White House photo
For the months leading up to the election, it was fairly common to hear Sheldon Adelson and other critics of President Obama predict that the White House has already abandoned Israel, and would be even more aggressive on this front if given a second term. Whether Republicans actually believed this or not is unclear, but it was part of a concerted effort to drive a wedge between the president and Jewish voters.
The rhetoric was, however, completely wrong. Jeffrey Goldberg noted today that Obama has already proven these critics "utterly and completely wrong." Zeke Miller is reporting along the same lines.
The test came fast, when Israeli reacted to a drumbeat of missile strikes by turning its firepower on the Gaza Strip within days of the election. And the American reaction has, so far, surprised those who expected a post-election pivot. And with the region hoping Hillary Clinton's visit will bring a ceasefire, Israelis have so far had few complaints.
"If funding iron dome is Obama's way of throwing Israel under the bus, I am praying he will throw us under a train," tweeted Israeli reporter Barak Ravid, who writes for the center-left newspaper Haaretz, referring to the American-backed missile defense system.
An Israeli official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Obama administration's response to the conflict "has been everything we could ever hope for."
The Republican Jewish Coalition has been reduced to arguing that Obama will eventually abandon Israel, even if reality shows it hasn't happened yet, and isn't happening now. The group's executive director, Matt Brooks, said we'll have to wait "until the second term is over."
Yes, and the NRA is equally confident that Obama really will be coming for our guns any day now.
Update: I'd hoped this was obvious, but in case there's any confusion, this item was about the inaccuracies of far-right rhetoric, not the relative merits of competing policies. Every day for months, conservatives aggressively pushed bold predictions about U.S. foreign policy after the election, and my point here is to highlight the fact that those predictions were completely wrong. There's obviously room for a spirited debate over the merits of U.S. policy in Israel, and there is no hidden subtext in this post suggesting anything to the contrary.
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Yep, that wily Obama sure has taken his time with gittn' our guns and having the UN come with the black helicopters. These people are idiots.
So... what are the implications of us being everything Israel could ever hope for? Surely that's not a stance best suited to national interests.
Nah, it is just Netanyahu kissing up to Obama! I think Bibi is a little nervous right now that Obama will refuse to "clean up" after him because of his interference in our election process.
"Whether Republicans actually believed this or not is unclear"
Well, they came across that old clip Of Reverend Jackson's remark about "Hymie Town" and since 'those people' all look alike, Republicans assumed that all Schvartzes all felt that way about Yids.
Sort of like all Mormons embrace polygamy.
Religious ignorance? Every one should have one. Woooo Hooooo!
Are these the same type of people that ignore evolution and don't believe in science?
They also don't believe in facts or math....
Wow, am I glad we don't have a President McCain or a President-Elect Romney right now. Who knows what McCain would be doing, or Romney would be saying, in this situation.
President Obama and his administration simply Do. The. Right. Thing.
The right policy is almost always the right politics as well. And if not, then you still did the right thing. Which is what we elect our leaders to do.
Pres. Palin would already have had us in Iran - to the detriment of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yes, I believe if McCain had won the Presidency, he would have died already thanks to the non-stop crises Pres. Obama has had to endure.
Pres. Palin would still be looking for Iran on a map. And McCain is still looking for the border between Iraq and Pakistan that he mentioned recently.
wait, are you really not holding Obama accountable *at all* for siding completely with Israel? for being "everything the could ever hope for"? really? in what world do progressives now come down completely on the side of an occupying army against a tiny strip of land with no resources whatsoever?
aside from that - Mike - are you also totally comfortable with his signing of the NDAA, his use of drones, refusal to prosecute Wall Street criminality from the 2008 crisis, among other less-than-progressive actions?
The Republican Jewish Coalition has been reduced to arguing that Obama will eventually abandon Israel...
With respect, I don't think that not taking Netanyahu's hard line is the same as abandoning Israel. If it were up to me, U.S. financial support would come with strings attached.
Obama went on an apology tour.Obama led from behind on Libya.
Obama lied about Benghazi.Obama's Middle East policy is "unraveling."
Obama abandoned Israel.Repubs WILL find a talking point that sticks, dammit!
They just talk. There is no point to it.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has been reduced to arguing that Obama will eventually abandon Israel, even if reality shows it hasn't happened yet, and isn't happening now.
