Obama Claims That Bitter Israelis Cling To His Middle Name

How does one explain when others don't agree with your policies? Blame it on prejudice and ignorance, says President Obama. His reason for why Israelis are concerned about him? "Some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion," he said in an interview with an Israeli television station on Wednesday. That line is as much insulting to Israelis as was Obama's infamous line during the 2008 campaign with regard to voters in middle America who didn't support him: "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustration."
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East

While the Obama administration dithers in the Gulf of Mexico, tensions grow in the Middle East. The Jerusalem Post has come to the sad conclusion that in light of the Obama administration's position at the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Committee, "Israel should rethink the value of all U.S. promises, regardless of how or where they were made."

The Obama administration is preventing Israel from maintaining the ambiguity of its nuclear policy that has kept states like Iran that want to "wipe Israel off the map" from so doing.

The Obama administration calls for Israel to become a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty; the irony is that signatories include Iran, Syria and Libya, and yet the Obama administration singles out Israel as the problem state when it comes to nuclear weapons

As with the Gulf oil spill, the administration's credibility with Israel is in shatters, because America is no longer being led, just ruled, and not very competently.

Time For Kentucky Senate Candidates to Talk About Israel

Kentucky's GOP Senate primary includes an issue that Trey Grayson has thus far failed to exploit: U.S. support for Israel or rather, the Obama administration's lack thereof.

Grayson's support for Israel is unequivocal. Rand Paul, in contrast, attracts supporters who believe in the old blood libels, conspiracies, cabals and other anti-Semitic nonsense. And Rand Paul, like his career politician father, is isolationist to the point where he would abandon our allies even at America's own peril.

Politico has recognized that Israel is becoming a primary issue. The Obama administration's failure to have Israel's back concerns more than Jewish voters:

For many Republicans — particularly conservative Christians who are strongly pro-Israel — President Barack Obama’s nuanced approach, and its results so far, represent a betrayal of a key ally. Many also view the ongoing debate as a proxy for the debate over the muscularity of American foreign policy.

“Support for Israel is one of those issues, like anti-communism used to be, that holds together a number of pieces of the conservative movement, including evangelicals but also neocons, economic conservatives and foreign policy hawks,” said Tevi Troy, a visiting senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who served as Jewish liaison in the George W. Bush White House.

.A February Gallup survey found Democratic voters evenly split on whether they sympathized more with the Israelis or the Palestinians. Republicans are far more united in their support for Israel, the poll found, with 85 percent saying they sympathized more with the Israelis

America's interests are inextricably tied with Israel's. It is the only true democracy in the region, and in a post 9/11 world, it is our most important ally and source of intelligence. It is surrounded by countries that deny its very right to exist -- one of which, Iran -- is aggressively developing nuclear weapons to "wipe Israel off the map."

It is time for Trey Grayson to force Rand Paul to say how he would vote for aid to Israel if elected.

Can Rand Paul Connect With People of Faith?

Joe Arnold has linked up an interesting post from a Bill Johnson supporter who makes the case that Dr. Rand Paul's libertarian views must be rejected by Christian voters.

In fairness to Paul, the post neglects to note that unlike many libertarians, Paul opposes abortion.

Arnold's take is that the talk about Paul hiring Mike Saltsman (formerly of the Huckabee campaign) was intended to reach fundamentalist Christians.

Christians, of course, are not the only "values voters." A comment from a Paul supporter to this blog raises the question of whether Paul will be able to appeal to Jewish voters. "Nobody" writes:

If you want to see the reality of what is truly happening, go open your eyes and follow theAIPAC and the ADL which both organizations have been instrumental in controlling our media and information we receive to protect Israel as they massacre and admit to brutalizing millions of people in gestapo-like tactics that once were used against them by Hitler.

[AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby; ADL is the Anti-Defamation League, dedicated to fighting defamation of Jews.]

To be sure, a candidate cannot be held accountable for the views of follower -- though if the anti-Semitism of the commenter called "Nobody" is more than just a fluke, then Paul must disavow it.

What may give Jewish voters more pause about Paul is the sincerity and depth of his support of Israel. When I asked the campaign last Fall about U.S. support of Israel, I was told "Israel is a friend of America, he [Paul] supports all allies with the United States." It is hard to know if the shallowness of that response reflects a lack of enthusiasm or a lack of reflection. It is not exactly a pledge to go to the mat for Israel. That may appeal to some Paul supporters, but may make it difficult to reach out to voters who care about Israel -- that includes Christian as well as Jewish voters.

