Secretary of Defense Panetta shows how the Obama Administration is Selling Out Israel...and US

Charlie:: “You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.”

Terry: “It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, `Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.’….I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit….” ==Arthur Miller, “On the Waterfront”

Let me state this in undiplomatic language: U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is a clown. True, this will not be the kind of thing written about in the mainstream media but it is true nonetheless. Panetta has no knowledge of the Middle East, no experience in grand strategy, no concept of Islamist politics, no awareness of Israel’s defense needs, and doesn’t know much about military issues generally.

All that would be forgivable if it weren’t for one more problem: He has no understanding of what has happened in the last year either.

“I understand the view that this is not the time to pursue peace, and that the Arab awakening further imperils the dream of a safe and secure, Jewish and democratic Israel. But I disagree with that view.” Nevertheless, Israel needs to take risks and particularly, “The problem right now is we can’t get them to the damn table, to at least sit down and begin to discuss their differences.”

First, there is a peculiar phrase that I have not seen used even once to describe the Middle East events of 2011, “Arab awakening” instead of “Arab Spring.” This apparently comes from the title of a new book about these events.

But what is the origin of this phrase? The Arab Awakening was the famous book written by George Antonius (subsidized by a U.S foundation to do so, by the way) advocating Arab nationalism and opposition to Zionism in 1938. The Arab Awakening began a half-century pan-Arab struggle against Israel’s creation or existence might this not give us a hint of what the new “Arab Awakening” is going to do? Oh, and 1938 marks the year when Great Britain desperately tried to sell out the Jews in order to gain Arab support (for the coming war with Germany and Italy). Within two years of Antonius’s book the form the Arab Awakening took was an alliance with Nazi Germany. One of the main allies of Berlin was the Muslim Brotherhood, now coming into power in Tunisia and Egypt.

First, does the current “Arab Awakening” imperil Israel? Yes, of course it does. By changing a reasonably friendly Egyptian government into a totally hostile Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi dominated political system closely allied with Hamas, the Gaza Strip’s ruler, and by helping establish Islamist regimes in Tunisia and Libya allied with this Muslim Brotherhood International; the changes create a four-member alliance intent on wiping Israel off the map.

Add to that Islamist domination of Lebanon by Hizballah, an Islamist regime in Turkey, and the continuing threat from Iran and you’ve got quite a regional situation.

–Democracy in theory is admirable but when you have masses imbued with very radical views, strong Islamist movements, and weak moderate ones, the election winners will be extremely radical Islamists. By winning massive victories, facing a weak (even sympathetic) United States, and seeing even mor extreme forces becoming so popular (the Salafists in Egypt) the Islamists are emboldened to be even more radical in their behavior. Who’s going to stop them?

–We are thus not facing a springtime of democracy but a springtime of extremism.

–Not only is the United States not opposing this development it is supporting it. In other words, U.S. policy is intensifying the threat to Israel, not helping Israel.

Third, why are there no negotiations? As the history of the issue since January 2009 shows, it is the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to negotiate with Israel. If Panetta and the Obama Administration were either wise or honest they would acknowledge this fact. Instead, they blame Israel. Once again, U.S. policy is intensifying the threat to Israel, not helping Israel.

Consequently, Panetta’s statement that Israel has a responsibility to build regional support for Israeli and United States’ security objectives is nonsense. Let me put it in the form of a lesson in logic:

–But Israeli security objectives and Obama administration objectives are not consistent.

–And Obama administration objectives and the U.S. national interest are not consistent.

“I believe security is dependent on a strong military but it is also dependent on strong diplomacy. And unfortunately, over the past year, we’ve seen Israel’s isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow.”

But why has it grown? Because of the advance of Islamist radical regimes and movements which are not tolerant of Israel’s security needs or in fact of Israel’s existence.

This is the equivalent of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain making the same statement in 1938:

“I believe security is dependent on a strong military but it is also dependent on strong diplomacy. And unfortunately, over the past year, we’ve seen Czechoslovakia’s isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow.”

Panetta’s suggestion, like that of Chamberlain in 1938 is that Israel should mend relations with such “traditional security partners.” Specifically, he stated, “Israel can reach out and mend fences with those who share an interest in regional stability – countries like Turkey and Egypt, as well as Jordan,”

That statement is false. Israel can’t reach out and mend fences with Turkey and Egypt because they do not share an interest in regional stability. They are no longer status quo powers; they are countries that want revolutionary change in the Middle East. And this claim takes on special irony since Israel must now not just mend the fence but build an entirely new fence to protect itself from cross-border attacks from Egypt.

Turkey today is not the Turkey of the past. Israel had good relations with Turkey when it was governed by center-right or social democratic parties. Today Turkey is governed by Islamists who hate Israel. Doesn’t Panetta understand the difference? No! Now that’s scary.

Here’s the truth: The Islamist regime in Turkey has replaced Israel as the number-one Middle East friend and advisor. And this is a government about which a half-dozen years ago Israel’s ambassador told an American counterpart (as we see on Wikileaks) that this regime hates Israel and hates Jews. That message is in a State Department cable.

What about Egypt? Well, the Obama Administration helped get rid of that security partner. And as for Jordan, it is understandably scared stiff. In the environment of Islamist advance it is trying to appease its own Islamists and is moving closer to Hamas as a way of surviving. And last month the king of Jordan said in a Washington Post interview that nobody could depend on America any more.

