If Obama asks, this is how Netanyahu should respond

According to news reports, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet next week with US President Barack Hussein Obama. The meeting is to take place in Washington, DC.

For his part, President Obama has signalled what he wants from this meeting. He supposedly intends to get from Israel a commitment to go forward to a ‘two-state solution’ (Ben Ariel, “Obama to ask Netanyahu to avoid 'one-state solution'”, Arutz Sheva, November 6, 2015).

But that may not be correct. Obama’s senior advisor on the Middle East, Rob Malley, is reported to have suggested that Obama really doesn’t believe there’ll be a two-state solution anytime soon (ibid).Therefore—please don’t hurt yourself trying to understand this logic—Obama wants to know from Netanyahu how he’s going to stabilize ‘the situation on the ground’ (ibid).

If that’s what Obama intends to ask, here’s how Mr Netanyahu should respond: Mr President, if you’re looking to ‘stabilize’ the situation ‘on the ground’, don’t put that question to me. After all:

-It’s not the Israeli Prime Minister—or my ruling Likud Party-- who calls for blood to be spilled in Jerusalem. It’s the Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Abbas—along with his ruling Party Fatah--who make that call.

-It’s not I who calls for Jews to attack Arabs. It’s Abbas and his Fatah who call for Arabs to attack Jews.

-It’s not my Likud which announces that a Jew was killed after he’d just stabbed two Arabs to death in a terror attack; and my Likud wouldn't call such a Jew a ‘heroic religious martyr whose pure blood waters Israel soil’. It’s Abbas’ Fatah which speaks that way. It's Fatah that calls an Arab terrorist killed immediately after stabbing two Jews to death, ‘a heroic martyr whose pure blood waters Palestinian soil (“More Palestinian blood worship and Martyr glorification”, Palestinian Media Watch [pmw], November 6, 2015).

-It’s not Israeli TV that praises a young girl for reading a poem calling Arabs ‘barbaric monkeys’. It’s Palestinian TV that praises a young girl who uses such offensive language (“Jews are barbaric monkeys, most evil among creations, in poem recited by girl on PA TV”, pmw, May 29, 2015). 

-It’s not Israeli Rabbis who call Arabs apes and pigs. It’s PA ‘clerics’ who speak of Jews that way: (“PA cleric: Jews are apes and pigs and slaves of deities”, pmw, January 30, 2015).

-It’s not the Jewish Likud which calls the murder of Arabs a ‘symphony of love’ for Jerusalem, it’s the Muslim Fatah that does that (“Abbas’ Fatah: Stabbing Israelis is a symphony of love for Jerusalem”, pmw, October 12, 2015).

-It isn’t Likud that uses its Facebook page to de-stabilize this area by encouraging Jews to stab Arabs. You should know that Likud doesn’t behave that way. It’s Fatah that uses its official Facebook page to do that (“Fatah posts image encouraging stabbing Jews on its Facebook page”, pmw, October 4, 2015).

 

Mr President, the Israel Prime Minister should say, if you want the political and social situation here to become more stable, don’t talk to me. I’m the one that wants that stability.

You should talk instead to the man who works overtime to de-stabilize our situation. That man is Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas calls for genocide. He won’t stop. He’s created a complete resume of actions which match precisely the UN definition of genocide. That definition, Mr President, has been published for all to see in the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime Genocide.

Mr President, I suggest you look it up. Then ask yourself, when in history has genocide led to a peace that is just and humane?

Mr President, Jews don’t talk about ‘peace’ with those who embrace genocide. Neither should you.

Get rid of the genocide, Mr. President. Then you can call for ‘peace’.

Actually, I don’t care how Obama responds to such a blunt statement. I care only that Israel’s Prime Minister has a responsibility to protect Israel’s Jews.

I believe Mr Netanyahu should use this meeting to stand up for us. He certainly needs to do that if he gets hectored for supposedly opposing peace.

Against terror, Israel responds with a 'Ferguson effect'

According to the United Nations, a sovereign state has a “Responsibility to Protect” its citizens. This responsibility goes beyond protecting its people against foreign aggression (“The Responsibility to Protect”, Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, The United Nations, un.org, no date). A state’s ‘responsibility to protect’ extends also to protecting its people within its own borders (“Background Information on the Responsibility to Protect”, Outreach Programme and the Rwanda Genocide and the United Nations, no date).

Some say Israel neglects this second requirement. They argue that Israel doesn’t properly protect its Jews. Are they right?  

