Sending Joe Biden to Israel to try and and convince the Israelis that the Obama Administration has their best interests at heart was about as likely a mission as sending Curly Stooge in to do brain surgery. The fact that it was even attempted spoke volumes to the Israelis...let alone how it turned out.
Biden's ostensible mission was to talk the Israelis into playing ball and warn them that they had better not do anything about the genocidal maniacs in Iran, who threaten to annihilate the Jewish State just about every other day and continue to advance steadily towards possessing the means to do it. Meanwhile the West does absolutely nothing about it and demands Israel sit quietly.
Biden followed John Kerry (did you know he served in Vietnam?) and Admiral Mullen, head of the JCS with essentially the same message for the Israelis - learn to live with a nuclear Iran.
That message wouldn't play well even if the Obama Administration wasn't the most anti-Israel in history. As it is, Biden's little spiel has merely underlined to Netanyahu that they're on their own in dealing with the mullahs.
Sending Biden to do this sent a message in itself. As a senator, Biden voted against sanctions against Iran, has said many times he didn't see anything necessarily wrong with Iranian nuclear ambitions and said on the Senate floor that George W. Bush should be impeached if he ordered American forces to bomb the Iranian nuclear plants.
Topping everything off was Biden's foul little temper tantrum over the announcement that the Israeli government was building 116 homes in an already Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.
According to some of the Leftists in the Israeli press who spun this in their own way, Biden apparently went berserk behind closed doors:
People who heard what Biden said were stunned. “This is starting to get dangerous for us,” Biden castigated his interlocutors. “What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace.”
The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel’s actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism.
Granted I have no high opinion of VP Biden, but was he actually stupid enough to try and convince the Israelis that the Taliban is going to fight harder against American troops in AfPak because Israel is building apartments in Jerusalem? I doubt it.
Biden's audience in Israel was a lot more critical than to swallow that bolshoi. Did Biden try and bring 'Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem' into the mix after the Israelis have stated time and time again that it's a red line they won't cross? I doubt it. but if he did, it was exactly the right thing to say to evaporate any reasons the Israelis might have left at this point to trust the Obama Administration in any regard whatsoever.
The Obama administration seems to make a virtue of being incapable of confronting an enemy or supporting a friend.
Netanyahu Apologizes As Biden Leaves Israel Amid Doubts on Talks......
ReplyDeleteWSJ
Joe's mission was to "LOOK" like we were being engaged in diplomacy. It was 'dog and pony' farce on both sides.
i can't believe some of the things i'm reading in this essay by ff. some of ff essays are the best on the web, and i'm not saying that to patronize.
ReplyDeletehowever, in this essay i believe ff must be taken to task.
how could you possibly compare joe biden to curly stooge?
that is an insult that i can see no comparison to.
how could you insult curly stooge in that manner?
what has curly stooge done to you?
what did he ever do to you?
and curly stooge is not here to defend hisself.
all curly stooge portrayed, was a buffoon and nimconpop.
what gives you the right to offend curly stooge by comparing him to joe biden in such a spurious manner?
ok, that last part may be going over the top, but you get my drift.
you did catch that i said "may be"?
as for the rest of ff essay, regarding the part about the most anti-israeli administration yet, i think ff may soon be coming around to LL thinking.
asking the question about whether biden is stoopid enough to do something/anything indicates ff is desparately holding on to some measure of objectivity. how long that will last remains to be seen.
The United States could withdraw all troops and intellegence personnel from the Middle East. That would do more to get them out of danger than Israelis not building more homes for their growing population would. Once the Americans have withdrawn, Israel can take out the Iranian nuclear program.
ReplyDeleteIsrael would be a logical choice for this. They are geographically closer to Iran than either the US or any other nation in the free world. Their Air Force is the best trained in the world and their technological savy is such that they are more likely to be able to beat the Iranian air defense systems than is the US or any other nation of the free world.
That's the best thing for America to do right now. GEY OUT OF ISRAEL'S WAY!! Israel does NOT need America for its defense whereas America DOES need Israel for its defense. The intellegence provided by the Israelis has been invaluable. For Israel, the alliance has been a net liability for America it has been a net gain. Since nations do not have permanent allies, only permanet interests, when an alliance is not serving your interests it is time to rethink the alliance. As an American, it pains me to say or write this, but it is long past time for Israel to end its relationship with America.
That is unless this behavior by the Americans changes. As an American, I certainly pray that it does. If America attempted to bully ANY country the way it is trying to bully Israel right now, the American and world media would be beside themselves with rage over the behaviour of the American government yet they stand by approving of such behavior in this case.