Will President Obama Continue Shielding the Barbarians at our Gates?
The US is Israel’s most important ally. It has provided us with arms and only last week Congress granted us additional funds to further develop the Iron Dome. It has also used its political clout to deflect hostile resolutions and sanctions at the international level…writes Isi Leibler.
Isi Leibler
But we should be under no illusions. The US- Israel relationship is under great strain. Notwithstanding cryptic statements by both the Israeli and US governments denying the veracity of extracts of a toxic telephone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barak Obama, Israeli TV Channel One’s highly respected Foreign News Editor, Oren Nahari, adamantly stands by his story, stressing that his source was a reliable senior US official and not the PM’s department.
The president is alleged to have harshly demanded that Netanyahu accept an immediate unilateral cease-fire and informed him that the US was committed to ending the blockade of Gaza. Netanyahu pointed out that the U.S. Administration was undermining the cease-fire by substituting Egyptian mediation with Qatar and Turkey, reminding Obama that the Moslem Brotherhood-aligned Qatar finances and provides arms to Hamas and other terrorist groups including ISIS. He could have also pointed out that Turkey’s demagogic Prime Minister has been stoking hysterical anti-Israeli sentiment and vile antisemitism, even demanding that his own Jewish community condemn Israel.
President Obama allegedly responded by telling Netanyahu that he was not in a position to advise America who should act as mediators. Lending credence to this exchange was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who, a few days later, told CNN that the US must cooperate with the Qataris “who have told me over and over again that Hamas is a humanitarian organization”. It is mind-boggling that a Democratic congressional leader can describe as “humanitarian”, a genocidal organization with similar objectives to Al Qaeda, whose charter explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
There were also tense exchanges between the PM’s Department and Secretary of State John Kerry, now notorious for his inappropriate comments and contradictory statements.
There have been efforts by both parties to calm the waters. US officials have reiterated their commitment to Israel and re-endorsed Israel’s right to defend itself. President Obama has now, belatedly, followed the lead of the Europeans and includes the demilitarization of Gaza as an issue to be negotiated in conjunction with the lifting of the blockade after cessation of hostilities.
But there is no disputing that President Obama has consciously or otherwise shielded Hamas. This is not a conflict in which the US should act as a mediator or even hint at moral equivalency. This conflict was thrust upon us by a terrorist group promoting a culture of death and martyrdom reflected in the oft quoted Hamas slogan: “Jews wish for life and we wish for a martyr’s death”. We are not confronting an entity seeking independence. It is a conflict between good and evil.
We would have expected our ally to allocate the blame for the casualties to the death merchants of Hamas who target Israeli civilians and propagate casualties amongst their own people who they employ as human shields and then gleefully present to the world as victims of Israeli tyranny.
Instead, President Obama has led the pack in hypocritically supporting our right to defend ourselves whilst blaming us for disproportionate response when we retaliate against the source of the rocket fire whose command posts and missile launching sites are deliberately embedded in UN buildings, schools, hospitals and mosques. The gory scenes of Palestinian casualties highlighted by the global media should have been presented in the context of Hamas responsibility for deliberately orchestrating this nightmare. Instead President Obama’s behavior has merely encouraged Hamas to continue their barbaric strategy in the belief that the US will rescue them from the jaws of defeat and reward them for their commitment to terrorism.
In this context, the clearly synchronized outbursts from the White House, State Department and even the Pentagon, just prior to the announcement of the stillborn 72 hour cease-fire, condemning Israel for civilian casualties, including the shelling of a UNRWA School in Gaza as “indefensible” and “totally unacceptable”, was clearly designed to garner the support of Qatar and Turkey.
The US is aware of the extraordinary lengths, unmatched in any military conflict, which Israel employs to minimize civilian casualties. But innocent civilians die in a war– and obviously more so in a situation in which women and children are employed as human shields and who are deliberately housed in locations together with missiles launchers and command posts. When under fire from terrorists – even if they operate out of schools – Israeli soldiers must return fire or be killed. Beyond that, accidents are inevitable. Just recall the thousands of innocent French civilians who were killed by the allies during the invasion in 1944.
To appreciate the double standards and hypocrisy employed against us, the US should take note of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians killed by allied forces in the course of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the carnage in Serbia incurred by NATO’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Belgrade to force Milosevic to step down.
The tragic casualties among Palestinian innocents sadden us all. But it is revolting when the US President expresses more outrage over the deaths of 1500 Palestinians, a large proportion of whom are bloody terrorists, than the butchered 180,000 Syrians in the ongoing civil war.
It is utterly unacceptable to condemn a long standing ally. How can the US justify their focus on the loss of innocent lives without regard to the context and avoid directing the blame to Hamas who exult in both killing Israelis and the killing of their own people whose suffering they openly exploit to discredit Israel and divert attention from their terrorist activities? It brings to mind Golda Meir’s oft quoted quip that peace will only be achieved when our adversaries love their children more than they hate us.
Israel must stand firm. The public shock over the discovery of the myriad of terror tunnels and the extent of the missile range capability – which now covers the entire country – has united the people in a manner reminiscent of the Six Day War. Close to 90% are adamant that Israel must not stop until Gaza is demilitarized or Hamas completely smashed, despite the terrible toll in casualties. Even the dovish Labor Party opposition is demanding this of Netanyahu.
Although it is not reflected in the extraordinary tsunami of global antisemitism and the double standards formally adopted by Western countries, there is a clear consensus that this war was imposed on us and there is a greater appreciation of the terrorist nature of Hamas and its contempt for human life.
