Did Netanyahu Turn The US From An Ally Into An Enemy?

Israelis have witnessed an intolerable amount of American meddling in the current election cycle, both from White House proxies and from self-important American Jews. As a Zionist, I support Jewish self-determination in the Jewish homeland. That means that I support the right of the Israeli electorate to choose its government for itself, regardless of whether I, as an American Jew who has never run to a bomb shelter or served in any military, think that Israelis are making the right decision. Israelis are the ones that have to live with the consequences of their choice. I do not. One thing I can’t support, however, is making such an important decision based on misinformation.

One piece of misinformation that I have seen in recent months, weeks, and especially the last few days, is that Prime Minister Netanyahu is responsible for the current deterioration in the US-Israel relationship. Well, far be it from me to criticize the former head of the Mossad. But before I was ever a blogger, I was pretty well-trained as a litigator, and if there was one thing that I learned in that training, it was how to look at evidence. Hard evidence shows that it is Obama, and not Netanyahu, who is the cause of the current mess.

netanyahu obama
Prime Minister Netanyahu with President Obama at the White House

On July 13, 2009, less than four months after Netanyahu had taken office, US President Barack Obama conducted a meeting with several prominent American Jewish leaders in which he explained to them that his intention, as it was described in a detailed 2012 report in the Washington Post, was to “talk tough to Israel, publicly and privately.” Obama is quoted in that meeting telling Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, to

Look at the past eight years. . . . During those eight years, there was no space between us and Israel, and what did we get from that? When there is no daylight, Israel just sits on the sidelines, and that erodes our credibility with the Arab states.”

Even before that July meeting, according to the same article in the Post,

Obama made clear to close advisers that he, in the words of one of them, wanted “to demonstrate that he could change Israeli behavior on the ground” to strengthen U.S. credibility.

Obama came in to office in 2009 determined to put a wedge in the US-Israel relationship, and almost immediately set to work trying to achieve this goal. A 2011 Wall Street Journal article by Dan Senor catalogues some of the steps that President Obama took, including his September 2009 speech to the UN General Assembly in which he called Israeli building in the West Bank “illegitimate” but failed to unequivocally condemn terrorism directed at Israel by Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank or Gaza, as well as the March 2010 public condemnations, by senior members of Obama’s staff, of Israeli building in Israel’s capital.

That was all in his first term. In 2012, according to a CNN report quoting Obama advisor David Axelrod, Obama told a group of White House staffers that, after all of the problems in his first term, he still felt that he had not been tough enough on Israel, and that in his second term, “he wanted to be tougher on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” Axelrod wrote:

From almost his first day in office, (President Obama) had pushed the Israelis and Palestinians for a two-state solution, but his efforts, like those of presidents before him, had been run aground by the intractable politics of the Middle East. He was frustrated with both sides, but felt he had pulled his punches with Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing elements of the American Jewish community.

What we see now is the outcome of Obama’s intentional plan, put into effect over the course of six years, to create a wedge between the US and Israel. There are many domestic and foreign policy issues that Israeli voters will need to consider on Tuesday. Whether Netanyahu is responsible for alienating a US President that has had it in for him and his country since the start should not be one of them. If the Herzog/Livni ticket does manage to win the election and form a government, it will be interesting to see whether anything changes.

15 thoughts on “Did Netanyahu Turn The US From An Ally Into An Enemy?”

  1. One can also look at how he treated other American allies. He’s pretty consistently betrayed allies and encouraged enemies.

  2. So all that effusive praise of Obama by Netanyahu at the speech before the joint session of Congress two weeks ago was just a bunch of bull crap to get in good with the American yokels. Either Bibi is too blind to recognize Obama’s hatred of Israel or he’s just trying to pull the wool over the American people’s eyes to get what he wants. Now I understand.

      1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

        Jim will never find it in his heart to say or believe anything that does not cast Bibi, or the Likud, or anyone Conservative, in the worst possible light.

    1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

      Grow up and stop insulting our intelligence. Unlike Obama, Bibi believes in courtesy and diplomacy. How effective would be have been if he led off with a list of grievances, no matter how justified?