The dilemma for Paul is that if he shows too much enthusiasm for supporting Israel, he will alienate some of the libertarian voters -- like "Nobody"-- who see Jewish conspiracies everywhere. If Paul does not show enough supporters for Israel, he risks alienating not only Jewish and Christian voters but anyone who recognizes that Israel is one of our closest allies, an important source of intelligence and the only democracy in the region.

For Paul, the issue of support for Israel dovetails into the issue of how to keep America safe in the age of terrorism without losing our civil liberties.

Trey Grayson, in contrast, has visited Israel twice and has written about it extensively. In fact, Grayson traveled with AIPAC. He is unequivocal about his support for Israel. Unlike Paul, Treyson does not have to finesse the issue.

Bin Laden Plugs Jimmy Carter's Book

Former President Jimmy Carter's anti-Semitic rant against Israel received a thumb's up from Osama bin Laden. It should be noted that Carter published his book a year and a half ago; apparently Amazon's shipping to the caves of the Khyber Pass is backlogged.

Here's how the New York Times reviewed Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” Carter

simply offers a narrative that is largely unsympathetic to Israel. Israeli bad faith fills the pages. Hollow statements by Israel’s enemies are presented without comment. Broader regional developments go largely unexamined. In other words, whether or not Carter is right that most Americans have a distorted view of the conflict, his contribution is to offer a distortion of his own.

It is a rare thing when the Paper of Record pans America's Worst President. Fortunately for Carter, bin Laden -- who has more followers than the Times has readers -- chose to "help" book sales. Here's the Times on bin Laden's review of Carter's book:

While the voice on the tape does not mention this book by name, it calls on Americans to “read what your former president, Carter, wrote regarding Israeli racism against our people in Palestine,” in a characterization of the book that goes beyond Mr. Carter’s own language.

President Barack Obama must be filled with Hope that bin Laden does not decide to endorse Obama's two books.

Trey Grayson On Israel

Recently I raised the issue of how the candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate view America's relationship with Israel. Both Dr. Rand Paul and Secretary of State Trey Grayson favor low taxes, limited government and an end to the profligate spending that fuels our deficits. That economic conservatism is necessary to win the GOP primary, but it is not, in my view sufficient. As voters, we must understand how the candidates view foreign policy, including our alliance with Israel as Iran develops its nuclear weapons.

Dr. Rand Paul's campaign responded by stating that he supports Israel: "Israel is a friend of America, he supports all allies with the United States." His statement was unequivocal but bereft of nuance or details. It's early in the campaign, and we look forward to hearing more from him on this and other issues.

Trey Grayson responded by noting that he has been to Israel twice and has written extensively about his travels. Grayson's "Face Book" friends received a contemporaneous diary of his 2008 trip to Israel with AIPAC. Plainly, Grayson has spent considerable time researching and reflecting on the Mid-East. The diary is 20 pages and makes for fascinating reading; his campaign should include it on his website.

Below is an excerpt of his 2008 diary, unedited for typos and grammatical errors -- just his raw reaction to what he saw in Gaza:

This part of the country (or at least the part closer to Gaza) reminds me of Kentucky. It has

rolling hills and is very agricultural. . . .Like many of the small towns in Kentucky, they are struggling with a lack of industry. Of course, there is one big difference. In Kentucky, our farmers and factory workers don't need to be on the look out for rocket and mortar fire from their neighbors.

I want to give you some background on Gaza itself. Gaza is a heavily populated area with 1.5 million residents squeezed into a small urban area on the Mediterranean Sea. We visited a lookout point near a

reservoir. We were outside of sniper range but inside of rocket range. In fact, there was scarring along the wall of the reservoir from a Qassam rocket that landed only a few hundred feet from where we

were. There was an older outlook closer to Gaza, but some Canadian visitors were shot at by snipers. As a result, no one goes to that lookout anymore.

From the lookout, you can see Israeli spy balloons. There also unmanned drones that fly around point cameras into Gaza. Quite often, Israel cameras will see terrorists using children as human shields

near the rocket launcher, or shooting the rockets from civilian areas, or both, to deter Israel from retaliating.

Prior to Israel's 2005 unilateral disengagement from Gaza (more on that in a second) 6,000 Israelis lived in settlements on Gaza. There were also 20-30,000 IDF troops in and around Gaza. After

disengagement, all of the settlers were moved out and their homes were bulldozed by Israel (so the Palestinians could build what they wanted on the land), and all troops withdrew to the borders. Israel still

sells power and fuel to the area, and it controls the borders tightly. This is called "disengagement". (Of course, the terrorists use the electricity to build rockets that they then fire at the Israeli power

plant that produces the electricity for Gaza residents as well as the southern third of Israel, but I am getting ahead of myself.)

