Israelis think Obama is pro-Palestinian. Only six percent think he is pro-Israeli. I’m sure the Arab world is going to be loving this poll result. And the reason for the change? The Cairo speech.
Only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis consider the views of American President Barack Obama’s administration pro-Israel, according to a new Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll.
[…] Another 50% of those sampled consider the policies of Obama’s administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, and 36% said the policies were neutral. The remaining 8% did not express an opinion.
The numbers were a stark contrast to the last poll published May 17, on the eve of the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama at the White House. In that poll, 31% labeled the Obama administration pro-Israel, 14% considered it pro-Palestinian and 40% said it was neutral. The other 15% declined to give an opinion.
Hm. Let’s think. Why would Israelis think Obama is not their friend? Perhaps it’s his calls to freeze all settlement activity. Perhaps it’s his insistence on opening the Gaza borders regardless of whether or not Gilad Shalit is still in captivity. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that the Obama team is trying to bring down Netanyahu’s government and replace it with one that will be more willing to kowtow to The One. Or perhaps Israelis just watched the speech, as I did, and noticed that every time he mentioned what the Palestinians had to do, he was gently lecturing, sort of like a father having a serious discussion with his children. And when he came to the Israeli responsibilities, the axe fell. Compare and contrast:
Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have to recognize they have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, recognize Israel’s right to exist.
At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.
Look at those two paragraphs. He acknowledges Hamas’ terrorism as violence, says nothing about it being a hindrance to peace, and urges Hamas to recognize its “responsibilities.” Now look at the bolded text in the next paragraph, and perhaps you get an idea of why Israelis think that Obama is pro-Palestinian.
A fraud was perpetrated on American Jews, and they willingly went along with it. We told you he was not Israel’s friend.
The good news in this poll is that Israelis are uniting behind Bibi. Obama can demand that Israel stop natural growth. He can put as many obstacles in Netanyahu’s way as possible to try to remove a duly-elected democratic nation’s leader from office as possible. But Israelis are going to dig in their heels, because when it comes down to it, it’s their country, their lives, and their safety that are the real issues here—not Obama’s record as a peacemaker. The man’s overweening ego is what is driving his position on Israel, as well as his sympathy towards the Palestinians. But that’s a subject for another post.
They’ve also seen this scenario before. In the late 90s the Clinton Administration overthrew Netanyahu’s government, for all practical purposes, to replace it with a Labor government that would be more amenable to American demands for concessions to Arafat. That resulted in Barak’s 2000 offer to Arafat and his contemptuous response of ignoring it then starting the “Second Intifada,” or the Oslo Terrorism War as I call it.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Israelis know how this one comes out, another spasm of terrorists killing them after they make a suicidal offer forced on them by America, one that is refused by the Palis as not being suicidal enough.
Treachery to our friends and allies and contemptible weakness in the face of our enemies. That is a wretched reputation for a great power to have, but it is the one we are earning.