President Obama's Petulant Response to Prime Minister Netanyahu's Dramatic Victory

Prime Minister Netanyahu won an overwhelming victory Tuesday, a landslide by Israeli standards. His Likud Party won 30 seats in the new Parliament, a gain of 12 seats and a mandate. That was bad news to President Obama, whose foreign policy in the Mideast seems to have three tenets – all certified failures. First, Iran, even a nuclear Iran, is the key to long-term stability in the Mideast. Second, Israel is a disruptive force in the Mideast. When in doubt, Iran trumps Israel in the President’s calculations. Third, Islamic dictatorships are tolerated, but not secular dictatorships. Thus, the Arab Spring was a positive force for change in the Mideast, as far as the President was concerned. Tell that to the Syrians. And the Libyans. And the Tunisians. The President is doing his best to emulate Chamberlain at Munich. He’s bedeviled because Israel refuses to play the role of Czechoslovakia. Max Boot in today’s Los Angeles Times wrote that President Obama said to Jewish leaders in 2009: “Look at the past eight years. During these eight years there was no space between us and Israel, and what did we get for that? When there is no daylight, Israel just sits on the sideline, and that erodes our credibility with the Arab states.” The President ignores the rocket attacks, Intifadas, Hamas, and Hezbollah, as well as the Ayatollah threats to wipe Israel off the map. President Obama wants separation from Israel. It doesn’t matter what Prime Minister Netanyahu might have said; the President would have found fault with something. Stories have circulated that the President threatened in 2014 to have American jets shoot down Israeli jets if they attacked the Iranian nuclear facilities. Stories have also circulated that President Obama refused to provide the super bunker busting bombs to Israel, the bombs that reach deeper depths than regular bunker busters. Finally, stories are circulating that in the recent conflict with Hamas the Pentagon delayed in resupplying Israel. He blames the Prime Minister for renouncing a two state solution right before Tuesday’s election. His press spokesman, Josh earnest, labeled it ‘Divisive,” – this from a Presidency who ran on class warfare and whose deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, tagged Governor Romney as a “felon.” Israel has already tried the two state option. It’s called Israel and Gaza. Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza on September 1, 2005. The Palestinian Authority assumed administrative authority over Gaza pending an election. Hamas won a plurality, 42.9% of the vote, in the January 6, 2006 election and 74 out of the 132 Parliamentary seats. Hamas assumed full control in June 2007, kicking Fatah out of Gaza. Just like Hitler, Hamas consolidated power and has not held an election since. Hamas has devoted its control of Gaza to the elimination of the Jewish State. The resources of the people have gone into tunnels, rockets, and other armaments while the Palestinians remain impoverished. Israel has engaged in several wars with Hamas since then, while undergoing constant rocket barrages and other attacks. The Palestinians, with support from the United Nations, accuses Israel of imposing an Apartheid regime over its Arab citizens, who comprise about 20% of Israel’s population. It’s an unique form of Apartheid in which the Arab citizens get to vote. The female Arabs not only are allowed to vote, but also to drive cars, and are otherwise accorded rights non-existent to them in many of the Arab countries. The Israeli haters demand a return to the 1967 borders, and right of return, as well as nationhood for the West Bank. The President is often petulant when encountering opposition. He takes defeat personally and cannot swallow his pride or eat crow. He is not a gifted politician, such as President Clinton, who knows how to tack. President Obama also had to take it personally when the Prime Minister ran campaign ads against him. The Netanyahu campaign had two overlapping themes: the security of Israel and President Obama. Israel’s security depends on Iran not getting the Bomb. President Obama’s legacy rests on Iran getting the Bomb. President Obama knows he’s right, regardless of popular opinion and the electorate. He believes he will prevail and “gut it out,” just as President Lincoln prevailed during the dark months of 1864. He and his allies, and anti-Semites globally, were anticipating Netanyahu’s defeat last Tuesday by Israeli voters. The Prime Minister was slipping in the polls; Netanyahu Fatigue was setting in; the reaction to his Congressional speech was apparently negative; Jewish voters apparently wanted economic improvements, and the Arab vote, 20% of the Israeli vote, was expected to play a critical role in the outcome. The President was positively salivating over the prospects of Isaac Herzog as the new Prime Minister. The Arab turnout, consisting of Bedouins, Christians, Druse, and Muslims rose to 63%, but the overall turnout was 72%. They elected 13 members of the 120 seat Parliament. The petulant President took two days before phoning the Prime Minister, not so much to congratulate him on his victory, but to admonish him. The President directly told the Prime Minister that the United States will recalculate its position towards Israel – the threat being that the United States will no longer veto the multitude of anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations. The latest twist on the President bypassing Congress on a deal with Iran by going to the Security Council and permitting the anti-Israel proclamations to proceed is that Senator Lindsay Graham has threatened to cut off U.S. funding (22%) to the United Nations. We also now learn that Speaker of the House John Boehner will visit Israel in April. The petulant President is not happy. He still has 22 months to inflict great damage on Israel.