The Obama administration began the month of December with two startling statements in relation to Israel. First, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta claimed the increasing isolation of the Jewish state, caused by both the growth of Islamism in both Turkey and Egypt and the rejection of negotiations by the Palestinian Authority, is Israel’s fault—rather than the result of its neighbors’ drift toward hatred and extremism.
Although he pledged American support for Israel’s security, Panetta stated that passivity on the part of Israel’s government accounted for its solitary condition, and he demanded that it make gestures to appease Ankara and Cairo—even though both the Turkish government and the newly ascendant Muslim Brotherhood have demonstrated their lack of interest in warmer relations with the Jewish state. Panetta also demanded that Israel “just get to the damn table” even though it is the Palestinians who have refused numerous Israeli offers of direct negotiations.
Just as troubling was a speech by Howard Gutman, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium—and a major Obama donor. He not only wrongly equated Israeli home-building and self-defense with terrorism, but also claimed that Israel is actively causing the growth of anti-Semitism in Europe. Even worse, Gutman actually offered a rationalization for Arab Jew-hatred by drawing a distinction between it and more “traditional” forms of anti-Semitism. Despite calls for Gutman’s dismissal, the State Department backed him up.
Evidently, in a desperate attempt to wish away the disturbing intimations caused by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian elections, the administration is determined to articulate positions that will only heighten the Jewish state’s isolation. This is a turn for the worse, even for an administration that continues to find new ways to damage the relationship between itself and the Jewish state—and to further Israel’s isolation.
Neutering Iran Sanctions
Congressional passage of a bill that bans transactions with any entity doing business with Iran’s Central Bank might help cut off Tehran’s crucial oil income—income that is paying for Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But it was defanged when the Senate agreed to include waivers that will enable President Obama to avoid implementing the measure. Since Obama opposed passage of the bill, it will, like other U.S. laws restricting commerce with Iran, never be properly enforced. Combined with Washington’s signals that the U.S. will not use force against Iran and is opposed to Israel’s acting on its own, the administration is leaving us with little reason to hope it will act forthrightly to stop Iran’s nuclear project—despite many promises to do so.
Anti-Semitism in Parliament
In the last several years, support in Britain for boycotts of Israel by academics and municipalities has fueled fears of increased anti-Semitism. The connection between these campaigns and Jew-hatred was demonstrated anew when a member of Parliament lamented the fact that Matthew Gould, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Israel, is Jewish. Paul Flynn, a Labour MP from Wales, echoed the anti-Semitism widely heard in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s when he said the country’s ambassador should be “someone with roots in the UK [who] can’t be accused of having Jewish loyalty.” Gould is a career foreign-service officer who grew up in Wembley, England. Flynn’s willingness to single out Jews in this manner is a worrisome sign of the times in London.
Jews and Hate Crimes
The press still promotes the myth that America is beset by a wave of Islamophobia, but the annual FBI crime statistics report shows that in 2010, as in every other previous year since the bureau began compiling hate crimes statistics, Jews were targeted far more often than Muslims. American Jews were the victims of 65.4 percent of the instances of religious bias as compared with only 13.2 percent involving Muslims. These numbers prove again that there is no evidence that believers in Islam are under siege in this country. More ominously, they also show the persistence of anti-Semitism and that incidents of harassment and violence in which Jews are specifically targeted far outnumber those in which members of other faiths are attacked.
J Street’s Hamas Front
The left-wing J Street lobbying group claims to be “pro-Israel and pro-peace,” but one of its founding members appears to think that “neutral about Hamas” ought to be added to that motto. Board member Kathleen Peratis made two trips to Gaza this year during which she conducted meetings with Hamas officials. Peratis then came back and wrote a piece describing her visits to tunnels where arms are smuggled. J Street initially distributed her article to activists and the press only to later distance itself from her actions when criticism was heard. This is only the latest incident to show that radicalism and ambivalence about Israel’s enemies is intrinsic to the worldview of a group that seeks to undermine the influence of AIPAC.
