Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Obama Backs Campaign to Defeat Netanyahu in Israeli Elections

In response to my earlier post about Obama's slap at Israel, A.S. Haley commented, "Now comes word that the President's hatred for Netanyahu has driven him to try to interfere in Israel's upcoming elections..."  The article referenced in Mr. Haley's link makes for some informative and shocking reading:  The President of the US' campaign team is working in Israeli elections to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The following article from PJ Media provides further information:

[Jerusalem Post Senior Editor] Caroline Glick picked up on one article the Israeli left-wing paper Ha’aretz didn’t bother translating into English that details Obama’s involvement in the upcoming Israeli elections.  A summary of the article is provided by IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis):
Haaretz reporter Roi Arad revealed in an article in the Hebrew edition today [January 26] that the foreign funded organization, “One Voice”, is bankrolling the V-2015 campaign to defeat Binyamin Netanyahu’s national camp in the March 2015 Knesset Elections.
One indication of the generous financing is that it has now flown in a team of five American campaign experts (including Jeremy Bird, the Obama campaign’s national field director) who will run the campaign out of offices taking up the ground floor of a Tel Aviv office building.
V-2015 is careful not to support a specific party – rather “just not Bibi”. As such, the foreign funds pouring into the campaign are not subject to Israel’s campaign finance laws.
Glick commented via Facebook:
Obama won’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו in Washington when he addresses the Joint Houses of Congress in March because of Netanyahu’s visit’s proximity to the Israeli elections.  And Obama, of course believes in protocol and propriety which is why he won’t get involved.  No, he’s not getting involved at all.  He’s just sending his 2012 field campaign manager to Israel to run a campaign to defeat Netanyahu.  That’s all.  No interference whatsoever.
Read it all.

In another article on the wesite Real Clear Politics, Glick makes clear the difference between the Obama team's involvement in Israeli elections and the invitation by House Speaker John Boehner for Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress five weeks prior to the Israeli elections:
Opposition leaders were quick to accuse Boehner and the Republican Party of interfering in Israel’s upcoming election by providing Netanyahu with such a prestigious stage just five weeks before Israelis go to the polls.

Labor MK Nachman Shai told The Jerusalem Post that for the sake of fairness, Boehner should extend the same invitation to opposition leader Isaac Herzog.

But in protesting as they have, opposition members have missed the point.  Boehner didn’t invite Netanyahu because he cares about Israel’s election.  He invited Netanyahu because he cares about US national security.  He believes that by having Netanyahu speak on the issues of Iran’s nuclear program and radical Islam, he will advance America’s national security.

Boehner’s chief concern, and that of the majority of his colleagues from the Democratic and Republican parties alike, is that President Barack Obama’s policy in regard to Iran’s nuclear weapons program imperils the US.  Just as the invitation to Netanyahu was a bipartisan invitation, so concerns about Obama’s policy toward Iran’s nuclear program are bipartisan concerns.

Over the past week in particular, Obama has adopted a position on Iran that puts him far beyond the mainstream of US politics.  This radical position has placed the president on a collision course with Congress best expressed on Wednesday by Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez.  During a hearing at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee where Menendez serves as ranking Democratic member, he said, “The more I hear from the administration and its quotes, the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of Tehran.” 
[And recognize that this is a Hispanic Democrat Senator saying this, not a Republican!  Even the Democrats in Congress are beginning to realize there is something rotten in the White House.]
Read it all, where there is more about Iran's growing nuclear capability along with indications Iran is farther along in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles than was previously thought.
 

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