US President Barack Obama has been busy defending the purported nuclear deal that he is making with Iran. My favorite “As-a-Jew” anti-Semite John Yarmuth has even been giving Obama advice on how to sell it to the American public (though they might both be better served by first figuring out how to sell it to the Iranians). In an interview with the New York Times’s Thomas Friedman, President Obama responded to Israeli criticism of the terms:
What I would say to [Israel] is that not only am I absolutely committed to making sure that they maintain their qualitative military edge, and that they can deter any potential future attacks, but what I’m willing to do is to make the kinds of commitments that would give everybody in the neighborhood, including Iran, a clarity that if Israel were to be attacked by any state, that we would stand by them.
We might be willing to believe this statement. Well, we might, in an alternate reality in which “standing by” a country that is under attack meant the same thing as “imposing an arms embargo” on a country that is under attack. Because that is exactly what happened the last time Israel was attacked, last summer. At the height of rocket attacks from Gaza, the US President imposed a de facto arms embargo on Israel. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that
[At the end of July US] officials learned that, in addition to asking for tank shells and other munitions, Israel had submitted a request through military-to-military channels for a large number of Hellfire missiles, according to Israeli and American officials.The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, was about to release an initial batch of the Hellfires, according to Israeli and congressional officials. It was immediately put on hold by the Pentagon, and top officials at the White House instructed the DSCA, the U.S. military’s European Command and other agencies to consult with policy makers at the White House and the State Department before approving any additional requests.
Obama has made it clear that he supports Israeli defense only if Israel is defending itself in the exact way that he thinks is best, such as with Iron Dome. Anyone who was paying attention last summer, however, knows that Iron Dome did not make life under rocket attack tenable. Secretary of State John Kerry has made clear that he shares this position with Obama.
As I wrote in November, it is painfully obvious by now that Obama is willing to misrepresent himself in order to push through policy initiatives that are his priority. He lied to the American public to pass the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). He’s made it clear that an accord with Iran is just as important to him as healthcare reform. In light of his actions with respect to Israel last summer, how can the President possibly think that anyone would believe him now when he says that he will guarantee Israel’s protection?
