Israel

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From Under the Bus: A Response to Efraim Halevy and the NYTimes

This column was originally published in The Times of Israel

Although President Obama has his own record — and what a record it is — regarding Israel, Halvey has nary a word to say about it.  Furthermore, Governor Mitt Romney has a sterling record of support for Israel, and a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy team; yet Halevy deems this unworthy of comment. What kind of analysis of the election ignores entirely any analysis of the actual candidates or their records?

Efraim Halevy, the former director of Israel’s Mossad, has penned a most peculiar column published in The New York Times.  Halevy maintains that “no Democratic president has ever strong-armed Israel on any key national security issue,” and that Republican presidents were the ones who have thrown Israel “under the bus.”

Halevy used to be a serious man.  But his unserious analysis is as incomplete as it is irrelevant. In fact, it amounts to historical malpractice.     Continue reading →

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Waiting for Obama. And Waiting. And Waiting…

If Obama has been so heavy-handed in dealing with Israel up until now, while Israel still ostensibly maintains the ability to cripple Iran’s nuclear development, just imagine the concessions he’ll demand from Israel as the price of American action when he alone holds Israel’s security in his hands.  
Speculation simmers as to how and when Israel may launch a preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear-genocide facilities.  But as Iran races toward nuclear capability, a couple of things are becoming clear: first, whatever else Israel may have up its resourceful sleeve, the window in which Israel by itself is capable of inflicting serious damage in conventional air strikes is closing fast; and second, once that window closes, relying on a second-term Obama administration to take out Iranian nukes would be a grave mistake for Israel.
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The Surprising Israeli Takeaway From the Presidential Debate

Precisely because Israel-based viewers are less engaged in details of this campaign than voters in America.  They are, therefore, arguably a better reflection of the less-engaged and still-undecided voters in America than the hardened political junkies whose impressions of the candidates were formed long ago.
The first Obama-Romney debate is over, and has been followed by predictable torrents of over-dissection and over-analysis.  So, why add more?  Because reactions in Israel may be surprisingly instructive in projecting the likely impact of this debate on the coming election.  Americans in Israel, as well as native-Israelis, make for an interesting group with which to measure the effect of the debate, especially on the impression made by Governor Romney. Continue reading →
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The Democrats Were for Jerusalem, Before They Were Against it, Before They Were for it, Before They Were Against It

The Democrats’ 2012 platform omitted any endorsement of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.  Furthermore, it no longer calls for the creation of a democratic Palestinian state, no longer calls for isolating Hamas until it renounces terror and recognizes Israel, and opens the door to endorsing the so-called Palestinian “right of return” to Israel.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Are we really supposed to trust these people?
The outrageousness of the stories surrounding the Democratic Party platform’s now-you see-them, now-you-don’t sections relating to Israel and Jerusalem grows daily, exceeded only by the cynicism of the party spokesmen peddling them.  On the bright side, the entertainment value of the saga is pretty high. Continue reading →
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The Democrats of 2012: For Israel, Is the Party Over?

This column was originally published in American Thinker magazine.

While Israel faces existential doomsday, the Democratic party– certainly the convention — seems firmly under the control of those ambivalent about, if not outright hostile to, the Jewish State and its people.

As the Democratic National Convention proceeds, watching the degradation of a once-great, once pro-Israel party is as sad as it is alarming.  Continue reading →
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Tampa Journal: Observations from the Republican Convention

This column was originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

Israel is a hot topic here, and support for Israel (and criticism of President Barack Obama’s treatment of Israel) seems to run across the board. I’ve done radio interviews here with hosts who are more enthusiastic Zionists than I am–and I live there.

These are people with an attachment to Israel that runs deep, and they are excited discuss it. There is no better opening line in this group than saying, “Hi, I’m Abe, from Republicans Abroad Israel.”

It is fascinating to attend this year’s Republican National Convention as a representative of Republicans Abroad Israel. Continue reading →

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The “Opposite” of Obama: a Primer for Democrats

This column was originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

The Obama administration has distinguished itself by innumerable calculated insults and slights designed to show “daylight” between Obama’s America and Israel.  I ask those defenders of Obama’s Israel record: would you have a problem with the “opposite” of the following partial list of incidents?

In June, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told an audience of Christian conservatives that he would do the “opposite” of what US President Barack Obama has done in terms of Israel. “I think, by and large, you can just look at the things the president has done and do the opposite.” Romney explained that his “overarching” message was that “I would not want to show a dime’s worth of distance between ourselves and our allies like Israel. If we have disagreements, we can talk about them behind closed doors. But to the world, you show that we’re locked arm-in-arm.”

Did anyone not understand what Romney meant? Continue reading →

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His Rabbis: How Obama got to “know more about Judaism than any other president.”

This column was originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

 

We are left with the disturbing likelihood that Obama’s education regarding Jewish theology, history and Zionism has come from three primary influences in his adult life: activist Rabbi Arnold Wolf, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and formerly Beirut-based PLO flak Dr. Rashid Khalidi.

The backlash didn’t take long.
Within hours of President Barack Obama declaring to a group of Conservative Jews that he “probably knows more about Judaism than any other president” – a result, he claimed, of reading and having lots of Jewish friends – the blogosphere was ablaze with pointed refutations. Continue reading →

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US expats in Israel and Obamacare

This column was originally published in Israel Hayom.

Americans abroad, take note: If the mandate is upheld, there is nothing to stop the American government from applying it to you, too–including fines/taxes up to $1,900 per family per year–regardless of whether you are involved in the U.S. economy in any way, simply by virtue of your citizenship. Continue reading →

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Seven Minutes: The Limits Of Obama’s Pro-Israel Pronouncements

Obama told Jewish supporters: “This administration — I try not to pat myself too much on the back — but this administration has done more in terms of the security of the State of Israel than any previous administration.”
 
Stop laughing; he actually said it with a straight face. 
A seven-minute Israel-loves-Obama promotional video?  Is that the best this administration can do?  Perhaps it’s time for an administration whose pro-Israel record will last more than seven minutes. Continue reading →