Do Not Speak Of It In Public.

Karam

Barry Rubin writes:

Do not speak of it in public. Do not expect any Israeli official to admit it. But Israel is facing an issue unlike anything it has had to deal with during the past 50 years: It cannot depend on the United States.

The reason that Israel cannot depend on the United States is the very same reason that Jews, as a group, cannot depend on the western progressive-left. It is because the progressive movement, as well as the Obama administration, either buries its head in the sand in regards genocidal Muslim anti-Semitism or actively helps the Jihad, as we saw with the flotilla nonsense.

The difficulty with Obama is that his entire strategy in the Middle East is contrary to Israeli interests, except for putting some sanction’ pressure on Iran regarding its nuclear weapons’ program. The greatest threat to Israel today is the rise of radical Islamist regimes. Here is how Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh puts it:

"The Palestinian cause is winning. With the Muslim Brotherhood part of the government [in Egypt], they [the Egyptians] will not besiege Gaza. They will not arrest Palestinians. They will not give cover to Israel to launch a war....Israel is disturbed by this. It knows the strategic environment is changing. Iran is an enemy. Relations are deteriorating with Turkey. With Egypt, they are really cold. Israel is in a security situation they have never been in before."

But neither the progressive movement, nor the Obama administration, view the rise of radical Islam as a problem. Sure, Islamists want to murder the Jews, but just why should Barack Obama or the progressive movement care about that? The fact of the matter is that they do not care in the least, which is why it doesn't bother them that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken over Egypt and radical Islam is spreading throughout the region.  In fact, under the Obama administration it is verboten to even name the problem which, of course, means that you cannot really discuss it and thus even begin to solve it.

Here is where the problem with the United States comes in. Obama does not really view this trend as a threat. He spent the first half of his term engaging with Iran and its ally Syria. Obama and his administration regards the Islamists as people who are either already moderate or are likely to become so by governing.

Since neither progressives, nor the president of the United States, have any intention of honestly facing the rise of the Jihad they simply redefine it as "moderate" and then go about either helping it or ignoring it.

To put it bluntly, the U.S. government does not even recognize the existence of the number-one threat to Israel.

And to make matters worse, the government that Obama looks to for advice, guidance, and interpretation of the region is not Israel but the Islamist regime in Turkey. That government’s sharp turn to a highly emotional anti-Israel policy has not cost it anything at all in terms of its relations with the White House, something that would have been unthinkable under any previous president.

This is because the Obama White House is simply no friend to the Jewish state and therefore cannot be considered a friend to the Jewish people. Obama has yet to visit Israel as president and even told a collected group of American Jewish leaders that they needed to talk to their friends in Israel and encourage them to explore their souls to see if they truly desire peace. Can you imagine? Barack Obama tells the world that Jewish people are not self-reflective enough and that's why there is no peace? What a horrendous and insulting thing for anyone to say, yet Barack Obama's dwindling number of Jewish supporters seem like they will forgive him anything.

Well, you know how love is.

That is why Israel, as well as the Middle East generally, is going to be an important issue in this year’s presidential election. To preserve relations with the United States, Israeli leaders will neither do nor say anything about that contest. Yet nothing could be more obvious than that Obama’s reelection would be extremely damaging for Israel’ security.

Indeed. If Obama is reelected there will be nothing whatsoever to hold his worst inclinations in check.

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