The version of Dr.Gerstenfeld’s latest piece, varies on some points from the one published in Ynet. This is published with the author’s consent.
By Manfred Gerstenfeld
President
Obama is not popular among Israeli Jews. A few days ago, a poll asked
which presidential candidate would be preferable concerning Israel’s
interests. Fifty-seven percent of Israeli Jews preferred Romney, while
22% said Obama. Among Israeli Arabs, Obama was the preferred candidate.
Yet the
Obama administration has been supportive of Israel, after an initially
hesitant period. It expressed itself in supplying military equipment,
fighting the cyber war and broad strategic collaboration. This
cooperation has been praised by Israel’s senior leaders. The United
States has also consistently supported Israel in the United Nations.
Obama also personally intervened in the life-threatening situation for
Israel’s embassy personnel in Cairo during the Egyptian mob attack in
September 2011.
Many of
President Obama’s actions have thus been supportive of Israel. One
reason that they may not have had much effect upon Israeli Jews is his
image as an internationally weak president, which is also very bad for
Israel. Even if part of America’s weakness is due to perception only,
that translates into reality. It invites provocation by the U.S.’s
enemies. One sees this in the posturing of Iranian leaders, the world’s
leading supporters of terrorism.
Also highly problematic is President Obama’s view of the situation among Muslims. Steve
Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism found that many known
radical Muslims have made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House,
meeting with top administration officials.
To illustrate his basic attitude toward the Muslim world, one can
analyze Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009. Obama expressed apologetics and
appeasement and understated the major criminality within the Muslim
world.
Obama
applied double standards through omissions of many important facts. He
said that it was time to put a halt to Israeli settlements. He did not
say “It is time for Egypt and many other Muslim states to stop the
murderous anti-Semitic incitement against Jews. This hate-mongering is
also widely spread in Egyptian government media. It was equaled only by
Nazi Germany.” When he spoke about equality for women he did not say,
“In many Muslim countries there are extreme cases of discrimination
against women. This should be halted.” Obama did not speak about the
incitement against and persecution of Christians in a variety of Muslim
countries. He avoided asking clearly, “Why is the world of Islam far
more violent than that of any other religion? What does that tell us
about contemporary Islam?” Nor did he say, “In the new century we have
not seen any other terror attack of the size of 9/11 which was driven by
the religious conviction of major criminals.”
President
Obama also mentioned Muslim charity. He forgot to say that the Arab
countries were so charitable that they had not let their Palestinian
brothers integrate into their societies for more than 60 years. He also
did not say that the West had to carry a major part of the costs of the
refugees and their descendents.
Another
omission was when he stated that civilization owed a debt to Al Azhar
without mentioning prominent Muslim clerics who support suicide
terrorism. When he spoke about the Palestinians, he said, “the
Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit
of a homeland.” That statement contains many fallacies. The largest part
of the Palestinian Mandate is Jordan, a state with a Palestinian
majority. The Palestinians were granted a second state through a United
Nations General Assembly resolution in 1947. Yet it was not good enough
for them and their Arab allies. They preferred to start a war to attempt
to massacre the Jews in what became Israel. Until 1967, they could have
publicly asked their Arab “brethren” for a second state when the
Palestinian territories were controlled by Jordan and Egypt.
After
the Arab defeat in 1967, the Palestinians could have once again obtained
a second state. Yet they preferred to continue their fight to eliminate
Israel. While Obama didn’t mention the suffering of Christians in
Muslim lands, he did mention the suffering of Palestinian Christians,
without stating that this was mainly caused by Palestinian Muslims.
Obama
also said things about the Muslim world in Cairo which were closer to
lies than to half-truths. To state that “in our times many Muslim
communities have been in the forefront of innovation” does not reflect
the reality of the Muslim world. Tiny Israel has won more Nobel prizes
than all Muslims put together, while there are about two hundred times
more Muslims than Israelis.
The only
area where major innovation has emerged from parts of the Muslim world
is ‘creative terrorism.’ In this framework the Palestinians have also
made a substantial contribution in inventing new modes of terror. If
there were a Nobel Prize for terrorism, top candidates would be Iran,
Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and various other Palestinian groupings as well
as the initiators of 9/11.
It is
probably due to Obama’s attitude toward highly problematic Muslims, the
betrayal of long time political allies such as Egyptian president Husni
Mubarak and his perceived international weakness that a majority of
Israeli Jews continue to feel uncomfortable with him as president. One
wonders to what extent Obama has genuinely abandoned the appeasing and
apologetic spirit he exhibited in Cairo, or whether much of it will
re-appear if he is re-elected.
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