It’s absolutely clear from UN documents (un.org, above) that Israel doesn’t just have a right to defend itself against terror attack within its borders. It has an obligation to do so.

Israel has this specific obligation because the terror it faces today is unique: it’s genocide.

We know this terror is genocide because it meets the UN definition for genocide.  According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ‘genocide’ refers to “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group” (ibid, Article 2).

Specifically, the attacks against Jews in Israel are ‘genocide’ because those attacks aim to (a) kill members of a group (Jews); and (b) aim to cause serious bodily or mental harm to members of that group (ibid).

Jews in Israel are a national and religious group. Arabs who commit terror in Israel want to destroy that group and/or cause serious bodily and mental harm to that group. 

That's why Arab attacks against Jews in Israel are acts of ‘genocide’.

‘Genocide’ includes four additional elements found in Arab terror attacks in Israel: (1) conspiracy to commit genocide; (2) direct and public incitement [emphasis mine] to commit genocide; (3) attempts to commit genocide; and (4) complicity in genocide (ibid, Article 3).

One can make a case that the Palestinian Authority (PA) commits all of these acts. Look at the website Palestinian Media Watch. All the evidence you need is there. 

Finally, in case someone argues that ‘lone wolf’ attacks against Jews aren’t genocide, the UN declares that “persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 (above) shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals” [emphasis mine] (ibid, Article 4).

Hamas commits acts of genocide against Jews in Israel by conspiring to kill Jews because they are Jews. Fatah and Hamas commit genocide when they incite to kill Jews because they are Jews. ‘Private individuals’ commit acts of genocide when they attack Jews for the same reason.

A state (Israel) has the “responsibility to protect” its population specifically “from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. This responsibility entails the prevention of such crimes, including their incitement, through appropriate and necessary means [emphasis mine]” (UN General Assembly, sixtieth Session, “Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit: Draft resolution referred to the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly by the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session”, 2005 World Summit Outcome, September 15, 2005, paragraph 138).

Despite this mandate, Israel fails 'to protect'. At the very least, lsrael fails:

-to publicize sufficiently the genocidal nature of these terror attacks;

-to label Arab media incitement against Israel as genocide; and,

-to take all ‘appropriate and necessary’ steps to prevent genocide and incitement-to-commit-genocide.

Israel has just shut down an Arab radio station for incitement (Tova Dvorin, “IDF shuts down Palestinian radio station for inciting violence”, Arutz Sheva, November 3, 2015). But is that sufficient to fulfil its ‘Responsibility to Protect’ Jews against genocide?

Some say that’s not enough. Instead of ‘Protecting’ us, they say, Israel falls victim to a ‘Ferguson effect’.

Perhaps you remember Ferguson, Missouri. In 2014, it was a scene of riots following the death of a black youth, whose death was falsely blamed (by activists) on aggressively racist police attitudes towards blacks in Ferguson.

Investigations have shown that the black youth killed by the Ferguson police was not, as claimed, shot in the back—or, alternatively, shot while he held his hands up in surrender. He was shot because he was attacking a police officer and trying to wrest the officer’s gun from him.

Riots erupted before anyone knew the facts of the case. Ferguson’s reputation was trashed.

Street disturbances erupted elsewhere in the US, most notably in Baltimore, Maryland.  The anti-police complaint was the same—racist police officers had attacked innocent black youth.

Israel faces a similar problem. Just as black anti-white activists in the US falsely claim that white police ‘execute’ innocent blacks, Arabs falsely claim that Israel brutally ‘executes’ innocent ‘Palestinians’. As a result, both Israel and American security officials have responded the same way—with a ‘Ferguson effect’.

A ‘Ferguson effect’ occurs when security officers become reluctant to police because of the vitriol they might provoke (Heather Mac Donald, “Rise in Crime Is a Reason to Fear Anti-Police Rhetoric”, New York Times, June 4, 2015). Security people who would normally act in a given situation choose instead to back off for fear of having their encounters become worldwide video sensations (Scott Johnson, “[FBI Director James] Comey, complete and unexpurgated”, powerline, October 25, 2015).

In America, white-hot criticism of police in the wake of highly publicized accusations of police brutality makes police hesitate. That hesitation, the Director of the FBI believes, leads to an increase in violent crime (ibid).

Those who—like the FBI Director—argue that crime has increased in the US because of a ‘Ferguson effect’, say that that increase occurs because police officers have become less aggressive (ibid). They back off when they shouldn’t.

