Selective Outrage, Selective Interference

A few days before the national election in Israel on March 17, 2015 Prime Minister Netanyahu said in response to a question regarding the viability of the two-state solution: “I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands, is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel.”  In that same pre-election interview, Netanyahu added that if the current Palestinian territories did attain statehood, the result would be a “terrorist state” because the Palestinians would receive arms from Iran. As long as that was the case, Netanyahu said, a two-state solution was not possible.

Rather than address the accuracy of Netanyahu’s assessment, which cannot be credibly disputed given that: (a) Israel is practically surrounded by Iranian terror proxies in Gaza and Lebanon (from territory it previously – and arguably naively and under international pressure – ceded);  (b) Syria is in the midst of a horrific civil war that includes ISIS, Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops, and (c) no Israeli leader could responsibly bank on the stability of the Jordanian regime, which is undemocratic and could be toppled at any time (just like numerous other Arab dictatorships and monarchies have over the last 60 years), the mainstream media and the Obama Administration chose to seize on Netanyahu’s statement and claim that it was somehow a “dramatic” reversal of his previous statement back in 2009 in support of a “two-state solution,” ignoring that in 2009 Netanyahu made it clear that he supported the creation of a Palestinian State [in addition to the Arab State Jordan, whose population is 75% Palestinian] if that State were demilitarized and recognized Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State.

Responding to Netanyahu’s pre-election interview regarding the current viability of a Palestinian State, an anonymous White House official was quoted as saying: “We are signaling that if the Israeli government’s position is no longer to pursue a Palestinian state, we’re going to have to broaden the spectrum of options we pursue going forward.” Understanding the threat being made to Israel by this obnoxious and misleading statement within two days of the election, Netanyahu made it clear in numerous interviews with various media outlets (NBC, Fox News, etc.) that he is still interested in a “sustainable, peaceful two-state solution” but that for such a solution to be viable current circumstances need to change so that the ceding of further territory by Israel would actually lead to peace and not more danger to Israel and more launching pads of rockets and terror that could threaten Israel’s existence.

This explication apparently did not satisfy the Obama Administration as it continued through Jen Psaki of the State Department and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest (among others) to express the Administration’s supposed dismay over Netanyahu’s pre-election two-state solution comments, and continued unabated to threaten to “reassess” their relationship with Israel and their approach to achieving a two state solution. And yesterday, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, ignoring the Palestinian conduct that has led to the lack of progress in the last 20 plus years of the “peace process,” lectured Israel that an “occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end.”

In light of the fact that the Palestinian Authority has rejected offers of statehood at least 3X’s before (if it meant accepting a Jewish State), completely walked away from negotiations in 2013, and then formed a unity government with the genocide advocating Iranian proxy, Hamas; the White House might be aware of exactly how baseless and ridiculous the feigned outrage over Netanyahu’s (accurate) pre-election assessment of the current likelihood of creating the first Palestinian State would appear to the American public. This may also explain why the White House has claimed that Netanyahu’s pre-election Facebook post urging conservative and nationalist voters to go to the polls and vote, in order to counter a surge in Arab voters, is another purported cause for concern for President Obama and another reason why the White House supposedly has to reassess its relationship with Israel.

We can stipulate that Netanyahu’s 11th hour “get out the vote” Facebook post was poorly worded, but practically every politician has made such mistakes, particularly when using tools such as Facebook and Twitter.  However, shouldn’t the White House and mainstream media reaction take into account that: (1) Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs get to vote in free and fair elections and meaningfully impact those elections; (2) Netanyahu was responding to a get out the vote campaign funded by numerous foreign NGOs (including some that apparently had White House support) to get Israeli Arabs to vote for candidates and parties that included people who are openly opposed to Israel’s right to exist; and (3) Netanyahu openly apologized to any Israeli that was hurt by his pre-election post (stating that he views himself as the Prime Minister of all Israelis, regardless of their religion, race, ethnicity or gender)?

Setting aside how utterly inappropriate it is for the White House to express such open contempt and vitriol to an ally (and not have such conversations in private), what is truly incredible about the White House’s misplaced outrage and commentary on Israel’s Prime Minister and electioneering is how absurdly selective the White House has become in its “outrage” and “concern” since President Obama made a point of having his first call to a foreign “leader” – when he took office back in 2008 – be to Mahmoud Abbas, the President (for life) of the Palestinian Authority.

Given how dramatically the White House has reacted to two of Netanyahu’s pre-election comments (and of course, President Obama has never said anything disparaging or demeaning to anyone that might be “clinging to their guns or religion” while he was running for office), one would reasonably expect that the White House would be just as upset and call for a reassessment of its relationship with Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority over any statements by the dictator Abbas or those reporting to him that are contrary to the pursuit of a peaceful two-state solution.  Of course, if you did expect that, then you would be very disappointed.

