'How Obama Can Show He Has Israel's Back'..Wha-aat?

William McGurn at the New York Daily News has an interesting piece up entitled 'Embassy row: How Obama can show he has Israel’s back.'

McGurn's proposition? That the president issue an executive order recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol.

He attempts to make the case that this would actually benefit the president by improving his relationship with congress by doing something it wants done,and that it would "show that this president is committed to the connection of the Jewish people to the heart of the Jewish homeland."

He writes that it would give President Obama more credibility in opposing Israeli PM Netanyahu's policies,that it might actually improve the climate for negotiations for a Palestinian state, and that it might preempt congressional action on the matter with the new Republican dominated congress.

Now, all this is an admirable sentiment,and some of the benefits Mr. McGurn spells out here actually are real and tangible.But can anyone even imagine President Obama caring about that for a moment? Are you kidding?

Aside from the fact he could care less about having a good working relationship with congress, let's not forget that he has done nothing since he was quite young but hang out and be influenced by anti-semites and Israel bashers, including Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton, Edward Said, Rashid Khalidi et al. An animus against Israel is practically wired into his DNA.If congress passed legislation recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol, he would veto it without a second thought, even if his fellow Democrats begged him not to.

He came into office in 2009 pledging to create 'daylight' between America and Israel. His feelings about Israel are so innate as to be unchangeable. In fact, that's one reason Former defense Secretary Hagel got the axe..After getting to know the Israelis better, Hagel had changed his views quite a bit. Remember Obama's reaction during the Gaza War when he found out the Pentagon was following its normal policy and shipping Israel arms it had already paid for? He held up the shipments of things like Hellfire missiles for 'State Department review' in the middle of a war, and Israel didn't receive them until well after the war was over. That has never happened before, not since the US first began selling Israel arms during the Nixon administration.

I have good sources in Israel, and I can assure you that while some parts continue to work (such as long standing cooperation between the two militaries)this president and his team have severely damaged America's relationship with one of our most important allies to the point that it is going to take a lot of time and a huge amount of work to repair it. The Israelis themselves never imagined an anti-Israel president in the White House, and the shock was deep. The Israelis are not even certain at this point about one of the key benefits for them in the relationship, America using its Security Council veto to shut down blatantly anti-Israel resolutions in the anti-semitic fun house the UN has become.

President Obama is probably less likely to do anything that shows 'he has Israel's back' than a pig would be to suddenly start singing Broadway show tunes. It would simply be an unnatural act for him.

In fairness, Mr. McGurn seems to realize this, although perhaps not how deep seated the reasons for it are.

But if he realizes that it's something President Barack Hussein Obama would never do, I can't quite see the point of the article either. And rest assured, this by itself would not reassure the Israelis or give the president any added credibility with them given President Obama's track record. Instead, they would immediately be worrying what dagerous concessions he forced Netanyahu to agree to in exchange.