Israel behaves the same way towards Arab terrorists. For example, Israel implemented more restrictive rules of engagement for the IDF just as Arab rioting began to increase (“New IDF Rules of Engagement: Israeli Troops Must Fire in the Air When Engaging Terrorists”, Jewsnews, August 13, 2015).  Israel did this hoping to avoid ‘worldwide video sensations’ that claim to show IDF brutality and racism (Noam Amir, “Israeli combat troops react angrily to new rules of engagement in West Bank”, Jerusalem Post, August 12, 2015).

One month after the IDF backed off,  terror attacks increased. We’re still living with that increased terrorism today. Has Israel become ‘Ferguson-ized’?

Israel has a problem. Israel isn’t Ferguson, Missouri. Israel faces genocide—a barbaric passion to erase all Jews from Israel (“Hamas cleric:  “Our belief about fighting you [Jews] is that we will exterminate you”, pmw, July 24, 2014).

Israel has a ‘Responsibility to Protect’ its Jewish population. Bringing a ‘Ferguson’ mentality to genocidal terror attacks doesn’t help Israel. It helps the terrorists.

Israel has to protect us. It has a ‘Responsibility to Protect’ us against genocide. It has an obligation to fight that genocide—and to prevent it.

Post removed!

I have just taken down a post placed here several hours ago. It's title was, 'I can't resist!'

It was a 'fun' piece. It was very different from my stated goals for this blog.

I've decided that it simply was not appropriate for this venue.

I apologize if any of you was insulted by it.

Tomorrow, we'll be back to 'normal'.

A story of Jewish survival

There's an essay making the rounds. It appears to be a true story. It's about Jews, survival and reasons to live in Israel, especially now.

It's titled, "The story of my stabbing", by Ari Abramowitz. It's dated November 2, 2015. It was sent to me by a reader who found it on the website, aish.

I have done some light editing.

---

I, too, was stabbed for being a Jew.

My cowardly attacker came from behind, thrusting a knife deep into my back, just to the left of my right shoulder blade, mere centimeters away from penetrating lung. The second stab, into the muscle of my right tricep, was comparatively benign compared to the first and most devastating wound. I shouted in shock and spun around to see my attacker fleeing down the street.

At first the pain was no greater than a hard punch and, initially, I thought the attack was exactly that, a random punch. Confused as to what had just happened, I threw my left arm over my right shoulder to feel the wound, and was shocked to discover that my finger easily entered the flesh of my back. Upon seeing my hand drenched in blood, I realized what had just happened.

As I learned during my IDF service in the Golani infantry unit, when one is wounded in “merkaz massa,” anywhere in the torso, coughing blood is a sign that the lungs have been punctured and it is only a matter of time until the victim drowns in his own blood.

As I felt around my mouth for any signs of blood I began banging on the window of the closest building yelling for someone to call an ambulance.

What makes my story so noteworthy is not the miraculous nature in which I evaded death or serious injury. What makes my story worth telling is that it happened neither during my IDF service in Lebanon, Gaza, or Hebron, nor during the 15-plus years of my life residing in Jerusalem. I was stabbed in New York City. Stabbed by a man, the police would later tell me, who needed to stab a Jew to be accepted into a gang.

As I sit here in my Jerusalem apartment hearing the sirens which have become devastatingly commonplace, I write this article in response to Facebook posts I see from new immigrants to Israel who are questioning the wisdom of their decision to move their wives and children to the middle of an intifada in which many fear leaving the confines of their homes.

We must open our eyes. These attacks against Jews can happen anywhere. France, London, Seattle, New York, Australia...

Jews are being attacked everywhere with increasing frequency and ferocity every day. All one must do is scan the news to see the alarmingly dramatic upswing in anti-Semitism around the world.

When a Jew is murdered in the Diaspora, they join the millions senselessly murdered and martyred for their Judaism. But there is something fundamentally different when it happens here in Israel. When we are attacked here it is not merely because of our identity, it is because of our mission. Here we are not tragic victims, but pioneers, working to bring to fruition a 2,000 year old dream of establishing the first modern Jewish commonwealth in our beloved homeland.

The belief that we can flee and find refuge elsewhere is an illusion.

Man has always resisted coming to terms with the fact that our health, our lives and fate are not in our hands. All that is in our hands is whether the decisions we make are rooted in fear or desire; whether we decide to live ordinary lives or make them extraordinary.

A story told to me by Rabbi Stewart Weiss of Ra’anana, the father of slain soldier Ari Weiss, best illustrates this critical point.

He shared that after his son was killed, a woman knocked on his door, crying. She told Rabbi Weiss: “I was born and raised in Israel, but when my son turned 16, my husband and I decided to leave.

