Obama Says He Criticizes Israel to Maintain Credibility
By Aaron Goldstein on 5.21.15 | 10:42PM
President Obama purportedly tries to make nice with Israel in his interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, but he can't help himself. It's Obama being Obama:
But what I did say is that when, going into an election, Prime Minister Netanyahu said a Palestinian state would not happen under his watch, or there [was] discussion in which it appeared that Arab-Israeli citizens were somehow portrayed as an invading force that might vote, and that this should be guarded against—this is contrary to the very language of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which explicitly states that all people regardless of race or religion are full participants in the democracy. When something like that happens, that has foreign-policy consequences, and precisely because we’re so close to Israel, for us to simply stand there and say nothing would have meant that this office, the Oval Office, lost credibility when it came to speaking out on these issues.
What a load of fatuous nonsense. If a Palestinian state isn't going to happen under Netanyahu's watch, it is because recognition of a Jewish state isn't going to happen under Mahmoud Abbas or any other Palestinian leader. The Arabs were not prevented from voting and Obama knows it. Netanyahu was concerned that if the Arab parties received enough votes that they would align with Labor.
Obama's concern about full participation in democracy is ripe when you consider a) that the Palestinian Authority hasn't held an election in a decade and b) he made a point of saying it would not be good enough for the United States to be seen as "meddling" as the Iranian regime was murdering its own citizens in broad daylight during the 2009 "elections". Israel should be the least of his worries.
Furthermore, Obama insists that if he doesn't speak out on Israel not living up to its declaration of independence that he will lose credibility. With whom exactly is he concerned about losing credibility? Certainly not with the American people who overwhelmingly support Israel. Since when has Obama cared about those who bitterly cling to guns and to religion? The only people Obama is concerned about "losing credibility" with are the UN and the member states of the OIC.
The congregation at DC's Adas Israel should keep this mind when Obama visits them tomorrow.
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