Return of the Fallen Idol

” We’ve just gotten a glimpse of his real self. From now on, we shall see much more of it.” [Obama’s self-revealing final act – The Washington Post, by Charles Krauthammer, January 19, 2017].

In the subject report, the brilliant Krauthammer refers to “Obama’s last acts”, of which he describes “two of them were simply shocking”. The 1st concerns the commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning , one of the greatest traitors of our time, clearly a non-deserving case. Surely, Jonathan Pollard, would have been a far more worthy candidate, given the available information. The earlier deceitful act was abandoning Israel on a crucial Security Council Resolution 2334, allowing the passage of a condemnation that “will plague both Israel and its citizens for years to come.”

Charles Krauthammer points out that after 8 years of reassurance, Obama seized the opportunity – free of political accountability for himself and his potential Democratic successor – to do permanent damage to Israel. It is generally known that the US has no power to reverse the given Security Council Resolution.

Throughout the years Americans, particularly those of leftist strain, suffered from guilt as a consequence of the prior years where such practices as slavery and many other shameful practices were engaged in against the blacks, then known as Negros. They forever yearned for the day when they could embrace a black individual as president. The arrival of Barak Hussein Obama on the scene was likened to a blessing from an ultra orthodox priest of the Jewish faith. But Americans at large were totally wrong. For whereas Obama’s natural father was an African of Kenya heritage, it was the years he spent in Indonesia as a youth under the tutelage of his step-father, a religious Muslim, which most influenced his character and personality.

Obama truly revealed his beliefs and outlook during his outrageous 2009 Cairo speech. Here again, Americans little understood what he represented. Although, had they been less taken in by his color, and really paid close attention to what he revealed, they may have detected him as Islam 1st in the spirit of Trump’s America 1st. A few short paragraphs on that speech reveals much.

“As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the Azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.” One has to wonder to what extent the American Stars and Stripes impact him.

“——there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive—the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.” This has to be the most classic example of moral relativism of all times!! He assumes that there is such an entity as a Palestinian people and that the Jewish claims to the Land of Israel are not literally cast in concrete.

Obama is undoubtedly short on history to make such ridiculous assertions. In order to assess claims by the combatants, one must obviously have a commencement point. it is doubtful that Obama is familiar with the works of Flavius Josephus and in particular, his “The Jewish War.” Had he been, he would be familiar with Josephus’s heritage. Namely, that he was a Jew [‘Hebrew’] of Hasmonaean lineage, whose subject book provides a detailed description of the events leading up to and during the Jewish War of 66-73 CE, a fascinating account of this tragic time in Jewish history. The only other known historical account of this period is recorded in the works of yet another Jew, the famous philosopher, Philo [a Greek- speaking Alexandrian] and the New Testament.

At age 19, Josephus became a Pharisee, went to Rome and then returned to the Land of Israel in 66 CE, becoming a leader at the time of revolt of the Jews against the Romans; this time coinciding with Nero’s reign 54 -68 CE. While an appointed commander of the most northerly region, the Galilee, he was captured by the Romans and, as a prisoner became a go-between in their negotiations with the local populous. In 69 CE, Vespasian gave him his freedom. After the war, which lasted from 66-73 CE, he retired to exile in Rome as a Roman citizen.

Nowhere in the named documents does one find references to Muslims, Arabs or Palestinians. The erudite Richard Mather explains why in his, “So-Called Palestinians have no history in Israel – except as terrorists.” His introductory paragraph speaks volumes to this extremely important but heavily underreported subject. “Until it is acknowledged by the UN and other bodies that the Jewish people and not the Arabs are the indigenous inhabitants of Eretz Israel , it is going to be difficult to break the impasse of anti-Jewish prejudice that is the real obstacle to peace.”

In his research, Mather discovered a 1714 publication entitled “Palestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata”, authored by a mapmaker Hadriani Relandi from Utrecht. The book was a record of Relandi’s trip to Eretz Israel in 1695-96. On his travels, he surveyed around 2,500 places that were mentioned in the Tanakh and Mishna; and he carried out a census of the people who resided in such places. He observed that not a single settlement in Eretz Israel had a name which was of Arabic origin. All the names were derived from Hebrew, Roman or Greek languages.

Relandi further observed that there was a conspicuous absence of a sizeable Muslim population. He did observe that most of the inhabitants were Jews, with some Christians and a few Bedouins. Nazareth was home to less than a 1,000 Christians, while Jerusalem was populated by 5,000 people, mostly Jews. Gaza was home to approximately 250 Jews and around the same number of Christians. The only exception was Nablus which accommodated around 120 Muslims and a handful of Samaritans, whose ancestors were from the northern tribes of Israel.

From statistician and demographer we learn that in 1540, there were only 151,000 non-Jewish inhabitants in Palestine. Apparently, many of these may have been descendent of Jews who had remained in Palestine following the failed Bar Kokhba revolt in 136 CE who had been forced to convert to Islam. By 1800, this population had grown to approximately to 268,000, rising to 489,000 by 1890, 589,000 in 1922 and slightly over 1.3 million in 1948.

How did the Muslim population of Palestine originate and grow? [a] Several thousand peasant farmers escaped from Egypt’s military draft, forced labor and taxes during the early half of the 19th century. [b] The Ottoman authorities transferred many individuals from Morocco, Algeria and Egypt to Palestine in early 20th century, partly in an effort to outflank Jewish immigration. [c] Contrary to common understanding, the Zionism was very attractive to Arabs who were drawn Palestine by good wages, healthcare and sanitation offered by the Jews.

