The U.S. State Department Is At War...With Israel

When it comes to hatred and hypocrisy it's business as usual where Israel's concerned when it comes to the U.S. State Department, which has become a willing tool of the Obama Administration to discredit and demonize Israel.And that was clearly demonstrated today in the exchanges below.



Last Week, U.S Chief of Staff General Martin Donovan made a speech about Israel and the Gaza War that went pretty far off the Obama Regime's reservation. He not only praised the IDF for their efforts to avoid civilian casualties,saying that Israel had gone to “extraordinary lengths” in Gaza, but revealed that the U.S. Armed Forces had sent a delegation to learn about the IDF's policies to help Americans to improve their own record in wartime.

This directly contradicted the State Department and the White House, whose stated position was to attack Israel at every opportunity for not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties.

When former Obama campaign flack turned State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki was questioned about this by Matt Lee at the AP of all places, the exchange revealed quite a bit:

MATT LEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yesterday, the ICC made its decision that there was no case to prosecute for war crimes in Gaza. But also yesterday – and you spoke about that very briefly here. But also yesterday, General Dempsey, who is no slouch when it comes to military things, told an audience in New York that the Israelis went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage during the Gaza war. And I’m puzzled, because I thought it was the position of the Administration – or maybe it was just the position of the State Department and the White House – that Israel was not doing enough to live up to its – what you called its own high standards. Back on August 3rd, there was the statement you put out after the UNRWA school incident, saying that the U.S. “is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling.” And that was some pretty fierce criticism. How do you reconcile these two apparent divergent points of view? When this statement came out, the United States was appalled? Did that just mean the State Department was appalled?

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT: No, that is the position of the Administration; it remains the position of the Administration. As we made clear throughout the summer’s conflict, we supported Israel’s right to self-defense and strongly condemned Hamas’s rocket attacks that deliberately targeted civilians, and the use of tunnels, of course, of attacks into Israel. However, we also expressed deep concern and heartbreak for the civilian death toll in Gaza and made clear, as you noted in the statement you pointed to, that we believed that Israel could have done more to prevent civilian casualties, and it was important that they held their selves to a high standard. So that remains our view and position about this summer’s events.

LEE: Okay. But I’m still confused as to how you can reconcile the fact that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – who knows a bit about how military operations work, I would venture to guess; I don’t know him, but I assume that he wouldn’t be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff if he was – if he didn’t –

MS. PSAKI: Correct.

LEE: — says that the Israelis essentially did the best that they could and lived up to – by extension lived up to their high standards by taking – by going to, quote, “extraordinary lengths” to limit the collateral damage.

MS. PSAKI: Well, I would point you to the chairman’s team for his – more specifics on his comments. But it remains the broad view of the entire Administration that they could have done more and they should have taken more – all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.

It gets even worse.

There were two terrorist murders in Israel today, one by an Arab who entered the country illegally and attacked and knifed to death a young airman, Almog Shiloni, 20,(HY"D) as he was waiting at the Haganah train station in south Tel Aviv and a second one by an Islamic Jihad operative whom Israel had freed as a 'gesture to Mahmoud Abbas.' His victim was Dalia Lemkus, 26 (HY"D), who was first run over as she waited at a bus stop in Alon Shvut near Gush Etzion in Judea and then deliberately stabbed to death when her murderer got out of his car to make sure he finished the job.

 

Jen Psaki's remarks on this? She referred to them as “unfortunately a couple of events.”

Just, you know, the kind of tragedies that happen some time. Here's the rest of her statement:

"We strongly condemn the stabbings – the stabbing today in the West Bank and we deeply regret the loss of life. Our condolences go out to the victim’s family. It is absolutely critical that parties take every possible measure to protect civilians and de-escalate tensions,” Psaki said.

Protect civilians? Does she even listen to what comes out of her mouth? These were deliberate terrorist attacks aimed at killing civilians. And the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are encouraging them.



 

And of course, being Jen Psaki, she had to find something to say to show some kind of  equivalence between Israel and the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians...

“We are also seeking additional information surrounding the incident of the Israeli Arab who was shot with – who was shot as well with a live bullet. We’re looking for information surrounding this incident. We’re in touch – close touch with the Ministry of Justice. And of course, we urge all parties to exercise restraint."

The Arab whom she's perhaps talking about, Khayr al-Din al-Hamdan had attacked a police car with a knife and attempted to attack the police inside. Or perhaps she means Dalia Lemkus's murderer Maher Hamdi al-Hashalmoun from Hebron, who was shot by police as he ran away on foot after a 59-year-old Israeli stopped his car, got out and took the killer on with his bare hands

A reporter asked her, “If you’re standing at a bus stop or something and someone runs a car into you or comes up and stabs you, I don’t know how – I mean, those people aren’t – don’t need to exercise restraint, do they?”

Her reply? “I think I’m referring to the fact that we know that there have been – there’s been rising tensions in the region that has led to some of these incidents. I think we all are aware of that.”

“Obviously, there have been a range of issues and events that have led to the rising tensions in the region that both sides need to do more to fix.”

These exchanges reveal a lot. They tell us that the constant hammering on Israel by the Obama Administration is all about President Obama's attitude towards Israel and towards Benyamin Netanyahu, not anything about how Israel defends itself.

This president and his minions don't consider the attacks against Israeli civilians to be terrorism, but 'legitimate' resistance by 'freedom fighters.' That's exactly why they never use the 'T' word to describe them.

It's always Israel's fault. And if that isn't supported in the least by facts, that doesn't stop Psaki and others of her ilk from being the mouthpieces used to demonize Israel and its security forces as they defend the country. It's to try and force Israel back to indefensible borders that would result in even worse violence than exists now.

The president and his team don't consider Israel an ally. They see Israel as a problem he needs to neutralize and create distance from, just as he said openly in 2009. It's what he wanted from the very beginning, and it's much more to his taste than actually fighting Islamists or seeing to it that Iran is stopped from getting nuclear weapons

Also, the callous dismissal of what Dempsey had to say is just one more example of exactly how much respect this president and his team have for our military and their advice and opinions.

And Jen Psaki?

I know, it's just a well paid job that involves equating Israel with the likes of Hamas/Fatah and whitewashing the Obama regime's despicable stance by blaming 'both sides', as if the victims brought it on themselves just by being there. But then, there are limits in what most people with any decency will do for money ...unless they're true believers. Ms. Psaki obviously is one, and is thus enabling what I'd call more than the usual level of evil.

There's always a price for that in the end.