Why Israel fears Obama’s last days
Israel faces a unique window of danger from Nov. 9 to Jan. 20: What might President Obama do in his final days in office to slam the Jewish state?
Start with Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent flat refusal to promise a US veto on any upcoming anti-Israel resolution in the UN Security Council.
On Saturday, Haaretz reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Kerry he’s counting on Washington to stick to its policy of nixing anti-Israel resolutions. Kerry’s reply: The administration has yet to make a decision on the matter.
For Kerry to leave any doubt that America would shield Israel at the United Nations is bad enough. But concerns about what Team Obama might do go far beyond that.
In a recent Bloomberg column, Eli Lake reports on the threat of “a last-minute [Obama] speech, an executive order or UN action” at Israel’s expense. He notes that Obama might even recognize a Palestinian state.
It all has Israel’s friends nervous. That’s why 88 US senators last month wrote Obama urging him to recommit to “longstanding US policy” of blocking anti-Israel moves at the United Nations.
Let’s face it: Our president has long left questions over whether he truly has Israel’s back, as he claims. US-Israeli relations were bad from the start of his administration, and grew even worse with Obama’s Iran deal.
Bibi’s re-election last year plainly rankled Obama even more.
But the president’s views on Israel are as naïve as his views on Iran. Continued concessions to the Palestinians won’t make peace any more likely, or even make them less hostile to Israel — just as Obama’s never-ending goodies for Iran haven’t tamed that regime’s aggression.
Day in and day out, Obama continues to equate Palestinian terror with Israeli political moves, like maintaining settlements in the West Bank.
His team can even blink from blasting Palestinian violence. Last weekend, the State Department condemned a terrorist’s shooting spree in Jerusalem, which claimed two Israeli lives — without noting he was Palestinian.
We don’t expect Obama to see the light this late in the game. But if he moves to grab another “legacy” item at Israel’s expense, he’ll only further set back hopes for any progress on the Israeli-Arab front.
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