President Barack Obama took some time off the golf course to call Israeli PM Netanyahu and demand an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.In a statement the White House put it this way:
“The President made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now and leads to a permanent cessation of hostilities based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement. The President reaffirmed the United States’ support for Egypt’s initiative, as well as regional and international coordination to end hostilities.”
Horse manure.
What happened is this; Secretary Kerry had originally told the Israelis that any ceasefire would ultimately entail Hamas disarming, but that for now what he was looking for was to implement the Egyptian proposal, which called for a ceasefire but allowed the IDF to stay in position and refused to recognize any of Hamas' demands, which involved an IDF withdrawal and the opening of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, put in place to stop Hamas from obtaining heavy weapons from Iran.
Then Kerry tried to bypass the Egyptians and instead came up with a brand new proposal using Muslim Brotherhood friendly Qatar, who funds Hamas, and the anti-Semitic Islamist government of Turkey as intermediaries.The trio met in Paris, a city where John Kerry has had experience orchestrating betrayal before.
That new proposal was very different from what Kerry had told the Israelis only a day or two earlier. As one of my notorious Lil' Birdies told me directly, it recognized Hamas’ position as the ruler of the Gaza Strip, promised Hamas millions in aid and 'reconstruction' money ($47 million from the Obama Administration and $48 million from Qatar alone) and made no demands on Hamas as far as any demilitarization. Their rockets, tunnels and other weaponry would be allowed to remain in place. The IDF would have to withdraw, and the Rafah crossings and the Israeli Egyptian blockade would be lifted. Even worse, the wording of the proposal put Israel and Hamas on the same level, with no difference between the two.
This ridiculous proposal was unanimously rejected by Israel's security cabinet, even the most dovish members. They were literally shocked by this duplicity.
This was on Friday. The call from Barack Hussein Obama to Binyamin Netanyahu came today.
In his call to Netanyahu, Obama spoke of the need to enact “a sustainable ceasefire that both allows Palestinians in Gaza to lead normal lives and addresses Gaza’s long-term development and economic needs, while strengthening the Palestinian Authority.” He said that, ultimately, “any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza.”
So in other words, Hamas is to be rewarded, even though they were the aggressors, even though they are a terrorist group, even after the entire world has seen where that money goes. And the 'Palestinian Authority' which Hamas is now part of? That has to strengthened. Maybe, with some Obama funded 'strengthening,' Hamas and their Fatah partners might have better luck next time attacking Israel and killing Jews...
The story the White House is putting out now, of course, is that the leaked proposal was 'just a draft', accompanied by the usual verbiage by this president of his commitment to Israel's security. Virtually no one in Israel believes that now.
Among other things, both Hamas leader Khalid Masha'al and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh have already said that demilitarization will not happen, and both the president and John Kerry knew it. That why the so called 'draft' made no mention of it.In fact Hamas has already used a nice chunk of its 'humanitarian aid' money to purchase replacements for its missile arsenal from North Korea, which are en route.That's somethin else the president and our Secretary of State had to be aware of too.
Even worse, Obama is trying to hold the safety of Israel's population hostage. The Iron Dome missile defense system has been key to limiting Israeli civilian casualties.It was developed by Israel's Rafael, but as part of the quid pro quo for doing some of the funding as a joint weapons project, the U.S. demanded that while the system itself could be produced by Israel, the missiles themselves would be produced in America, and those are made by Raytheon.
At this point, Israel has used up a significant part of its stocks and had asked America for a resupply. Congress almost unanimously authorized the funds. But then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a heartless and nasty maneuver that had to come straight from the White House attached it to the $3.7 billion the president wants to fund amnesty for illegal aliens. The Senate Republicans as I write this are attempting to write up a separate bill to bring to the floor, but it's not certain Harry Reid will even allow it to come to a vote in the event the legislation gets out of committee. And then, even if it passes, it has to go back to the House and be signed by the president, all of which could take a very long time, especially with the president's 18 day luxury vacay at Martha's Vineyard coming up.
I obviously didn't hear the phone call between Netanyahu and Obama, but I would bet my dollar to you dime the subject came up, and that it was made plain to Netanyahu that unless he accedes to Kerry and Obama's demands and enables Hamas to rebuild, Israel might not get those Iron Dome missiles for awhile.
And of course, there's almost certainly another motivation for President Obama here. The biggest beneficiary of the current turmoil in Gaza is none other than Iran,because it takes the eyes of the world off the West's craven caving in on the July 2oth deadline to resolve Iran's rogue nuclear weapons program. Not only did the Iranians get another four months of 'negotiations' while the centrifuges spin, they got appeased for their trouble with a badly needed $2.5 billion bribe in the bargain.