Originally, the area was controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and this was viewed as a test for the unilateralism theory championed by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The idea was that, absent a strong

Palestinian government or authority with which to negotiate, Israel would set its own borders and hope that the Palestinians would be able to govern themselves and that this was the best way to achieve peace.

The hope was that this would help to reduce the suicide bombers and rocket attacks by removing Israeli control over the area. After all, this was rationale the Palestinians cited for such attacks.

Five days after disengagement, the first Qassam rockets fell on Israeli soil, even before Hamas forcibly took control of Gaza in 2006. When Hamas took control, it has only worsened. In fact, until last week's cease-fire, rockets were fired almost daily. When a rocket is fired, bomb sirens start to sound, giving you about 20 second at most to get to seek shelter

Qassam rockets are more or less hand made using agricultural products that everyone has as explosive materials. They have essentially no accuracy, which isn't a big deal for someone wanting to inflict terror

and have about a ten-mile range.

Israel erected a fence-only security barrier (no solid walls) along the border in 1994 to little protests. It worked well, with almost no penetration by suicide bombers. But the barrier doesn't stop snipers or rockets.

Grayson described meeting a young Israeli mother who had lived in Gaza. What she told him so disturbed him that it kept him awake at night:

At the lookout, we met with a woman named Tamar. She has a PhD and used to live in a settlement with her husband two children (both boys). She liked the settlement. It had good schools, was quite safe
and a good quiet place to live. The Israelis and Palestinians usually lived in harmony and had joint festivals. After disengagement, she and her family moved to Kibbutz Carmia, just a few miles outside of
Gaza. In theory, unlike most residents in the areas around Gaza, she and her family could move because they are professionals. They choose not to (more below).

Here are a few of Tamar's stories:

While in Gaza, before disengagement but after the Second Intifada started, the daughter of her next door neighbor daughter was murdered by terrorist. She and her boyfriend where shot while walking down a
street. The girl tried to hide behind a bush, but the terrorists tracked her down and shot her several more times until they were sure she was dead.

Also, while in Gaza, her husband slept with rifle next to bed, and they had a room with all concrete rooms, a "safe place". When the moved to Carmia, they moved to a trailer provided by the Israeli
government. Once they moved in, her son started patting down the walls, Tamar was wondering what he was doing. Once he had patted all the walls, he turned to her and said Mom, there is no safe place here.
The walls are too thin.

Even though she moved out of Gaza, because of the fear of rocket attacks, Tamar can't go to bathroom when the kids are home. She won't be able to get out in time and get the kids to the bomb shelter. She
has to give her children baths, so she will be near them if the bomb sirens go off. She has to shut off the faucet when soaping so she can hear the alarms. Her older son's epilepsy has gotten worse since
disengagement.

One day, she was driving with her two children and the bomb sirens started sounding. Knowing she didn't have enough time to get out of the car, unbuckle the kids and get to a shelter in the twenty or so
seconds that you have once the siren sounds, she instead put her car in park, unbuckled her own belt and covered up her kids to shield them, thus exposing herself. Her younger son, who might have been four at the time, asked her why she did that. She tried to deflect by saying she loved her sons and just wanted to give them a hug. He wouldn't buy it, and said, "I know why you did that. Don't lay over
me next time."

When she and her husband were deciding whether to move away from Qassam range, her younger son (age seven) urged them to stay. He said, Mom, when we moved out of Gaza they moved in. If we moved out the kibbutz, they will move there. If we move to Jerusalem, they will try to force us out. So let's stay and fight. That's what they did.

After speaking with Tamar, we drove through the town of Sderot, which has been the victim of thousands of rocket attacks over the past few years. Several bus stops had concrete bomb shelters. The town looked
pretty much like any other small town in Kentucky, but the residents have a very different life. The residents are growing more and more angry with the Israeli government for not doing more to help their
plight. They feel like the government doesn't care about the folks in the rural areas as much anyway, and if rockets were falling closer to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, more would be done.

Most Israelis know that military action is imminent. The status quo cannot be maintained. They know that many IDF soldiers will die. And while many Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists will die, so will
many civilians. And the international community will be blame Israel for those deaths. If only those "experts" could talk to Tamar.

Grayson's travels included visits to the Knesset, meetings with people who briefed President Barack Obama on his trip to Israel and tours of ancient archaeological sites. When Grayson describes his visits to the Gethsemane and other places pivotal to Christianity, he conveys the spiritual significance to him personally.

It is therefore fitting that Grayson ends his travelogue to Israel by quoting Psalm 122: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

Obama's Jewish Problem

The Jerusalem Post, in a column, suggests that at least some Jews have noticed that Barack Obama is no friend to Israel. And that's without taking into account the amount of anti-Semitism on his official website.