By way of example only (as the egregious anti-Semitism, hate and incitement flowing from Abbas and his minions are far too numerous to list in one article):

** On September 28,  2011 Abbas appeared before the U.N. General Assembly and said “I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and the birthplace of Jesus Christ peace be upon him, to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people…”

Abbas omitted any reference to the Jewish people’s historical and biblical connection to the Holy Land. No reference to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or King David, King Solomon, or Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.  He later on referred to Jesus as a “Palestinian” completely rewriting history and insulting every Jew and Christian that knows and understands their religion and their history. In response – no statement by the Obama Administration that it is going to reassess its relationship with the PA or Abbas’ commitment to the “peace process.”

** This past September, Abbas again appeared before the U.N. General Assembly and said that Israel chose to make 2014 “a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”
Having written a horrifically anti-Semitic doctoral thesis claiming that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis before and during WWII, Abbas surely knows the meaning of “genocide.”  He certainly understood that the Israeli response to over 4000 rockets and missiles fired at it by Hamas terrorists from civilian locations, which led to the deaths of approximately 1000 terrorists and 1000 civilians in Gaza, cannot under any measure be considered “genocide.” He also had to understand how detrimental such a claim was for the cause of peace. Again, no statement by the Obama Administration that it is going to reassess its relationship with the PA or Abbas’ commitment to the “peace process.”

** On Dec 24, 2014, Abbas, at a press conference held at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affair said “Of course, now there is a Jewish state, an Islamic State, the ‎state of ISIS, and so on. The atmosphere is highly explosive. We said: “We will not ‎recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”

Considering that the refusal to recognize the Jewish historical, religious, ancestral and indigenous connection to the land of Israel has been the principle cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict for over 70 years one would expect that the White House would find Abbas repeatedly denying the Jewish connection to the Holy Land and refusal to recognize a Jewish State (as well as his comparison of the only Jewish State to ISIS) to be hostile to the peace process and perhaps requiring a reassessment of the relationship with Abbas and the PA. One would be wrong. Abbas gets another pass.

** On Nov. 18, 2014, two Arab terrorists entered ‎a synagogue in Jerusalem and attacked worshippers with guns, knives and axes, killing 4 ‎worshippers and a police officer.  Abbas advisor and Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein posted gruesome photos of the massacre and on his Facebook page referred to the cold-blooded murder of people in a synagogue as a “heroic ‎operation.” ‎

Again, no statement by the Obama Administration that it is going to reassess its relationship with the PA or Abbas’ commitment to the “peace process” despite the open endorsement of a massacre of people praying in a house of worship.

** On Oct. 22 and Nov. 5, 2014, Palestinian terrorists ‎drove their cars into pedestrians in Jerusalem in two separate attacks, killing 4 Israelis. ‎ Sultan Abu Al-Einein posted:‎ “Jerusalem is rising up; behold the illustrious and blessed children of Jerusalem ‎lighting the spark of revolution, saturating the land of the homeland with their pure ‎blood… The earth-shaking reaction came from the heroes of Jerusalem. It ‎began with the heroic Martyr (Shahid) [Abd Al-Rahman] Al-Shaloudi, then [Mutaz] ‎Hijazi and, behold, today it comes from the heroic Martyr Ibrahim Al-Akari. They ‎[the murderers driving cars into innocent civilians] answered the call of the homeland.“‎

Seems pretty clear that these statements by a major PA representative (who reports directly to Abbas) glorifying murderers that intentionally drive their cars into women and children are clearly “not helpful” to the “peace process” or the “two-state solution” but again, no statement by the Obama Administration that it is going to reassess its relationship with the PA or Abbas’ commitment to the “peace process.”

Frankly, given the non-stop anti-Semitic incitement and advocacy for the murder of Jews and destruction of Israel that has been published by Abbas and the PA over the last 6 years (and more), it is amazing that this White House has the nerve to lecture Netanyahu about how his two pre-election comments have caused it to reassess its relationship with Israel and its approach to the two-state solution.  Of course, since this is the same Administration that refused to comment on the stolen election in Iran, after thousands of Iranian protestors were being beaten, arrested and shot by the Iranian military, out of Obama’s stated concern about “meddling or interfering in another country’s internal affairs” but has not had any problem aggressively interfering in free and fair elections taking place in the only democracy in the Middle East, this incredible and dangerous hypocrisy should surprise no one. But it should outrage everyone! It should outrage and concern everyone that cares for both Israel and America’s security.  The Middle East has already become vastly more unstable over the last 6 years due to Obama’s abandonment of America’s allies and his courting of America’s enemies. Signaling to the terrorists and radical Islamists of the world (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, etc.) that America does not support Israel and is likely to try and pressure Israel to make dangerous concessions that don’t require the Palestinians to give up on their intent to destroy Israel and replace it with a 22^nd Arab state, will not bring peace, it will guarantee war, a very bloody war.