Richard Mather points to the British civil administration in Palestine [1920-1948]placing restrictions on Jewish immigration to appease Arab “troublemakers”. He recognizes the situation regarding Arab settlement as much more lax. He also recalls how historian and author Freddy Liebreich claimed there was significant Arab immigration from the Hauran region of Syria during the Mandate era and that “the British authorities turned a blind eye.” Interestingly, he draws attention to the Hope Simpson Enquiry of 1930, who observed the presence of a significant illegal Arab immigration from Egypt, Transjordan and Syria while negatively affecting prospective Jewish immigration and contributing to Arab violence against Jews.

As interestingly, Mather informs us that the British Governor of the Sinai [1922-1936] substantiated the presence of unchecked immigration, mostly from Sinai, Transjordan and Syria. In fact, the Peel Commission reported in 1937 that “a shortfall of land” was primarily because of the increase in the Arab population.

Surprisingly, Richard Mather makes no mention of the infamous White Paper of 1939, a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in response to the 1936-39 Arab revolt. Ironically, instead of punishing the Arabs it limited Jewish immigration into Palestine at the worst possible time with the occurrence of the Holocaust.

Mather: Despite their successful efforts in deceiving the word, many Arab Palestinian leaders know the truth about the origins of their people. Egyptian born Yasser Arafat made this very clear when he said, “The Palestinian people have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat , man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel.” [authorized biography]

Likewise, in a Dutch newspaper Trouw, Zuheir Mohsen, the leader of the pro-Syria faction of the PLO, remarked, “It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity [—] yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.”[March 1977]

Obama: “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.”

“Fidelity to law is the essence of peace” opined Professor Eugene Rostow, a former Dean of Yale University Law School, Undersecretary of State and a co-author of the November 22, 1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242. He resolved that under international law : ‘Jews have the same right to settle in the West Bank as they have in Haifa.” Further, he states, according to Resolution 242, “Israel is required to withdraw ‘from territories’ not ‘the’ territories, nor from ‘all’ the territories, but ‘some’ of the territories, which included the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Desert and the Golan Heights.

According to the General Assembly —- Israel was not to be forced back to the ‘fragile and vulnerable ‘ [9-15 mile wide]lines—but to ‘secure and recognized’ boundaries——In making peace with Egypt in 1979, Israel withdrew from the entire Sinai i.e. more than 90% of the territories occupied in 1967—” Former President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Stephen M.Schwebel not only concurs fully with these assertions but adds to them.

In a detailed expose in the UK Spectator, the well known journalist, Melanie Phillips, submitted a full critique on Obama’s performance entitled, “Obama in Cairo” on June 4, 2009.

Ms. Phillips: Obama revealed gross ignorance of the Jews’ unique claim to the Land of Israel. He said that America’s unbreakable bond with Israel was based upon “—-the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied. Around the world, the Jewish were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust—-”
Melanie Phillips: “The Jews’ aspiration for their homeland does not derive from the Holocaust, nor their overall tragic history. It derives from Judaism itself, which is composed of the inseparable elements of the religion, the people and the land. Their unique claim upon the land rests upon the fact that the Jews are the only people for whom Israel was ever their nation, which it was for hundreds of years – centuries before the Arabs and Muslims cam on the scene.

Worse, Obama appeared to draw a subliminal equivalence between the Holocaust extermination camps and the Palestinian ‘refugee’ camps.”

In National Review of January 23, 2017, David Pryce-Jones wrote “The Maligning of Israel” in which he discusses Obama’s simplistic reversal of American diplomatic tradition. He commences by expressing surprise with the turn of Events. This, because throughout his presidency, Obama had carefully reassured Israel and the Jews that he had their interests at heart, or as he expressed it , that he had Israel’s back.

However, he made no attempt to hide the hostility he felt towards Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu. To change ME policy in his final days in office suggests that he wanted to hurt Israel in this way but knew he could not have gotten away with it earlier in his presidency. The switch was carried out through the UN with surreptitious skill : no forewarning, no opportunity for objection. The main thrust of Security Council Resolution 2334 is to assert that Israeli settlements on the West Bank “lack legal validity.”

Waging a tireless campaign to establish that Israel is some sort of Western colony imposed on Palestine and therefore has no legitimacy, the UN has been known to adopt 20 anti-Israel resolutions in a single day, so in a sense, one more is irrelevant and boring. This time around the US abstained , which signifies a approval.

As reported by Pryce-Jones, “Forget negotiating” writes Khaled Abu Toameh, one of the best informed and most courageous Palestina journalists, because Resolution 2334 is “a true defeat to the peace process.” In a article that is a cry of despair , he singles out Palestinians who believe they now have a green light to use violence against Israel.

To David Pryce-Jones, Obama and Kerry had put themselves in the odious position of being as accomplices to terrorism. They also instruct Jews on where to live, what sort of a state Israel has to be, and what conduct they expect of it. That is not an enviable legacy. Thus recognized prior to the dream of a “two state solution.”

Seeking to create another Arab state may have been the only agenda item Obama and Trump have in common, as is a belief in “Palestine” and a “Palestinian.”. Now what distinguishes Obama is to be the only American president in history who returned after completing his presidential term with a dedicated mission to destroy his successor.

These days, Obama’s past time has assumed importance in berating President Trump on every available opportunity. He would do well by the reading of a professional response from notable historian, Victor Davis Hanson, “Obama and the Perpetual Presidency.” He could also become acquainted with the real Middle East.