Tuesday, November 8, 2011

News That Is Not News

Presidents Sarkozy and Obama find Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be annoying.  There is also gambling in Las Vegas.  Sometimes, politicians say what they really think, but often what they really think is not that surprising. 

I find it amusing that the Republicans will try to use this to get supporters of Israel to vote for them.  The only way Obama could be more pro-Israel, I guess, is if if the US bombed Iran.  And, like the invasion of Iraq, that actually might be bad for Israel in the medium to long run. Obama has spewed international political capital by voting with Israel at the UN, UNESCO, and other UNirrelevantorganizations.  Obama's effort to have Israel stop building new settlements (forget thinking about reversing previous ones that create very inconvenient facts on the ground) have been ignored, and Obama did nothing about it.

So, in policy terms, the American Jews (and evangelicals that are obsessed with Israel) did not have any of their fears realized when they were contemplating Obama in 2008.  Obama talked a bit tough at first, but has mostly supported Israel far more than it probably deserves, given how little the US has gotten back. 

General Petraeus was noted a few years ago as saying (while he was commanding CENTCOM) that Israel was endangering American interests in the Middle East.  With Netanyahu continuing to support Israeli irredentism (which is what expansion of territory into the West Bank is), Petraeus was not very wrong. 

I complain that Pakistan is a crappy ally, which makes Israel look good in comparison.  But Israel makes most other American allies look pretty cooperative, including .... France! 

So, yes, Obama, you can whine about Netanyahu.  Just check the mic next time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cue the "Obama is an anti-Semite" rhetoric from the most virulent of the opposition.