      1. Do I think Bibi was trying to be as positive and complimentary toward President Obama under the circumstances? Yes. Do I think he laid it on a little too thick, making his presentation to the joint session a bit hard to accept at face value? Yes. Do I think Bibi believes as Mirabelle, and apparently you do, that Obama hates Israel? No I do not. This is a transparently stupid idea founded on hateful invective and on balance, counterfactual. For those who subscribe to such stupid ideas, it’s difficult to avoid insulting their intelligence.

        1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

          Do I believe he hates Israel? Irrelevant. Do I believe that he has repeatedly and consistently taken measures that have been incredibly harmful to Israel? Yes. Can these measures be the result of incompetence and arrogance? Yes. Is he blind to the contempt in which he holds Jews, believing himself to be a tolerant huminitarian rather than someone who has absorbed a less than flattering stereotype of Jews who are not extreme leftists? Do I think he has accepted a false narrative of Israel’s history and culture and the threats that surround Israel? Do I think he has wreaked incredible harm in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and elsewhere, as well as in Israel, by overlooking the risk posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups? I plead guilty to all of the above.I guess I’ve just been brainwashed by Adelson and Fox News, right Jim?

          1. I’ve repeated this over and over here, but for those who are unaware or have forgotten, these are actual things President Obama has done since he became president:

            1. Requested and signed annually appropriations in support of Israel’s security needs in the range of $3-$6 billion. These expenditures continued all through our own financial crises and cutbacks to our own domestic programs.

            2. Additional financial aid to Israel for such things as Iron Dome, ad hoc military replenishments/improvements, rearming during multiple military incursions into Gaza, etc.

            3. Consistent and reliable diplomatic support at the United Nations, International Criminal Court, pro-Israel influence on our friends and allies in NATO, Middle East, Far East, North and South America, and any place else on the globe you can think of.

            4. Extensive military and intelligence sharing with Israel concerning multiple external threats to Israel and to our own interests in the world.

            5. Supports extensive scientific, cultural, educational, technological exchanges between our two countries. Under Obama U.S. continues to be the strongest force for legitimization and inclusion of Israel in the international community.

            6. Encourages trade between the U.S. and our allies and Israel. Ensures the U.S. remains Israel’s critical trading partner in the world.

            6. Advocates for the unequivocal rights of Israelis to live in peace and prosperity, and makes clear to Israel’s adversaries that the U.S. will unconditionally help defend these rights.

            These are broad initiatives described here which are implemented and reported to the world nearly every day. These Obama-led activities are so ubiquitous and so much a part of America’s long-standing support for Israel, that they might have escaped your notice. These things literally go on just about every day of our lives. So natural it’s like taking in the (free) air that you breathe in Israel.

            I didn’t learn these things from watching Fox News or following Sheldon Adelson. They’re all around for anyone to see. You just have to open your eyes.

            1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

              Shall we bother to point out that some of these were actions by Congress? Shall we bother repeating the many things that Obama did that are destructive to Israel, or are you capable of finding them yourself?
              Friends don’t falsely accuse friends of war crimes.
              Friends don’t cut off the supply of ammunition to friends who are in the middle of a shooting war.
              Friends don’t slap needless flight bans on friends.
              And so much more.

            2. Jim towing the line hardly makes Obama the curator of all Israel benefits from the usa. All you mentioned except for his meddling in the un to trash Israel the benefits have been in place long before he came along.

  3. Barney Sternfield

    Obama was good friends with Rahsid Khalidi, even saying how much of an influence he was on his view of the Middle East. He spoke at a forum honoring Edward Said, the content of the speech still hasn’t been released to the public. Anyone with half a brain could see rhat Obama has always favored the Palestinian narrative. The way that American Jews and others have wallpapered over the truth with their political correctness is beyond belief.

  4. Norman_In_New_York

    It now comes out that Obama’s aide Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press about Hillary’s private e-mails. So, no, I wouldn’t put it past Obama to do a hatchet job on Netanyahu and Israel.

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