RUTHFULLY YOURS

Last week, pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted a New York City Council meeting yelling slogans and brandishing a Palestinian flag. The demonstration was particularly offensive given that it occurred as council members were voting on a resolution commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

In an impassioned response, Councilman David Greenfield observed that every Middle East country — except Israel — is not democratic and persecutes people of other faiths, gays, women, and those with opinions inconsistent with those of their governments.  He concluded, “What you saw here today was naked, blind anti-Semitism.”

Greenfield’s point is critical.  Those who attack and demonize Israel for its imperfections in the face of the atrocities committed by its Arab neighbors are not just hypocrites.  There is only one explanation for their irrational condemnations: hatred of Jews. And there is no difference between protests by pro-Palestinians and protests that regularly emanate from the White House.

Incomprehensibly, while Israel is unquestionably our most strategic ally in the region, the administration is taking great strides to fundamentally transform the Middle East.  By aligning itself with Iran in its undeclared war against Sunni jihadists, Obama has distanced America from traditional allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Obama is empowering Iran under the auspices of shared interests and green lighting its development of military infrastructure on Israel’s borders — through which threats and attacks have already begun.

If Obama were only injecting a bit of daylight into our relationship with Israel, perhaps the worrisome situation would not be so dire. Unfortunately, he has sought to remove the U.S. from the Mideast, resulting in a formerly stable region devolving into chaos and violence with the vacuum filled by Iran and jihadists.  He has ostracized, admonished, bullied, and isolated Israel in unprecedented fashion, dangerously galvanizing her enemies. And it is difficult not to look at the administration’s policies and conclude that “good old-fashioned anti-Semitism” motivates its actions.

How else to explain why Obama consistently lambasts Netanyahu for disagreeing with him, issuing building permits for construction on Israeli land, and acting to ensure the survival of the country the prime minister was elected to protect?  How else to explain the name-calling and abuse bestowed upon an ally for whom Obama only exhibits disdain?  How else can one explain Obama’s passivity and disregard for the actions of the leaders of Mideast countries with abysmal records of human rights abuses, government sanctioned torture and murder, and who are leading sponsors of international terrorism?

When Biden was in Israel and housing permits were announced, the uproar from the White House was disproportionately obnoxious. Yet when Obama was in Saudi Arabia this week and three people were beheaded, he said nothing.  In fact, his laissez faire attitude about Saudi human rights abuses is on full display in his recent interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria

How does one explain the White House’s outrage at Netanyahu every time he attempts to work with the U.S. to stop Iran from going nuclear? And yet, just as Obama agrees to another extension of the negotiations with Iran and the mullahs announce the construction of two new nuclear reactors and a law permitting an increase in uranium enrichment, a true “spat in the face” to Obama, all we hear is radio silence from the administration? (Actually, the administration admitted it was aware of Iran’s nuclear endeavors but is opting to ignore those in its quixotic pursuit of any agreement that it can label an historic achievement.)

How does one explain Obama’s description of Abbas, Rouhani, and the Muslim Brotherhood as moderates while his administration’s choice of words for Netanyahu include chickensh*t, coward, recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and aspergery?

The administration is now apoplectic over Netanyahu accepting Speaker Boehner’s invitation to speak before Congress. It is lobbing a myriad of threats including that Kerry’s interest in defending Israel will diminish and that there will be “a price to pay” because this is something “you simply don’t do.”  What you actually don’t do is send a delegation to a foreign country and finance an opposition group to help oust a sitting Prime Minister.  And yet this is exactly what the Obama administration is doing in Israel.

Why would Obama become so integrally involved in Israel’s elections? It is not because Obama despises Netanyahu (which he does).  It is because Obama is hoping that a weak leader will replace Netanyahu and remain quiet while Obama allows Iran to go nuclear. But any Israeli Prime Minister who does not capitulate to Obama’s demands will be the subject of his vitriol and abuse.

What motivates Obama is not our national security but his own self-interest in avoiding war at all costs. He pulled our troops out of Iraq prematurely and Iran filled the vacuum.  He surrendered on his red lines with Syria and now a quarter of a million are dead and ISIS is flourishing.  He refused to militarily intervene in Libya (aside from briefly leading from behind) and we have four dead Americas and a county in chaos.  He promised that Yemen was a success and we just evacuated our embassy as the Houthi terrorists took over.

