The media crows about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing to Americans across all political lines about the danger of the Iran deal – a deal which Israelis across the political spectrum maintain is a mistake. Apparently, democracy matters – except when it comes to Israel.
Along these lines, just released data from White House visitor logs [1] unveils the fact that Israel’s Ambassador, Ron Dermer is persona non grata at the White House. That is something Obama – who bows to other foreigners – would not dare do to another ally of the United States.
Yes, extremist, radical Israeli attorney Michael Sfard met with the head of the Middle East Division at the White House, Yael Lampert on December 9, 2014. Sfard – and the organizations he represent – are regarded as the most extreme-left which exist.
Danny Danon, a Likud Member of Knesset has said that Sfard is “trying to bypass democracy,” and that he uses the Israel “legal system because his ideas are not welcome in Israeli society.” Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor, said that Sfard “sees the courts as the way to force the changes that he perceives as necessary for Israel, [b]ut he doesn’t convince the Israeli public. In any democratic process, you can’t use just the legal system to impose an ideology.”
Sfard testified as an expert witness for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the recent terrorism trial where victims were awarded hundreds of millions of dollars. He has previously provided paid testimony [2] on behalf of the PLO. As The Jerusalem Post has reported, “This was the third case where Sfard served as an expert on behalf of the PLO and against terror victims [3]…”, and “…Sfard’s work on behalf of the PLO is a fitting complement to his promotion of the Durban Strategy.”
As I have previously written [4], “Sfard is an attorney for a number of organizations who are funded by the New Israel Fund related organizations, including Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence, and Al-Haq, a leading anti-Israel “lawfare” NGO, on a lawsuit filed in Canada seeking a judicial declaration of Israel’s guilt in committing “war crimes” and deeming the security barrier illegal.” This is the equivalent of Lyndon Larouche meeting with the President’s staff of France, Britain and Italy.
Meanwhile, this week, in a ruling that The Jerusalem Post declared “one of its most important decisions of the era [5],”, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s Finance Minister can “impose fines and withhold funding from Israeli NGOs calling for boycotts of businesses in all or parts of Israel and the power to file lawsuits against those NGOs.” Petitioners in court who sought permission of boycotts of Israel were New Israel Fund [6] (NIF) sponsored organizations, including Gush Shalom, Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Hence, extremists like Sfard’s New Israel Fund [7] affiliated organizations who sought permission of boycotts of Israel were rejected.
Israeli Justice Hanan Meltzer described boycotts as “political terrorism” – as the Israeli High court ruled that the speech is not protected speech – akin to shouting “fire in a crowded theatre”.
In 2008, Obama said, “I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel. If we cannot have an honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we’re not going to make progress.”
An Israeli democracy overwhelmingly elected a Likud government. President Obama chooses those who support terror against Israel, and boycotts of the State.