Israel's 'friends' in Washington

Wesley Pruden:

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Some Democrats comfort themselves with the notion, understandable in the light of history, that American Jews will continue to vote Democratic no matter what Mr. Obama and his party do to undermine the Jewish state. The Israelis, under constant siege and occasional bombardment, are not so easily taken in. Benjamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law was widely scolded after he told an Israeli radio interviewer that he thinks Mr. Obama is "an anti-Semite." The prime minister distanced himself from the sentiment.

Accusations of anti-Semitism against the president are over the top, like the accusations of racism against anyone who sharply criticizes Mr. Obama, but it is true that Mr. Obama has sought the company of recognized anti-Semites in the past - a "milieu," in the words of New Yorker magazine, "supposedly composed of incendiary preachers, black nationalists, fading Weathermen and ... Palestinian intellectuals." Mr. Obama has explained that while he did indeed submit his family to the moral guidance of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and he sat through 20 years of the preacher's Sunday-morning harangues about the perfidious Jews and other evil white folks, he never heard the anti-Semitic slights, thus establishing a mark, worthy of the Guinness Book of Records, of sleeping through more than a thousand sermons.

Benjamin Netanyahu is the bane of the Democrats, who only wish he would go away (or be taken away). He understands the stakes in the Middle East, and wastes no time on prissy talk over diplomatic teacups. "Throughout history," he said, "the slanders against the Jewish people always preceded the physical assaults and were used to justify these assaults."

This is the kind of rhetoric that warms and strengthens sensible and prudent men aware of the threat to their own extinction, but it upsets the tummies of certain Democrats secure behind the protection of other men. It makes their teeth itch. Better to think of bunnies, enjoy the music of little fairies and early spring flowers, and troubles will go away. Barack Obama insists he's not like that, but a friend of Israel. Israel won't long survive if has to depend on friends like him.

Obama has emboldened Israel's enemies whith his unfair treatment of Netanyahu. They are now yammering for attacks on Israel rather than pushing the Palestinians to accept a reasonable deal. What Obama is proposing on settlements and building in Israel gives the Palestinians something for nothing which is no way to begin a negotiation. This building would encourage the Palestinians to quit stalling and reach a deal, but instead Obama gives them every reason to not reach a deal.

The Arabs who support the Palestinian dependency are also not really interested in a deal. If they were, they would be putting pressure on the Palestinians to reach a deal or lose their subsidies. Perhaps what the Palestinians really fear is that if they reach a deal they will lose those subsidies and the ones from the UN. They have become the ultimate welfare queens of the Middle East.