We feared for our boy’s safety.

The woman lowered her head and sobbed for a few minutes more until she mustered up the strength to speak again.We knew he would soon have to go into the Israeli army – he was already telling us of his insistence on joining a combat unit – and we could not bear the thought of him standing in harm’s way. So we packed up and we dragged him away to California, far from the Middle East war zone.”

“When he was 18, still pining away to serve in the IDF with his high-school friends, we bought our son a car. We hoped that this would lift his spirits and make him happy. Three months ago, just after his 21st birthday – the same age as your son – he was killed in a car accident, and I came here to tell you what a fool I was for taking my child away from Israel.

“If he was destined to die young, he should have died in an IDF uniform, not in a car in California. He should have been a hero, like your boy, and not just another statistic.”

The truth is that even with this recent wave of terrorism, we are strong and resolute. For each message of fear and doubt, there are many more expressing strengthened commitment and determination.

We must not allow these vicious attacks to weaken our resolve, not only because that would be granting the terrorists the victory they crave, but because giving into our fears would be to betray the ultimate sacrifice already paid by those who have brought us to this paramount moment in Jewish history; a moment in which each and every one of us merits to be a player on the center stage of Jewish history, advancing the Jewish mission just by waking up in the morning.

Let us heed the words of the biblical Joshua who faced the same insurmountable odds that we do today and exclaimed to the young nation of Israel: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid or dismayed, for God is with you.”

Obama and Hamas sink to the same moral level

During the 2014 Gaza-Israel war, more than 2,100 Gazans  died. The UN concluded--using corrupted data given to it by Hamas—that some 1,500 of these deaths were civilian.

America—Israel’s ‘greatest ally’--was quick to accept the Hamas estimates. The US condemned Israel for an excessive number of civilian Gazan deaths (Lara Jakes and Matthew Lee, “Washington scolds Israel over civilian casualties in Gaza”, Globe and Mail, July 17, 2014).

Hamas in Gaza had started the war. Hamas had used human shields in the war (“Additional findings in the examination of the names of Palestinians killed in Operation Protective Edge - Part Eight” December 29, 2014, Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center). Hamas had counted combatants as civilians in order to increase the civilian death toll (ibid).

Even the New York Times—whose coverage of the war was anti-Israel—noted problems with Hamas’ reporting of  civilian death in Gaza (Jodi Rudoren, “Civilian or Not? New Fight in Tallying the Dead From the Gaza Conflict”, New York Times, August 5, 2015). Nevertheless, the US continued its ‘too many civilian deaths’ criticism (Izzy Lemberg, “Obama’s ambush of Israel”, Times of Israel, August, 14, 2015). America complained loudly that Israel simply wasn’t doing everything it could to reduce Gazan civilian casualties (Jakes and Lee, ibid).

You should remember this criticism of ‘excessive casualties’ because a report has surfaced about leaked secret US documents (Ari Rusila, “The Drone Papers By The Intercept”, Ari Rusila’s Balkan Perspective, October 31, 2015). It seems that a news/opinion site—The Intercept—has set up a secure ‘drop box’ to encourage US government employees to provide (illegally) classified information that reveals abuses committed by the US government (ibid).

The Intercept has published what it calls a cache of secret documents that detail the inner workings of a US military assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia (ibid). The document is called, “The Drone Papers” (ibid).

 “The Drone Papers” contains eight independent essays (including a ‘glossary’).  These separate essays detail how the US military has used ‘killer drones’ to assassinate terrorists in what is called, ‘targeted killings’ (ibid). These essays argue that the Obama administration has actively masked the true number of civilians killed in drone strikes “by categorizing unidentified people killed in a strike as enemies” (The Drone Papers, “The Assassination Complex”).

In fact, at one point in early 2012/late 2011, unnamed US counter-terrorism officials became concerned about these strikes. They felt the government wasn’t being honest about civilian deaths (Jo Becker and Scott Shane, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will”, New York Times, May 29, 2012).

In 2011, a trusted White House advisor raised suspicions about those deaths: in a speech, he claimed that “not a single non-combatant had been killed in a year of strikes” (ibid).

That seemed to some to be completely unbelievable. Then, in an interview, an administration official claimed that the number of civilians killed in drone strikes in Pakistan under Mr. Obama was in the ‘single digits’ (ibid).

Senior intelligence officials at the time were appalled. They expressed “disbelief that the number could be so low” (ibid).