When will this blind hatred of Obama end?
About the end of 2016. Then they will have a new democratic president to hate.
H*ll, they won't say it in public but they still hate FDR.
True, but they'll never hate anyone as much as Obama; he's the Jackie Robinson of our presidency. (Notice how they couldn't wait to get rid of Michael Steele as RNC Chairman, even though he kicked butt for the GOP in 2010? Hmmm, I wonder why they didn't like him . . . What could it have been . . .?)
Heck yes we will say it. I'm not for sure any one hates FDR, but we can't ignore the fact he extended the depression well beyond necessity, and worked hard with chamberlain to keep us out of WWII until it was almost too late, then we had to go full bore.
Now, is there any truth that France is accusing the USA of hacking their governmental computers?
As Glenn Greenwald just said about this article on Twitter, "Interesting what some progressives see as worthy of celebration these days".
I wouldn't use the world "interesting", more like disgusting.
I totally agree. It's really disgusting. People should have a look at this:
4 myths about the Israeli attack on Gaza
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/4-myths-about-the-israeli-attack-on-gaza.html
Letter from Khan Yunis: ‘Our blood is being shed every day and the world has yet to learn that we are human beings’
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/letter-from-khan-yunis-our-blood-is-being-shed-every-day-and-the-world-has-yet-to-learn-that-we-are-human-beings.html
Interview: Ali Abunimah on the situation in Gaza
youtube.com/watch?v=1vUUgCptqpw
Israeli Negotiator: Hamas Commander Was Assassinated Hours After Receiving Truce Deal from Israel
democracynow.org/2012/11/16/israeli_negotiator_hamas_commander_was_assassinated
Israel’s Latest Assault on Gaza: The Lie of Who Started It
antiwar.com/blog/2012/11/11/israels-latest-assault-on-gaza-the-lie-of-who-started-it/
Nous accusons: Mainstream media fails to report context and severity of Israeli atrocities against Gaza
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/nous-accusons-mainstream-media-fails-to-report-context-and-severity-of-israeli-atrocities-against-gaza.html
Gaza vs. Israel: The legitimate and illegitimate use of violence in the Western discourse
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/gaza-vs-israel-the-legitimate-and-illegitimate-use-of-violence-in-the-western-discourse.html
Two new resources: Timeline of Israeli escalation in Gaza and Israel’s history of breaking ceasefires
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/two-new-resources-timeline-of-israeli-escalation-in-gaza-and-israels-history-of-breaking-ceasefires.html
Abbas: Israel instigating ‘blood bath’, aimed at sinking endeavors to reach the UN
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/abbas-israel-instigating-blood-bath-aimed-at-sinking-endeavors-to-reach-the-un.html
Palestinian UN envoy: Attack was ‘deliberately timed to torpedo the UN vote’
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/palestinian-un-envoy-attack-was-deliberately-timed-to-torpedo-the-un-vote.html
Did Israel provoke rockets from Gaza to pressure Palestinians to back off UN bid?
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/did-israel-provoke-rockets-from-gaza-to-pressure-palestinians-to-back-off-un-bid.html
Israeli elections . . and death in Gaza
mondoweiss.net/2012/11/israeli-elections-and-death-in-gaza.html
This post reminds me of a few months ago, when Democrats responded to Republican whining that Obama was soft on terrorists (or whatever) by pointing out that Obama's extremely aggressive foreign policy had won praise even from certain right-wing corners.
This was supposed to prove that Obama was serious. But few people on the left seem to realize that, on these issues, they've accepted and internalized the whole Republican narrative. (Here I'm granting, for the sake of argument, that Democrats once actually offered an alternative to the right on these issues— which I know is dubious). Whether it's extra-judicially assassinating people in different countries, or kowtowing to Israel, Democrats want us to know that Obama can do it just as well as the right-wingers.
Great, guys. You convinced me: Obama's a Republican. Now why am I supposed to like that?
As someone on another site said...'the republicans are pissed and even with no evidence that the President DID anything it leads them to the conclusion that Barak Obama is obviously hiding something and lying to us because there must be a there there, otherwise he wouldn’t be so pissed.'
Noam Chomsky: My Visit to Gaza, the World's Largest Open-Air Prison
"Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force.
"And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world's largest open-air prison, where some 1.5 million people on a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land are subject to random terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade.
