Bacon and eggs

As a committed zionist who often disagrees with the Netanyahu government and hopes that a reasonable mideast solution can be found for all parties, I have to admit that I am bemused by the recent conduct of this administration towards Israel. As difficult as we know "those people" can be, the Obamaites have been dealing with their supposed ally with a crudity and heavy hand that is uncharacteristic of diplomats.

The United States Ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, wants us to differentiate between old school anti semitism and the new and more acceptable and understandable version of European "Muslim anti semitism."

“Classic bigotry” is being held in check, he said in a speech earlier this month. But, citing the recent resignation of a Belgian professor and a racially motivated attack by several students on a young Jewish girl in Belgium, Gutman spoke of the “problem within Europe of tension, hatred and sometimes even violence between some members of Muslim communities or Arab immigrant groups and Jews.”


“It is a tension and perhaps hatred largely born of and reflecting the tension between Israel, the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab states in the Middle East over the continuing Israeli-Palestinian problem,” he said, according to a prepared text.


“The largest part of the solution remains in the hands of government leaders in Israel and the Palestinian territories and Arab countries in the Middle East,” Gutman said. “It is the area where every new settlement announced in Israel, every rocket shot over a border or suicide bomber on a bus and every retaliatory military strike exacerbates the problem and provides a setback here in Europe for those fighting hatred and bigotry here in Europe.”

Gutman said this situation was unfortunate in that it affects people in Europe a continent away from the problem. But he argued that was fortunate because, unlike with the older anti-Semitism, a remedy exists. “Peace in the Middle East would indeed equate with a huge reduction of this form of labeled ‘anti-Semitism’ here in Europe,” he said.

Jon Huntsman, Obama's first envoy to China, suggested today that Ambassador Gutman's comments about anti-Semitism reflected "ambiguity that the administration has toward Israel."

"I say these aren't speeches that are cooked up at local level within the embassy. They go high up within the State Department, probably within the National Security Council," he said.

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Last week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had his turn up to bat; he criticized Israel in another unilateral broadside, saying that they just needed to "get back to the table." He puts the blame for a lack of an agreement squarely on Israel's shoulders, suggesting that Israel needed to be more flexible and "reach out to mend fences" with the Arabs, or risk increased regional isolation.

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Retired Sec. Gates thinks that Israel is an ungrateful ally.

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Of course, Obama our leader was foolish enough to bash Netanyahu at a moment earlier this month when he thought that his microphone was turned off talking to Sarkozy, "“You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.”

Someone in the administration had the beitzim last week to say that Israel has never had a better friend than this administration. Obama himself said that he has done more for Israel’s security than any other administration, and vowed no ally is more important to the U.S. than the Jewish state.

“I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration,” Obama said.

Now, that is a joke. If "done more" means having Secretary Clinton and every other possible member of your administration take a hard shot at them at every opportunity, I will accept "done more."Obama is always pressuring the Israelis and yet seems to give his arab partners a type of carté blanche. Earlier this year Obama called for Israel's return to pre 1967 borders, something they had always said they would not do and a dictum contrary to any previous American administration.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren said in 2010, “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 ... a crisis of historic proportions.” I can understand their frustration.

In a middle east where the vaunted Arab Spring is now giving way to hardcore Islamic Fundamentalism, Israel can not afford a single mistake. With Hamas to the south, Hezbollah to the north, Iran and its proxy Syria to the northeast, all calling for Israel's annihilation, one has to wonder about the way our government is going about its business. Now add a radicalized Egypt to the mix and you can see how the mideast calculus is changing.

Has Israel made matters worse with its intransigence and somewhat dishonest settlement actions? Definitely. This rush to get boots on the ground in East Jerusalem is shortsighted but understandable.


White House spokesman Jay Carney separately defended the administration's record, saying it had opposed "one-sided" condemnation of Israel at the UN Human Rights Council and spoken out against incitement in the Arab world.

"This administration has consistently stood up against anti-Semitism and efforts to delegitimize Israel, and we will continue to do so," Carney said.

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I lived in Israel, my father was born in Israel, my grandfather lived there for much of his life and is buried there. I believe that I have a level of understanding regarding the situation there. The middle east is a place where the only currency is power. Both sides are in an immoral chess game, positioning for the world in a sick contest over who has the greatest degree of persecution and victimhood. The people on both sides are tough and both locked into a deathly end game. The toughest sin in the middle east today is to be perceived as weak. Peace opportunities have been squandered, in an all or nothing stance by the arabs, and a tremendous sense of detachment and insensitivity by some Israelis and religious zealots who believe that god bequeathed them some spiritual grant deed. I am not a knee jerk apologist. I recognize that many Americans would like to wash their hands of the Israelis, and Israel is a dirty word to most liberals.

I think that our administration has been clumsy, patronizing and ham handed in the way they treat the Israelis. If I was an Israeli and I had to rely on President Barack Obama, I would be feeling very scared right now. His desire to pad his resume with an accommodation between the two parties that no other leader has ever achieved is an understandable goal for any narcissistic politician. Obama pays lip service but his manor belies his true feelings and intentions. The rude treatment of the Israelis by his underlings makes his real attitude quite evident. I think that the administration, especially if Obama is re-elected and I think that it is a good bet that he will be, will think nothing of shoehorning Israel into a one sided, dangerous, untenable agreement, no matter what the future effect.

We have a commitment to Israel. To use another unnecessary pork metaphor, commitment is like bacon and eggs. The chicken has a certain level of commitment, the pig is all in. Israel is all in. I expect that they will do whatever they think is necessary to ensure their survival. With the United States or without them. Damn what anyone else thinks.