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Obama's Controversial Views On Israel by Gary Bauer
Innuendo about Barack Obama’s faith and upbringing often dominate discussions regarding how the likely Democratic presidential nominee might conduct his foreign policy. That’s a shame, because it distracts us from more legitimate and far deeper concerns over Obama’s relationship not with Islam but with Israel, the principal rhetorical and military target of that religion’s most extreme adherents. Of course, as with Obama’s remarks on many issues, it’s easy to cherry-pick a few of his statements about Israel that make it seem as if a President Obama would be a loyal friend of the beleaguered state. Such as when he says, “peace through security is the only way for Israel” and “when I am president, the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel.” What’s not to like, right? Well, a more thorough examination of Obama’s statements, his background and previous associations and, most importantly, his would-be foreign policy team reveals a far different reality -- one that has caused many supporters of Israel, including me, to worry about what an Obama presidency might do to the long-term support for the Jewish State. First off, Obama demonstrates a deep misunderstanding of the Middle East when he calls for the immediate removal of American forces from Iraq, which would expose Iraq to worse ethnic bloodshed and embolden the enemies of Israel and the United States. Senator Obama also voted against legislation to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the list of terrorist organizations and criticizes Hillary Clinton for voting in favor of the legislation, which passed with the support of over three-quarters of the Senate. He has also pledged to meet without preconditions with Iran’s Holocaust-denying leader, Ahmadinejad. Just as disturbing are Obama’s statements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which include: “Nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people” and the clueless remark that “the Israeli government must make difficult concessions for the peace process to restart.” These troubling statements caused my friend and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon to ask in a recent op-ed, “Who are you, Barack Obama?” Ayalon wrote that after meeting with Obama on two occasions, he was “left with the impression that [Obama] was not entirely forthright with his thinking [about Israel].” Click http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25743&keywords=Obama%5C%27s+ FAIR USE NOTICE: This article contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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