Israel has become [as sacred a cow in American politics as Mom, apple pie … and guns] because, on the one hand, evangelical Christians consider its security key to their salvation; and on the other hand, politicians of every stripe consider pandering about its security key to their election.
(“Americans More Jewish than Jews in Israel,” The iPINIONS Journal, February 7, 2013)
Israel made quite a show of laying out the red carpet for President Obama this week; so much so that you’d think he was the apocryphal Black Moses coming to ensure that the Promised Land the canonical White Moses led the Israelites to will remain theirs for all eternity.
Frankly, Israel could not have lavished more praise on Obama or shown him with more gratitude, capping off his first visit there as president, as it did last night, by awarding him its highest civic award – The Presidential Medal of Distinction.
Israeli President Shimon Peres made a point of noting that Obama is the first sitting president of the United States to receive this award. Which is highly significant – especially in light of all the U.S. presidents who have been hailed as better friends of Israel.
Indeed, the mark of Obama’s character in this respect is that he has continually defied the practice of American politicians pandering to Israelis as if they can do no wrong. How ironic, and encouraging, then that this might be the distinction that made him so eminently worthy of this award.
For example, he not only gave a Cairo-like speech before thousands of Israeli students yesterday; he actually made the case for Palestinian statehood better than any Palestinian ever has or could:
It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day… Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.
(The Jerusalem Post, March 21, 2013)
Can you imagine any Republican ever daring to speak this self-evident truth to Jews in America, let alone to Jews in Israel? But what is most instructive here is that the Jews in Israel reacted by giving Obama a standing ovation. Whereas, had he said this in America, Republican politicians and right-wing pundits would have reacted by damning him to Hell as a greater traitor to Israel than Judas was to Christ.
Apropos of which, you could be forgiven for being as shocked to see Israelis bestow this award upon Obama as many were to see Americans re-elect him in a landslide. After all, the conservative media spared no expense during last year’s presidential campaign propagating the Big Lie that Obama harbors Islamist-like hatred of Israel.
Obama hates Israel and he’s demonstrated it time and time again.
(Influential talk-show host Mark Levin, FOX Nation, July 27, 2012)
Remarkably, though, their most useful idiot in this respect was none other than Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney — who made the following refrain a key part of his stump speech:
President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace. He has also violated a first principle of American foreign policy, which is to stand firm by our friends.
(The Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2011)
Not to mention the blatant hypocrisy inherent in Republicans damning Obama for not visiting Israel during his first term. After all, these are the same folks who voiced nary a peep about George W. Bush waiting not until the first year of his second term (as Obama did), but until the last year of his second term to do so. Even worse is their cult-like silence about their Republican god, Ronald Reagan, and his successor, George H.W. Bush Sr., never bothering to visit at all.
But almost everything Republicans say these days gives one the impression that they live in a parallel universe. This was brought into stark relief when they were not disabused of their Obama-hates-Israel schtick even after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared on American TV that Obama has done more to guarantee his country’s national security than any president in U.S. history.
I too have tried in vain to debunk this ironic phenomenon of American politicians presuming to know and care more about Israel’s security than Israeli politicians. I did so in the commentary referenced above, as well as in many others, including “Was Hagel Nominated as Defense Secretary for the U.S. or Israel,” The iPINIONS Journal, January 31, 2013 and “Obama Dissing PM Netanyahu?” The iPINIONS Journal, September 12, 2012.
Well, perhaps the laudatory words of commendation President Peres offered at last night’s medal ceremony will provide the antidote Republicans need to cure them of this strain of Obama derangement syndrome. His words can be fairly summed up with the following quote:
It is my privilege to present you with our country’s highest honor. This award speaks to your tireless work to make Israel strong. Your presidency has given the closest ties between Israel and the United States a new height, a sense of intimacy, a vision for the future.
(The Jerusalem Post, March 21, 2013)
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to remark on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s transformational attitude towards, and interaction with, Obama during this visit. Granted, Obama’s landslide re-election last November and Netanyahu’s near-defeat last January meant that Netanyahu’s political survival required him to echo Peres’s laudatory words, as he duly did.
But to see him schmoozing with Obama (exchanging public compliments and private jokes like high-school girlfriends), you’d never know it was Netanyahu’s purported distrust of Obama that imbued Republican lies about his support for Israel with righteous indignation.
So here’s to strange bedfellows. In fact, it would not surprise me in the least if Netanyahu helps Obama broker the peace between Israelis and Palestinians that has bedeviled U.S. presidents for over 60 years. And, as for being eminently worthy of awards, this would make Obama finally worthy of that Nobel Peace Prize he received in 2009 … for doing nothing.
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