There is also the radical reversal in the approach of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and most of the Arab League who endorsed the Egyptian ceasefire proposal and whose fear and loathing of the Islamic fundamentalist extremists far exceeds their traditional hatred of Israel. The Egyptians and other moderate Arab states maintain that since his initial Cairo speech in 2009, President Obama has emerged as a supporter of the Moslem Brotherhood – the creator of Hamas – and which they regard, justifiably, as an Islamic fundamentalist terror organization.
They consider the undermining of the Egyptian ceasefire proposals and turning towards Qatar and Turkey – supporters of the Moslem Brotherhood and Hamas – as another example of the US betraying its allies and engaging with its enemies. This was reflected in Kerry’s initial Qatar/Turkey sponsored ceasefire proposal, unanimously rejected by the Israeli Cabinet, which could have been written by Hamas.
As of now, Israel has largely achieved its principal objectives of destroying the tunnels and substantially neutralizing the missile capability. But Hamas remains intact and unless demilitarization is imposed we face inveterate Jihadists who will not relent from their openly expressed objective of destroying us or at least eroding our morale by ongoing terror attacks.
The prime responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens. This is a time for Israel to stand firm and take whatever steps are necessary to defang Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. The responsibility for the fallout on innocent Palestinians rests exclusively on Hamas.
The brazen Hamas breach of the 72-hour ceasefire has led to a temporary global backlash against Hamas. Having neutralized those tunnels which the IDF was able to detect, the ground forces are being redeployed. However PM Netanyahu has made it clear that the operation is not over.
The cabinet must speedily decide on one of two options. It can expand the ground campaign and conquer Gaza, which the majority of the nation would probably initially endorse but which would likely entail massive casualties and provoke concerted international pressure that would probably force us to withdraw unilaterally or face sanctions. It would appear that without ruling out this option, Prime Minister Netanyahu – at least in the short-term – intends to continue degrading the rocket launchers and attacking Hamas from the air, thereby limiting Israeli casualties and providing greater leverage to achieve demilitarization.
The outcome rests largely with the US. If it rewards Hamas for its aggression by seeking to “lift the blockade” or provide them with funds without demilitarization, it will be betraying us. The US will thus have destroyed whatever little global credibility they retain and will be seen as abandoning its long standing ally and groveling to those who support fanatical Islamic terrorism.
Will the US support Israel’s just cause against genocidal terrorism or act as a shield to protect the barbarians at our gates, effectively paving the way for a far more brutal war in the nearfuture?
Isi Leibler lives in Jerusalem. He is a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Isi, you ask: “Will Obama continue shielding the barbarians?”
The answer to me is an obvious yes and I think deep down you feel the same.
The following is MY research (not the Jwire editor’s), so I’m hoping Henry will let my comments be published, as I’m going out of my way to be as diplomatic as possible with what follows.
Obama will always side with the terrorists of Hamas.
The man is a Muslim.
The US Constitution requires that only a native born American can assume the office of President of the US.
There is no record of Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham ever having given birth in Hawaii. Neither the Queens Medical Center nor the Kapi’olani Medical Centre in Honolulu have any record of Obama having been born in their facilities.
His extended family in Kenya have stated he was born there.
He entered the USA as a foreign exchange student from Indonesia as a Marxist indoctrinated Muslim by the name of Barry Soetoro with his Indonesian ID having been stamped in the religion box as “Islam”.
He bowed to the Saudi king a few years back as a sign of subservience.
All his records since entering the USA have been sealed.
He has refused to show the original HARDCOPY of his birth certificate but only an internet version which experts say is a forgery, as font types show that of a 1960’s typewriter together with a font type of the latest computers.
Suffice to say that from what I have been able to pick up, Obama is a radical Muslim and has many Muslims advising him in the White House (together with many of that misguided bunch collectively known as American Jews, who, generally speaking, from MY experience, wouldn’t know Arthur from Martha).
So in answer to your question whether he will continue shielding the barbarians at the gates the answer IN MY OPINION is a resounding YES. I hope I am wrong but either way, I only hope that 2016 comes soon and with a bit of luck a real American and a conservative republican at that will be elected President.
This can only be good for Israel and the world.
In the past 10 years only 28 people have been killed by Hamas rockets. Did you catch that – only 28 in TEN years. 296 children killed at least 203 under the age of 12 in this current operation.
If someone spits on you walking down the street it doesn’t give you the right to blast them away with an AK47.
The USA condemns this but continues to give money and weapons to israel. Your tax dollars at work – murdering children. Sleep well.
So let me understand this. That the continual firing of rockets, on civilians, from command centers based in hospitals, mosques and schools, with women and children as human shields, is commensurate with spitting?
Try defending that in a court of law. In fact there is one case, (of many) where a HIV positive man is sitting in jail for thirty five years for spitting.
By any standards, this logic is a dubious defense.
Oh shuck, not enough dead Jews to satisfy you.
Spittle can be wiped or washed off. When even by your twisted calculus 28 people are murdered by Kassem “spits”, the one spat upon is entitled to shut the gob of the spitters. Apart from the mere trifle that each and every rocket and mortar fired at civilian targets is a war crime.
Odd that the world is outraged when Arab children die in Gaza and deride Israel, but never whisper the mildest of criticism about Hamas which uses cement supplied by Israel to build terror tunnels and shelters for its leaders, but none for its children.
Odd too, that international humanitarians fail to notice the slaughter in Syria or Iraq or Somalia or Afghanistan or Nigeria or… wherever mohammedans follow the strict letter of the Koran.
But I don’t expect to convince anyone who does not even know that Israelis don’t blast anyone with AK47s, because they don’t use that weapon.