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Alex Rose

Obama’s Legacy

“Unlike his predecessors, Netanyahu , understood Iran, internalized Iran, was totally focused on Iran. From the day he took office, he knew that his life’s mission was to prevent Iran from going nuclear.” [My Promised Land by Ari Shavit].

Ari Shavit says, “Israel is a Jewish state that arouses religious animosity among many Muslims. The ‘occupation’ of Jerusalem and the West Bank amplified this animosity, but it is Israel’s very existence as a sovereign non-Islamic entity in a land sacred to Islam and surrounded by Islam that creates the inherent tension between the tiny Jewish nation and the vast Islamic world.

“Over the years Israel lost some of its Islamist allies as radical Islam swept to power. Jewish extremism and Islamic fanaticism fed each other. 2013 has seen two dramatic developments vis-à-vis the seven challenges that Israel faces. One is the New Middle East, the other is New Politics.

A former Russian revolutionary opened a monumental power station in 1938, a few hundred yards to the north of the improvised hall. In only nine months the ingenious Pinchas Rotenberg and his thousand men, working around the lock, managed to build the Reading power station that accelerated the electrification of the land and provided power to the fast-growing Tel-Aviv

When Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in office in April, 2009 he brought with him a totally new approach to Iran. As he saw it ,”Iran was the Nazi Germany of the 21st century, its combination of a nonconventional regime with nonconventional weapons was lethal.”

By 2011, the fear of a desperate Israeli move impelled the dovish Obama administration to take non dovish steps. First Obama approved cyber warfare against Iran then, in coordination with the Europeans , he imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, and finally he instructed the Pentagon to prepare an effective American option.

The Jewish people now had a state, an army, and technological might. They would do whatever it took to prevent Tel Aviv from becoming a Hiroshima.”Unlike his predecessors , Netanyahu understood Iran, was totally focused on Iran.”

The 1st half of 2013 was quite extraordinary. Although by now Israelis were fully aware of the Iran dilemma and its significance, they chose to ignore it. But as time passes, this capability was eroding. As the world changes, the Dimona monopoly was bound to fade. Would Tel Aviv be able to sustain its individualistic and hedonistic life in 2020 and 2030 ?

The violent struggle between Sunnis and Shiites is keeping the new religious forces busy. New politics are the dramatic outcome of Israel’s 2013 elections. The phenomenal success of the charismatic television personality, the centrist Yair Lapid, and the young software entrepreneur, the national-religious Naftali Bennet, reshaped the country’s political landscape.

There was hope for peace, but there will be no peace here.

Politico posted “ex Ambassador Michael Oren: Obama Abandoned Israel on June 16, 2015.”

WASHINGTON—President Barak Obama deliberately damaged the relationship between the United States and Israel, according to Israel’s former ambassador to the US. Oren wrote in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, “only one leader made them deliberately.
In reality, Oren wrote in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, “Only one leader made them deliberately.”Upon entering office, he wrote, “Obama promoted an agenda of championing the Palestinian cause and achieving a nuclear accord with Iran.

Those policies, Oren wrote, would have put him at odds with any Israeli leader. But Obama also abandoned what Oren said were the principles of the country’s relationship, including “no daylight” and “no surprises.

Oren responded in the Op-ed, saying that statement ignored Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and previous offers of statehood, encompassing nearly the entire West Bank and half of Jerusalem that the Palestinians rejected.

“Israeli leaders typically received advance copies of major American policy statements on the Middle East and could submit their comments. But Mr. Obama delivered his Cairo speech, with its unprecedented support for the Palestinians and its recognition of Iran’s right to nuclear power, without consulting Israel.

When Israel learned that the US was negotiating ‘with its deadliest enemy’—Iran—over its nuclear program, Oren wrote,” the daylight could not have been more binding.”

The International Jerusalem Post of August 23—29, 2024, titled, a ‘US war with Iran is becoming inevitable ‘ has a single entry for Barack Obama. It reads, ’Barack Obama’ sought to appease Iran and, in an act of stupidity, actually thought to grant it not only $150 essential hegemony over the Middle East, in the hope that it would civilize.

Shmuley Boteach’s “A US war with Iran is becoming inevitable” published by The International Jerusalem Post on August 23-29, 2024 serves as more than appropriate conclusion for this paper.

Selectively, the conclusion reads as follows:

“Former President Barack Obama sought to appease Iran and, in an act of stupidity, actually thought to grant it not only $150 billion, but essential hegemony over the Middle East, in the hope that it would civilize.

Then, Donald Trump, in an act of great political courage, threw out the JCPOA Iran deal and nearly bankrupted the Mullahs, a policy that the United States must continue, regardless of criticism. Yet even that did not fully bankrupt the Mullahs, as China rushed to Iran’s aid and bought their oil illegally

This leads us to one conclusion. Whoever occupies the White House, may face no choice but this: a military campaign against Iran, joined with all our NATO, EU, and international allies—and every nation that wants to see a civilized Earth-finally disarming Iran, destroying its nuclear capability , and offering the long-suffering people of Iran an opportunity at liberation.”

About the Author
Alex Rose was born in South Africa in 1935 and lived there until departing for the US in 1977 where he spent 26 years. He is an engineering consultant. For 18 years he was employed by Westinghouse until age 60 whereupon he became self-employed. He was also formerly on the Executive of Americans for a Safe Israel and a founding member of CAMERA, New York (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America and today one of the largest media monitoring organizations concerned with accuracy and balanced reporting on Israel). In 2003 he and his wife made Aliyah to Israel and presently reside in Ashkelon.