"Let me be clear." This is how President Obama prefaces his remarks when he wants to make sure we don't misunderstand what he is about to say. Well, remarks he uttered in several speeches during the week of May 16th make it clear where he stands on Israel.
Since the Six-Day War in 1967 between Israel and its neighbors, American policy stated by every president since Lyndon Johnson has been that Israel need not return the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza strip to Arab control or to repatriate Palestinian refugees. President Obama has now reversed that policy.
To his credit, Prime Minister Netanyahu said to the most powerful man in the world, right to his face and in front of the cameras for all the world to see and hear, "That will not happen." Bravo.
Oblivious to the crushing deficits he has promoted, President Obama that week also declared that the United States would provide billions in additional aid to the Palestinians and the Arabs of North Africa. These are the same people who cheered in the streets after 9/11, the same people who support Hezbollah, Fatah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in their midst, organizations that openly advocate the destruction of Israel and America.
This was the same week that Obama focused all the attention on himself when speaking about the killing of bin Laden. Yet leaks keep coming out of Washington that make us suspect that Obama withheld approval of the action for weeks for fear of offending his Muslim friends. On the eve of the action, with everything ready and the CIA and the Pentagon pressing him for action, the president still needed to sleep on it. It may very well be that the decision was made for him while he slept. If true, that would have been a gift to the president: had the action failed, he could have blamed his advisors for usurping his authority. When it succeeded, he was able to take credit for the fateful decision, while the others obviously could not.
Finally, evidence surfaced that week that Iran and Hezbollah helped al Qaeda in planning the attacks on September 11, 2001, and in facilitating the hijackers' training and travel. This is the same Iran that Obama chooses to "engage" rather than confront, the same Iran that crushed a popular rebellion that cried out for support from a silent Obama. It is also the same Iran whose first nuclear plant is expected to be operational in a matter of weeks, bringing it that much closer to having nuclear weapons.
Israel had stated repeatedly that it cannot permit Iran to have nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to act unilaterally against Iran, will it have the backing of the United States? I don't know. But I am reminded of the old adage that a friend of my friend is my friend, and the friend of my enemy is my enemy. Israel has every right to ask Obama: Whose friend are you?
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