"Such cruelty is to ensure that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed, and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement granting basic human rights will be nullified. The Israeli political leadership has dramatically illustrated this commitment in the past few days, warning that they will "go crazy" if Palestinian rights are given even limited recognition by the U.N."
[...]
"All this is part of the general program that Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, described after Palestinians failed to follow orders in the 2006 elections: "The idea," he said, "is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.
"Recently, after several years of effort, the Israeli human rights organization Gisha succeeded in obtaining a court order for the government to release its records detailing plans for the "diet."
"Jonathan Cook, a journalist based in Israel, summarizes them: "Health officials provided calculations of the minimum number of calories needed by Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants to avoid malnutrition. Those figures were then translated into truckloads of food Israel was supposed to allow in each day ... an average of only 67 trucks – much less than half of the minimum requirement – entered Gaza daily. This compared to more than 400 trucks before the blockade began."
"The result of imposing the diet, Middle East scholar Juan Cole observes, is that "about 10 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under age 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition. ... In addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers."
[...]
-- Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed, Friday, 09 November 2012 09:03
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12635-noam-chomsky-my-visit-to-gaza-the-worlds-largest-open-air-prison
Hypocrisy of slaughter: Israel’s Orwellian account of Gaza campaign (Op-Ed)
[...]
"Those Zionist terror groups were led by Israeli founding fathers later to become prime ministers (and even a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate!) like Menahem Beguin and Isaac Shamir, who in their "freedom-fighter" days blew up hotels with dozens of people inside them, assassinated UN envoys, carried out hundreds of targeted assassinations, and imposed policies of genocide by killing and maiming hundreds of thousands, and then driving off millions of Palestinian men, women and children from their homes and land using the most barbarous terror tactics."
"Israel's logic in Palestine seems to run like this: if Israel steals lands and homes and livelihoods from the Palestinians, they have no right whatsoever to complain; and if they dare fight back, then they automatically become "terrorists". America, the UK and most of the EU seem to agree..."
[...]
-- Adrian Salbuchi
http://rt.com/news/israel-gaza-campaign-hypocrisy-815/
Obama is probably the best loved president across the pond we have had in decades and the right can't stand it nor understand it.
Bush on the other hand...
Reading many of the comments. Some funny and some filled with ignorance. I am learning to walk away from the ignorant comments. I live in Israel and have supported Obama even in the face of Republican attacks that he would abandon Israel. Now I get to say I told you so to all the doubters and thank you to all who voted for him.
As Glenn Greenwald said on Twitter, "Interesting what some progressives see as worthy of celebration these days"."
Hey Steve Benen, while you are pointing out the supposed paranoia and/or dishonesty by Republicans you are missing the forest through the trees.
Both parties are owned and controlled by the Military-Industrial-Think-Tank-Complex, Goldman Sachs, AIPAC, The Council on Foreign Relations, etc. The election was a joke between two identical candidates who are nothing but puppets of the same Establishment. It's obvious that BOTH candidates would support Israel because that is the Establishment's policy.
Any rhetoric from the campaign was just that -- rhetoric, to give the illusion that there was actually a difference between them. Just like Mitt Romney pretended he was against Obamacare when he pioneered it in Massachusetts. Just like Obama acted like he was against signing statements, telecom immunity, war, torture, illegal domestic spying, etc, in 2008, and then worked to maintain and even expand these policies. IT'S A FARCE. Why don't you spend your time calling out Obama on his deadly, evil policies that mirror those of Bush instead of celebrating that some stupid Republican campaign rhetoric was false (just like so much of Obamas)?
"The National parties and their presidential candidates, with the Eastern Establishment assiduously fostering the process behind the scenes, moved closer together and nearly met in the center with almost identical candidates and platforms, although the process was concealed as much as possible, by the revival of obsolescent or meaningless war cries and slogans ....The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy. ... Either party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies." -Caroll Quigley, CFR member, historian, and mentor to Bill Clinton, Tragedy & Hope, pp. 1247-1248.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynVqPnMQ2sI
Wow, imagine that.
Gloating, but not - "update" - gloating, about Barry and Bibi's war crimes.
Don't you just love Ms. Maddow and her flunkies and how they just love some righteous military violence -- as long as it is by the "so-called" good guys.