President Obama realizes that like the Saudis, Egypt and the Emirates, Israel was appalled by this appeasement. And he knows that Netanyahu has his eye very much on that situation.In the president's view, it probably works much better for him if Israel still has to deal with a military threat to the south as well as from Iran's proxy Hezbollah in the north rather than to see Hamas defeated and Israel perhaps free to think about doing something about the Iranian threat itself.
So Netanyahu is in a difficult position. If Israel pulls out of Gaza without defeating Hamas and making sure they're no longer a threat, not only does he anger the IDF, the Egyptians and the Saudis, who want Hamas gone, but the Israeli people and his own, now united cabinet. There's a no question his government would fall, and it would deserve to. On the other hand, if he refuses, Israel's civilian population is endangered.
I realize how easy it is for me to say this, but if it were my decision not only would I refuse, but I would tell President Obama plainly that if Israel was unable to get replacements for the Iron Dome, I would simply be forced to give the Israeli air force carte blanche to do whatever was necessary to take out the missile launching sites, no matter how many civilian casualties it cost. After all, how many civilians has President Obama killed with his drone strikes? How many Serb civilians did America bomb in Kosovo? And no matter what, whether President Obama blinked or didn't I would immediately put Rafael to work re-engineering the Iron Dome missiles so they can be produced in Israel. Because if Israel gives in to this threat, it will be used again and again by this president.
Let's make no mistake here. The Obama Administration is aiding and abetting a genocidal terrorist group, and funding the rebuilding of their weapons arsenal and their terrorist infrastructure. John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and President Obama have become the “Save Hamas Squad,” and that's exactly how they're being referred to in Israel and elsewhere in the region.The relationship between the U.S. and Israel, or for that matter between the Saudis, Egypt and the Emirates has never been worse or more disaffected.
As for Israel, at a time when they most needed an ally, they have been given instead a spiteful betrayal. And it isn't just Israel.
No matter how this ends up, American Jews who voted for Obama are going to have to think about this: that the government and this president they voted for is now using their tax dollars to support and empower a genocidal terrorist group that would happily murder them.
2 comments:
Give the Israeli Air Force "carte blanche" or whatever is necessary to take out the Hamas missile launching sites and Hamas in general. It's time to put America or at least its leadership in its proper place and kindly or not so kindly point out what a joke country the United States or at least its leadership anyway are.
What is BHO going to do? Send in the US military to come to the aid of Hamas? Even if he did, the US military is so depleted, poorly trained, poorly led, and low on morale that it would be hard pressed to fight its way out of a wet paper bag right now and this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.
If the Egyptians and the Saudis really want Hamas gone, they along with the Israelis should be able to handle the problem. They'd be better able to do it without the idiot Americans or the American government interfering but the Americans or the American government cannot stop them. GET IT DONE!!
If there's a silver lining here, perhaps this can FINALLY end the so called "special relationship" between Israel and America once and for all. While this relationship likely served the interests of certain special interests in both countries, it does not serve the interests of the people of either countries.
Having an allied or at least non hostile Israel acting independently of America is in the best interests of both countries. Currently when America gets pressured, Israel gets pressured. If the nature of the relationship changes, Israel is less susceptible to American pressure. When this happens, there is less utility for others to apply pressure to America in order to pressure Israel.
By requiring components of the Iron Dome defense system to be made in America is simply petty beyond belief on the part of American leadership. These people are like petulant and stupid school children. As for Israel agreeing to such a thing, I'm not sure why they would. Not being an Israeli I am unable to comment on that.
In any event, I pray Israel will get this done and do us all a favor. Hopefully, if necessary, and there is something we can actually do to assist Israel Congress can find a workaround that will bypass idiot and evil team Obama.
"...the missiles themselves would be produced in America and those are made by Raytheon." I find this hard to believe. These things have been highly effective or so it would seem. Iran and their allies are well versed in how to be American systems, perhaps not so much Israeli ones. It seems unlikely that American engineers and technicians could design something this effective unless the Israelis told them how to do it and supervised the process or they've made significant modifications to the American made product.
Regardless of how this whole thing came about it seems a fabulously bad idea to require the missiles to be made in America. This really does not serve the security interests of either America or Israel.
America for its part needs an ally in the region who is able to act independently of it. This enables this ally to be able to more efficiently respond to joint threats. Israel fits this situation like a glove at least as far as the ally goes. A more independent Israel improves America's security prospects exponentially.
Israel for its part needs a reliable supply of missiles. Even if we had a US government 100% behind Israel, which we don't nor have we ever had, there are logistical issues with regards to getting the missiles to Israel. Iran is allied with Russia and China. Russia and China could block all shipping to and from America at any time they choose to do so. As such, Israel could have its supply cut off at any time.
Such a situation does not serve the security interests of Israel or America and is, in fact, detrimental to the security interests of both nations. As such, it makes far more sense for both America and Israel to have he missiles and all parts of the system manufactured in Israel.
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