Israel Matzav

'Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are'

There's a Mexican proverb that says "tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are." Last week, the President of the United States told everyone who his friends are, but not enough people have made the connection. Here's one who has (Hat Tip: Soccer Dad).

Obama told Time Magazine that his diplomatic endeavors have been more effective because he shares “trust and confidence” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and British premier David Cameron, in that order. Obama: “I think that if you ask them… they would say, ‘We have a lot of trust and confidence in the President. We believe what he says. We believe that he’ll follow through on his commitments. We think he’s paying attention to our concerns and our interests.’”

Israeli media, of course, played up the fact that Obama didn’t list Benjamin Netanyahu as one of the world leaders with whom he shares a “friendship and bond of trust.” But that, unfortunately, is not surprising, and it misses the point. The point is – the shocker is – that Obama does feel a kinship to Erdogan – one of the most anti-Western, anti-Israel, pro-Islamist and nasty leaders on the globe.

Erdogan has led a major reorientation in Turkish foreign policy away from the West and towards the West’s worst enemies, including Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in Gaza, and Hizballah in Lebanon. Everyone knows that he has crashed Turkish-Israel relations, which within the framework of the new Turkish foreign policy, are a burden. Erdogan hardly lets a week pass without disparaging or criticizing Israel or the Jews. This undoubtedly fits well with the anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiments prevalent in the Muslim world.

But Erdogan is Obama’s friend, with whom Obama shares a “friendship and bond of trust.”

Read the whole thing.

Scott Johnson quotes from a similar post by Barry Rubin:

For the first time in forty years, Israel is not the American president’s favorite Middle Eastern ally. Instead, that role is played by Turkey’s government.

This would not be such a bad thing if we were talking about the “old” Turkey, the secular republic. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama’s favorite advisor among the regional leaders is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Pretend all you want but Obama really dislikes—hates?—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and truth be told Netanyahu has done nothing to deserve that treatment.

...

The fundamental problem with Erdogan is despite being embraced by the United States, he is an enemy of the United States, the West more generally, and Israel. He is on the side of radical, anti-American Islamists who want to wipe Israel off the map. So angry and passionate is Erdogan’s loathing of Israel that the leader of the opposition mockingly but pointedly asked if the prime minister wanted to go to war with the Jewish state.

How obvious should this massive change be? Let me sum it up in one sentence: A few years ago Turkey was an ally of Israel. Now it is an ally of Hamas.

Johnson adds:

I’d love to know what these Cameron and Merkel think of Obama, but I think we can make a pretty good guess what Erdogan thinks of him. Let’s just say he thinks him useful.

You mean like "useful idiot"? Yes, I think that's a fair description.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:36 PM