Panetta said, “It is in Israel’s interest, Turkey’s interest, and US interest for Israel to reconcile with Turkey, and both Turkey and Israel need to do more to put their relationship back on track,” But it is not—repeat not—in the interest of the current government of Turkey to reconcile with Israel. We saw this in the Israel-Turkey negotiations over the flotilla in which the Turkish prime minister wanted to ensure there would be no deal.

“This is not impossible [for Israel to try to mend fences]. If the gestures are rebuked, the world will see those rebukes for what they are. And that is exactly why Israel should pursue them.”

What does an Israeli audience think of when it reads this? Of the same old message from the West to Israel: make gestures, give concessions, take risks, and when they are rebuked “the world will see.” This is precisely the same advice given regarding the 1990s’ peace process, the freeze of construction on settlements, and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. And every time the world doesn’t see. After the risk is taken (and Israel’s security suffers), and the concessions are made (and Israelis die), the world is even more critical of Israel and repeats, as Panetta does, that Israel has done nothing for peace.

Finally, Panetta also uses another weird phrase. He urges Israel to “lean forward” to obtain peace with the Palestinians.

“Lean forward,” where have you ever heard that phrase before? Only as the motto of the anti-Israel, radical MSNBC network, another hint of where Panetta’s words are coming from. Actually, though, Israel has been leaning over backward for years to make peace without getting any credit for it.

Let me summarize. Panetta and the Obama Administration aren’t just wrong. They are dangerously and absurdly wrong. These people just don’t just misunderstand the Middle East, they totally and completely misunderstand it. They are 180 degrees off course, that is heading in the opposite direction of safety.

Despite the satisfactory state of relations on a purely military level, the Obama Administration is not a friend of Israel, even to the extent that it was arguably so in the first two years of this presidency.

It is now an enemy; it is on the other side. Again, the issue is not mainly bilateral relations but the administration’s help and encouragement to those forces that are Israel’s biggest enemies, that want to rekindle war, and that are 100 percent against a two-state solution. And I don’t mean the Palestinian Authority, I mean the Islamists.

And the Obama Administration is also a strategic enemy of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, and Jordan. It is also a strategic enemy to the democratic opposition forces in Iran, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt.

These are harsh words and for those who don’t understand the current situation in the Middle East they will no doubt seem partisan, extreme, and alarmist.

The US government has turned from a friend of Israel into an enemy and into an enemy of every friendly country left in the Middle East and of democratic, moderate and secular opposition movements whom it has abandoned to the Islamist wolves. This Administration not only wants Israel to place itself in peril, it doesn't understand that just aforementioned Islamist wolves are now going to run the region and they hate America and the West and all of them, without exception, want to wipe Israel off the map. Panetta advises Israel to make concessions to as he puts it, "get to the damn table." We've seen the script before and the Administration is not even offering to compensate Israel for any risks its asked to take. This is a man who doesn't understand the Middle East and why peace there is now impossible. As Rubin puts it, the US has abandoned its allies and sided with its enemies and in so doing has not only sold out Israel, it has dealt a death blow to its standing in the region. That is why Panetta's remarks are shocking in the depth of their ignorance, abject confusion and inability to correctly comprehend what is happening in the Middle East. For Israel and other status quo powers, the lesson to be taken is its now time for them to fend for themselves.

I hate to say it, but I don’t think Panetta is stupid. I think he is evil. That’s why Obama picked him to head first the CIA and the Defense Department. Because there could hardly have been a worse person for either post.

Let me state this in undiplomatic language: U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is a clown.

"Ya know, Leon, you're a funny guy."
"Funny? What do mean, I'm funny?"
"You know, you're funny."
"No, I don't know. Am I a clown? Do I amuse you?"

Let me state this in undiplomatic language: U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is a clown.

Somebody has jiggered Rubin's text. He didn't make the above statement. And Arthur Miller is not credited with the writing of "On The Waterfront" (nor should he be).

If you want to know what Rubin actually wrote, follow the link to the article.

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Panetta is one of those antisemites with inferiority complex to the jews.

He was put there empowered to abuse power and incite for his jealousy of IsraEl in his incompetent image obsessed state of inadequacy. So he’ll resort to liberal pseudo moralist humanist language like the miserable little ignorant rat that he is.

He is propped there specifcally because of his views and inadequacies.

I disagree. I think there is a clear plan and Panetta is just doing his part. The plan was to turn the governments surrounding Israel over to radical Muslims. They planned for another Flotilla “protest” earlier this year so they could demonize BiBi when he stopped the boats and order him to step down but it did not work because Israelis stopped the protests through court actions.

This is a new strategy of blaming and demonizing Israel (BiBi) for the hatred of the radicals who now surround Israel. Obama wants Israel to withdraw to the early borders as he has stated and he wants to create a Pali state. He knows he needs a leftist Israeli leader to get the “peace agreement” he wants.

Leftists are evil. They are not stupid.

The article was 100% dead on except for the summary. Make no mistake Obama and his henchmen know exactly what they are doing.

In this case, I don’t attribute to grand wisdom what I can attribute to feckless stupidity.

As far as the MidEast is concerned, I believe that 0bama simply wishes that Israel would shrivel up and die and disappear from his plate, so he could concentrate on his re-election. Frankly, I don’t think that 0bama cares one whit about anything else. If Israel must be sacrificed, if even the future of the US has to be sacrificed, then so be it. To him, nothing else matters.

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