Goodbye, Barack - by Vic Rosenthal

{This excellent piece was written by Vic Rosenthal and initially published at Abu Yehuda. It very much reflects my own sense of the matter, as well. - ML}

At last, after eight long years during which Barack Obama a) applied almost unrelenting pressure on Israel, much more obsessively than anything else he did, and b) taught us the painful truth about American liberal Jews – that for them, Israel is just another foreign country – he is leaving the White House. What comes next could be better or worse, but who here won’t be happy to see his particularly offensive brand of hypocrisy and hostility disappear?

But the game isn’t over until January 20, and soon there will be nothing to restrain him from acting on his obsession.

Last Wednesday, the State Department issued a press release in which it “strongly condemn[ed]” Israel’s plan to build 98 homes inside an existing settlement in order to house families that will be displaced by the demolition of another settlement, which has been ordered by Israel’s Supreme Court.

“Strongly condemn” is language normally used for terrorism or, for example, Russian and Syrian air strikes on hospitals in which dozens of civilians die.

The State Department claimed that Israel was violating its assurances to the US that it would not build “new settlements.” Israeli officials called the statement “disproportionate” and argued that it was neither a “new settlement” nor an obstacle to peace.

Administration lackeys like the New York Times and J Street echoed the criticism. The Times, in language that could have been (and probably was) written by NSC staffer and Obama confidant Ben Rhodes, blasted Israel and called for a Security Council resolution to “set guidelines” for Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. An administration official said that “the White House boiled with anger” (more Rhodesian rhetoric) over Israel’s plan.

The flap created anxiety in Israel that Obama plans to refrain from vetoing a Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements illegal or take some other anti-Israel action once the election is over and he is insulated from any electoral consequences.

Dear Barack Obama,

I am tired of your crap and so is my country.

This isn’t the first time – maybe the fourth or fifth – that you and your friends have manufactured a crisis, some horrible “insult” so that you can “boil with anger” and then pressure Israel in one way or another. Do you really think anyone outside of your echo chamber actually believes that freezing construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem will cause the Palestinians to suddenly agree to the existence of a Jewish state anywhere from the Jordan to the Mediterranean? Poor old Mahmoud Abbas merely attended the funeral of a Jewish leader, indeed, the one that brought him and his vicious PLO back from exile to go on the murder spree that continues even today, and his people are ready to lynch him.

Anyway, 81-year old Abbas, who just underwent a heart procedure, is about to leave the stage and his unpopular Palestinian Authority is disintegrating. Hamas is waiting in the wings. So we should trade land for paper with these people?

The other day Bibi Netyanyahu finally called a spade a spade and noted that the Palestinians were calling for ethnic cleansing, like the Jordanians carried out in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem in 1948. Oh, you went ballistic, “livid” and “seething.” How dare we, colonialist Jews, appropriate the language owned by “people of color?”

Your continuing unjustified obsession with Jews living across the Green Line illustrates the blatant double standard that you apply to Israel. And not just about settlements. I am still waiting to hear that you are “boiling” or “furious” or “seething” or “livid” or whatever at real war criminals Putin and Assad, not to mention your Iranian friends who play you for the fool day in and day out. Where are your anger-management issues when we need them?

I don’t think that you believe your own talking points. You know damn well that they are bullshit. You want Israel as weak and vulnerable as possible so that she can’t fight back when they try to wipe her off the map. Your dislike of Israel is both personal and political. You are happy trying to help your Palestinian friends achieve their hearts’ desire of finally getting rid of the Jews. Back in 2003 your friend, former PLO operative Rashid Khalidi, promised Palestinian-Americans at a dinner party where you spoke that “You will not have a better senator under any circumstances.” Did you also promise them something?

Your anger is obviously carefully scripted, but it won’t make us do what you want. Maybe some psychologist told you that that’s how to deal with Jews, but that approach has been outdated for the past 68 years or so. And don’t bother yelling at our PM, a former combat soldier twice wounded in action. You don’t scare him, and Israel is not interested in committing suicide in order to help you keep your promises.

The State Department’s condemnation of Israel mentioned the $38 billion military aid package and suggested a linkage between it and Israel’s “decision [to build 98 homes] so contrary to its long term security interest in a peaceful resolution of its conflict with the Palestinians.” You should know that many of us think that accepting aid creates an unhealthy dependence, and would like to see it phased out. But if you get really boiling mad, livid, furious and seething, then go ahead and cut us off (if Congress and your defense contractors will let you). It will be painful like any cold turkey detox treatment, but we’ll survive and come out stronger and safer.

It will be a fine day here in the Middle East when you climb into that helicopter on the White House lawn for the last time and fly off into retirement. My advice is not to get too angry at your golf clubs, because it will only hurt your game.

Sincerely,
Abu Yehuda