Letters to the editor: Is that solid support?

To the Editor:

This responds to the letter of Michael Brenner entitled “Obama, AIPAC and Iran” which was published in the March 23rd edition of The Jewish Star.

In the letter, it is contended that President Obama solidly supports Israel. I disagree, and believe that support is nothing but a mirage.

In 2008, candidate Obama assured the American Jewish community that he was committed to an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. However, in 2009, President Obama publicly condemned Israel for building new residential housing in East Jerusalem, and demanded that it be immediately halted. Is that solid support?

In 2009, when Hillary Clinton became President Obama’s Secretary of State (and didn’t have to stand for re-election in New York anymore), she demanded that Israel unilaterally stop all new West Bank residential housing settlements, including stoppage of all new units to accommodate natural population growth in existing residential communities. Mr. Obama immediately endorsed her statement. Is that solid support?

In December of 2010, it was confirmed that White House Middle East Envoy Dennis Ross was pressuring Israel to hand over most of the Golan Heights to its bitter enemy Syria, in exchange only for Bashar al-Assad’s promise to distance himself from his ally, Iran (no need to recognize Israel’s right to exist). Is that solid support?

In 2011, when the Turkish “freedom flotilla” filled with terrorists tried to break the Gaza blockade and then ambushed boarding Israeli naval inspectors, President Obama publicly demanded that Israel apologize to Turkey over the incident. Is that solid support?

In 2011, President Obama advanced and legitimized the popular revolution in Egypt by publicly calling on Israel’s committed peace partner Hosni Mubarak to step down, even though he knew or should have known that the Muslim Brotherhood was waiting in the wings to fill the power vacuum. Contrast that with 2009, when Obama essentially slept through the popular uprising against the psychotic leaders of Israel’s mortal enemy, Iran. Is that solid support?

In 2011, when the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel for settlements in its own capital city of Jerusalem, President Obama’s UN Ambassador Susan Rice made sure the Muslim world understood that the US was in substantive agreement with the resolution, and the veto was on technical grounds. She stated that the Obama Administration rejects “in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,” adding that “Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace…[W]e agree with our fellow Council members – and indeed, with the wider world – about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.” Is that solid support?

Earlier this month, President Obama got a big round of applause when he told AIPAC that he has Israel’s back. But then, to Israel’s extreme detriment, he clarified at a later press conference that he didn’t mean militarily. Is that solid support?

Have we ever witnessed a US President publicly clarifying that he won’t provide Israel with military support?

President Obama pays lip service to Israel when it suits his political goals. But by their words, actions and inactions, he and his regime are as averse to ensuring Israel’s security as their radicalized roots compel. Indeed, his support is as solid as a mirage.

Charles Kovit

Hewlett