the Hamas and Hezbollah invasions and more so, the ongoing defiant Iranian nuclear program. US distances itself from Israel for the first time since the founding of the Jewish state.
The Israeli government reached out to the Obama administration but on many occasions, the Obama team gave them excuses. The new anti-Israel policy became transparent when the Israeli government approved the building of Jewish homes in Jerusalem; on lands the Palestinian Authority claiming legal ownership. The infuriated Obama summoned the PM of Israel and humiliated him at the White House; giving him an array of demands and left him alone to ponder them as he devoured his lunch upstairs with his family. The relationship also went extremely bitter when President Obama, in response to the continued construction of homes in Jerusalem, calling for Israel to return to the pre-1967 borderlines. The current borderlines were drawn to ensure Israel's security against hostile neighbors and endorsed by the UN. But the deafening call to shrink the size of Israel demonstrated just how anti-Israel the new Obama policy is. During the 2012, Obama snubbed the Israeli PM who requested to meet him in person for a vital but normal talk between two allies.
In fact, the harsh treatment of the PM of Israel was downplayed by the leftist liberal media but was widely reported by the UK and conservative media in US. The backlash from Jewish Obama supporters was overwhelming - he was forced to sit down for a direct talk with the US Jewish leadership. Though he obviously possessed little knowledge of the social and geopolitical fundamentals of the conflict between Jews and Palestinians, he argued strongly that he knew what he was doing (a Jewish source who attended the meeting told the author of "The Amateur"). From the start, the Obama administration thought that it would abandon Israel in order to gain favors with the Muslim world. Even the administrator of NASA was sent to the ME to build a good relationship with the Arab world - an unprecedented move. But what this clueless administration did is underestimating the vigorous efforts of the Muslim nations surrounding Israel to annihilate only democratic state in the ME.
Israel saw its political defensive walls falling one by one before their eyes. Under the Obama administration, the only US ally in Egypt - Hosni Mubarak - was toppled, ending a long lasting peace between Egypt and Israel. The incoming administration - also known as the Muslim Brotherhood - also ended the Iranian/Egypt decades long shattered relationship. Israel watched hopelessly as one of the warships of one of their sworn enemies, Iran, crossed the Suez Canal for the first time in many decades. The Obama approach also emboldened the Hamas and other Jihadist terror networks based in Gaza to attack Israel. In 2012, under Obama's watch, Hamas launched a surprised, unprovoked attack against Israel at the same time launching a campaign to become a permanent member of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), against everything the UN stood for. Unlike past administrations who threatened to cut funds to countries and organizations supporting the movement to include the (then) Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the UN family, the Obama administration chose to vote against the UN Palestinian resolution and never made a single beep about its relevancy and violation of the UN Charter. Behind closed doors, however, the Obama administration firmly believes that the PA have the right to pursue such international political goals.
To make things look a little authentic in the face of critical Americans, the Obama team made one critical maneuvered; funding a defense shield for Israel. This move helps the Obama team in such a way that maintains the relationship of the two states (US and Israel), the integrity of the new policy, at the same time implementing every bit of it to the core all in the background. The Obama team approved a funding of the so-called "Iron Dome" - an easily deployed missile shield aims to protect Israel, yet Obama did absolutely nothing to stop the attack on Israel. It's like the strong man in the room giving a hopeless kid a sword and telling him to defend himself against hundreds of armed bullies. The ID - though effective in keeping the Israeli main cities, especially Tel Aviv, safe, also had its own downside. The system's accuracy was stunningly high, however, it proven catastrophic when overpowered by barrages of missiles at a ratio of 10:2 (10 Hamas missiles for every 2 ID). Those that got through either landed in empty building or in empty fields.
Now, Sen. Hagel is not new to the issue of the Israel and the Palestinian Authority, nor other issues in the ME. As many Jews and leaders of both political parties (who are quite worried by the rhetoric that came out of Hagel's mouth during his time in the Senate) pointed out, Sen. Hagel made some very damning statements in the past about Israel that needing serious scrutiny. To hand over the "Defense Department" to a man that criticized the US policy on Iraq, Iran, and argued that US and its allies (an indirect reference to Israel) shouldn't tell Iran not to have its own nuclear program, is quite dangerous.
But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to such extreme leftist political views, President Obama and Sen. Hagel aren't so different. Lest we forget, the Obama administration still believe that Jerusalem is not Israel's capital and that the administration views Jerusalem status as under "negotiation", which means, the administration is opened to dialogue that may challenge Israel's claim to the entire holy city. As such, it is extremely important that the person that entrusted such massive defensive undertaking understands the dangerous of such rhetoric as it may lead yet to another regional war. It is also important to note that Sen. Hagel's appointment maybe a lead-up to a wider approach to undermine Israel's claim to some territories that the Palestinian authority claims legal rights. If there's a clandestine plan to be hatched in Obama's final term, it will emerge after this appointment. It will drag US and the ME down a dangerous path, one that may lead to the only thing this region knows - WAR!
Some Anti-Israel Comments by Sen. Hagel
Hagel Claims Palestinians Have been chained down (By Israel)
Who is He?
No comments:
Post a Comment