The column includes a description of Richard Nixon's response to Israel's request for help during the 1973 war that I have never heard before. If George McGovern had been elected president instead of Nixon, it is not only possible but probable that Israel would no longer exist.

The Israelis went to president Richard Nixon with a request for a massive infusion of arms. The Defense and State Departments squabbled. Our European allies, who feared an oil embargo (and would refuse us bases to refuel our planes), inveighed against it, and the Soviets blustered. Many on Nixon's staff wanted to deny the request, or offer only token assistance. Don't antagonize the Arab states, they counseled.

Nixon persisted and, according to some accounts, doubled the amount of aid Israel had requested. Riding herd on the bureaucrats, Nixon repeatedly intervened to push the transports along. Informed about a dispute regarding the type of air transportation, Nixon at one point exclaimed in frustration: "Tell them to send everything that can fly." Over the course of a month US airplanes conducted 815 sorties with over 27,900 tons of materiel.

Israel was saved due to this massive infusion of military aid.

Anyone who cares about the continued existence of Israel ought to think long and hard about how Obama would react to a plea for help, say if Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran attacked Israel.

As the Jerusalem Post puts it,

The Obama skeptics do not for a moment believe that Obama, in the face of domestic and international pressure similar to what Nixon faced, would rise to the occasion at a critical moment in Israel's history and "tell them to send everything that can fly."

In every significant interaction in Obama's adult life with those who distain and vilify Israel - from Rashid Khalidi to Reverend Jeremiah Wright to Louis Farrakhan - Obama has demonstrated passive resignation and indifference.

We can survive the inevitable tax increases that an Obama presidency guarantees. It is unclear, however, that Israel can survive an Obama presidency. His election will embolden the people who want to destroy Israel -- the same people who want to destroy America.

DailyKos Reeks of Anti-Semitism

There is plenty of anti-Semitic garbage on the internet, but when it appears on the most influential of all leftist blogs, the DailyKos, we need to confront it for what it is.

Today the DailyKos posted a piece entitled, "Why Isn't the U.S. Taking Action Against Israel?" in which it equated Israel with Iran. Members of the DailyKos call themselves Kossaks. (Do they realize that the Cossacks killed Russian Jews in pogroms?) Today's Kossak asserts:

our lopsided coddling of Israel gives birth to Arab and Persian resentment of the U.S. and helps spread radical Islam throughout the world. How can the United States tell young Arab and Persian men to resist the sirens’ call of the Extremist Clerics when all they see from the United States is a supposed democracy that enables Israel to engage in the Nazi-like Ghettoization of the Palestinian people and to attack any country it pleases, unprovoked, without consequences? (Emphasis added.)

That is not a misquote: DailyKos actually said that the Israeli's are "Nazi-like."

Today's post was by no means an anomaly. The DailyKos's anti-Semitism is so pronounced and recurrent that one of its Jewish writers previously quit in protest.

Perhaps their ugliest display is the piece "Eulogy before the Inevitability of Self-Destruction: The Decline and Death of Israel." It includes the old "blood libel" -- that Jews sacrifice Gentile children to use their blood for rituals. That rumor was used to justify pogroms in Russia as well as the Holocaust.

The DailyKos included another tale that I had not hear before: that the Israeli Mossad conspired with the CIA to assassinate J.F.K. in order to make U.S. policy more pro-Israel.

Every year, the DailyKos holds a convention. "Progressive" politicians, like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton flock to it in order to shore up their standing among the so-called "netroots." If Obama really wants to bring "hope" and "change," he must start by denouncing the anti-Semitism of the DailyKos

H/t: Little Green Footballs

New Rantings From Mad Mahmoud

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that the end is near for Israel. Ahmadinejad has made headlines in the past for denying that the Holocaust ever occurred, and for threatening to wipe Israel off the map (with those nukes he's developing, no doubt).

In this most recent outburst, however, Ahmadinejad seems to envision a more imminent timetable:

I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene," he said. (Emphasis added.)

This is the man with whom Barack Obama wants to sit down and negotiate -- without precondition. We don't have to wonder if Obama would throw Israel under the bus; look what he did to his own grandmother.

As for the U.S., Ahmadinejad predicts:

Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.

If he's referring to the inauguration of Obama, Ahdmadinejad should note that we survived the Carter administration, and likewise can survive Obama, if it comes to that.

Like an Obama groupie, moreover, Ahmadinejad has been seized with messianic fever:

With the appearance of the promised saviour... and his companions such as Jesus Christ, tyranny will be soon be eradicated in the world. (Emphasis added.)

Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony.

Maybe that's why Obama thinks that he can persuade Ahmadinejad to be reasonable if only the two can meet -- maybe Obama's secret plan is to convince Ahmadinejad that he, Obama, is the Mahdi!