Obama accedes to every Iranian demand in a desperate attempt to thwart a confrontation despite it leading to a nuclear-armed, nihilistic terrorist regime. And the people he attacks the most are not the dictators and terrorists but the Israelis who are on the front lines facing our enemies daily and American Jews, accused of dual loyalties and self-regard.

What motivates Netanyahu is protecting the Holy Land and ensuring that Jewish people survive the 21^st century.  Instead of understanding why Israel might be a bit concerned as it watches its borders break down, jihadists run rampant, and Iran play Obama like a cheap violin, the lame duck administration throws out threats historically saved for a nation’s enemies.

Every time Netanyahu disagrees with Obama, someone from the administration attempts to intimidate and silence him.  From Kerry’s warnings that the BDSers will find success or that Israel will become further isolated to the latest grotesque threat that there will be a price to pay for Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, there is only one explanation for this ugliness. The administration’s blatant anti-Zionist policies are a direct result of its anti-Semitic ideology. As Dr Phyllis Chesler, author of The New Anti-Semitism, recognized years ago, “anti-Zionism [is], indeed, a core part of the ‘new’ anti-Semitism.”

The hypocrisy and hollowness of Obama’s words on Holocaust Remembrance Day promising “never again” are offensive. But we have come to expect empty rhetoric from the Liar-in-Chief — Iran is no exception. While Netanyahu struggles to ensure that the mullahcracy that has consistently promised to annihilate the Jewish homeland does not obtain nuclear capability, Obama bashes and threatens him in typical Chicago-style.  As Netanyahu understands the veracity of Iran’s latest promise to hit Israel with “devastating thunderbolts” to cause “the collapse of the Zionist regime,” Obama adds fuel to the fire with his own threats of Israel’s price to pay. And Iran’s threats to “the Zionist regime” were communicated to Israel through U.S officials!  No word yet on Obama promising Iran there would be a price to pay for threatening an ally.

The State Department met this week with Muslim Brotherhood leaders to discuss efforts to oust the current Egyptian government, which has been friendly to Israel and the West. This is abominable. As Iran sets up shop on Israel’s Syrian and Lebanese borders, Obama throws the Shiite terrorists another bone to help them retake control of Egypt on Israel’s southern border. The optics of this, coupled with Obama ceding Syria, Iraq and Yemen to Iran, do not look good.

After Israel struck a convoy of senior Iranian and Hezb’allah commanders in the Golan Heights last week, Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Tony Badran explained:

To understand Israeli behavior, we must take into account three key factors: Iranian influence in the Levant is expanding rapidly, it is doing so with American consent; and, moreover, no one in the Middle East actually believes that the Obama administration will stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. With the real prospect of a nuclear Iran on the horizon, no Israeli government can afford to have the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) set up base in the Golan. Ultimately, this was the point Israel wanted to make — not just to Tehran, but to Washington as well.

This is complicated military gamesmanship and Obama knows exactly what he is doing. Destroying Israel in the process is a price he is willing to pay in order to achieve his goals. The U.S. is now working with Iran — either passively or actively, directly or through its proxies, but certainly behind Israel’s (and the American peoples’) back. And Iran’s influence is expanding.

The U.S./Israel alliance, once based on mutual respect, values, and interests, is devolving into a bitter divide. Iran and Obama, on the other hand, are now aligned through mutual threats to Israel, mutual efforts to build an Iranian hegemon in the region, and imminent mutual nuclear capabilities.

America has historically been Israel’s one reliable partner that she could turn to for international support and protection. No longer. We now have a president taking affirmative and aggressive steps that are harming her ability to survive in an ever-threatening neighborhood. In embracing the world’s largest sponsor of international terrorism, Obama has disavowed any responsibility to prevent another Holocaust.

In 1980, Iran prevented an American military incursion by releasing the hostages the day that Carter left office.  Ironically, they may successfully do so again the day that Obama leaves the White House.  It will not be out of fear of his successor this time but rather because Iran will announce that it has obtained nuclear arms. And the Anti-Semite in chief, who embraced Wright, Khalidi, Ayers, Sharpton, Erdogan, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Mullahs, will be fully responsible for hammering the nails into Israel’s coffin.