Devastating: Wall Street Journal rebukes Obama for abandoning Israel
The White House has apparently dropped even the pretense that Prime Minister Netanyahu didn't ask for a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. There seems little doubt now that Netanyahu asked for a meeting and was refused by a President who will be too busy feting the Muslim Brotherhood, cracking jokes with David Letterman, and generally worrying about the most important issue of all (to him anyway) - his own reelection - to even meet with the Prime Minister of Israel.In a few short paragraphs in Wednesday's edition, the Wall Street Journal demolished President Obama's behavior (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
It's no secret the Israelis don't want to strike Iran either, provided the U.S. is serious about keeping a bomb out of the mullahs' hands. But Israel's confidence in Mr. Obama's seriousness is fading fast. This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Bloomberg Radio that "we're not setting deadlines" for Iran to halt its program.Read the whole thing. My own view is that Obama wants to string us out to the edge of destruction, God forbid, and then offer to come save the day... in exchange for concessions to the 'Palestinians.' Of course, if Iran were already nuclear, Obama would be in a much better position to do that.
That prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to note that "those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel."
That's the kind of tough diplomatic exchange that an Administration should want to smooth over, at least if it's truly intent on forestalling an Israeli attack. But now comes word that Mr. Obama will not even meet with Mr. Netanyahu during the latter's visit later this month to the U.S. Scheduling conflicts, you know.
Late Tuesday the White House issued a statement saying the two leaders had talked and denying any snub. But the message that's reaching Jerusalem these days is closer to "you're on your own, pal" than to "we've got your back." Israel will have to factor that into its security calculations as it contemplates whether to act against Iran, and when.
It's possible this is how President Obama wants it, in order to leave the job of stopping Iran to Israel while avoiding American entanglements. But it's hard to imagine an Israeli attack that didn't ultimately entangle that country's most important ally.
The Administration's diplomatic rebukes to Israel are also telling Iran that it is that much freer to move ahead with its nuclear plans. If Israel does strike Iran, Mr. Obama's mishandling of our ally will be a major reason.
Mark Monday night, October 15 on your calendars. It's a new moon night so it will be dark - the moon won't be visible. It's soon enough that the weather will still be favorable. It's before the US elections.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Campaign 2012, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran, US-Israel relationship
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:42 AM
2 Comments:
Obama is playing Michiavel. He KNOWS he will have to intervene but he does not want to upset the Muslim world by siding openly with Israel. So, to all intent and purposes, ISRAEL IS ON ITS OWN. He also knows that iSRAEL WILL HAVE TO INTERVENE. Once Israel intervenes and the Iranian attacks US Bases as they said they will, he will have an excuse to attack by invoking US NATIONAL SECURITY and STRATEGIC interests in the Region.
IMB,
If I were convinced that's what's going on, I would be a lot calmer.
The problem is that when the attack comes, Obama seems far more likely to beg the Iranians to leave US troops alone... and to promise not to join Israel in return.
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