Now, these leaked documents—if authentic—suggest that these intelligence officials had reason to express disbelief. For example, in an operation called ‘Haymaker’ civilian death numbers were excessive: in one 5-month period, 9 of 10 people killed during ‘Haymaker’ drone strikes were ‘not the intended targets’ (The Drone Papers, “Manhunting in the Hindu Kush”). That suggests they were civilians.

These documents further suggest a high probability that, in a period stretching a year that ended February 2013, only 35 of 200 killed on the ground were really terrorists. The remaining 165 dead were probably civilian (ibid).

There’s a reason for this civilian-death uncertainty. Drone-strike results were not based on verification. They were based upon a presumptive conclusion: if there was no real evidence that a killed person was civilian, he was counted as an enemy (ibid).

In practical terms, this meant that if a terrorist-target had, say, seven people around him at the time of a strike, all eight were presumed to be ‘enemies’ (“The Drone Papers”).

It’s altogether possible that US Drone strikes actually had civilian death rates between 75 -90 per cent on most strikes. No one knows for sure.

No one knows for sure because no one asked. No one asked because the drone-strike program had a policy: trust (that the intelligence you receive is accurate). But do not verify (New York Times, ibid).

How did the Obama administration protect civilians in its secret drone war? It did nothing. Instead, it counted many civilians as ‘enemies’.

The Obama administration vilified Israel for a civilian death rate in the 2014 Gaza war that ranged from 54 per cent (Meir Amit, above) to 72 per cent (UN). But two years earlier, US counter-intelligence officials were concerned about US civilian death rates which, we now learn, could have ranged up to 90 per cent.

More important, some say that Obama himself oversaw the drone program (New York Times, above). He insisted on approving every name on the drone hit-list (ibid). He personally oversaw this ‘shadow war’ (ibid).

If these leaked documents are authentic, Obama’s behaviour towards Israel in 2014 was outrageous. While he demanded that Israel ‘do more’ to protect civilians in Gaza, he himself managed a program that did absolutely nothing to protect civilians in secret drone wars in Afghanistan and Yemen.

In the end, Obama and Hamas sink to the same moral level. Hamas counts combatants as civilians—and Obama counts civilians as combatants.

What does that say about Obama?

Here's your chance to bring peace to the Middle East

You face only one challenge, one obstacle to peace: bring the woman in this video to the peace table, to make peace with Israel.

Her son was killed while attacking Jews with a knife.

Video is 2:39 long. It comes from MEMRI

Obama, Jeremiah Wright--and Israel

US President Barack Obama has just spoken to Israel (Ben Ariel, “Obama touts 'two-state solution' at Rabin memorial”, Arutz Sheva, November 1, 2015). What did he say?

Obama claims he’s Israel’s best friend. But he acts as if he’s not. He fails to defend his friend. Too often, he fails to speak when his friend is attacked.

Israel is under attack right now. Israel needs its friends to stand up. The US isn’t standing up. Why?

For more than two months now, Arabs have been volunteering to attack and to kill Jews all over Israel. These attacks are vicious. Almost every day, Arabs stab, kick, curse, shoot, stone and try to run Jews down by car. Some days, it seems Arabs are using all of these attacks at once against Jews.

Where is our America ally? For an answer, Obama ignores ubiquitous ‘Palestinian’ calls to kill Jews. He tells us that the only real solution to this hate is “two states for two people; a democratic Jewish state living side-by-side in peace and security with a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state” (ibid).

That’s ridiculous. ‘Palestinians’ aren’t talking about two states. They’re not talking about peace. They’re not talking about ‘side-by-side’. They’re talking about murdering Jews. They’re inciting to murder Jews.

What part of ‘murder Jews’ doesn’t Obama understand?

It seems he doesn’t understand any part of it. He ignores it.

Perhaps he does this for a reason. Perhaps that reason has a name: Jeremiah Wright.

Remember him? He was Obama’s Pastor. Wright spoke last month at a Washington rally. He talked about Jesus. He reminded us what kind of hateful sermons he gave to the church Obama attended (John Hinderaker, “Jeremiah Wright: Jesus Was a Palestinian!”, powerline,  October 10, 2015).

For essayist Hinderaker, there’s no doubt where US President Obama stands on Israel. It’s not as though we needed more evidence about Obama’s animus towards the Jewish state. But we got a reminder anyway from the Pastor who married Barack and Michelle--and gave hate-filled sermons that Obama, presumably, listened to for some 20 years (ibid).

The rally, called “Justice Or Else!” was presided over by the ever-appalling Louis Farrakhan. The precise object of the rally was obscure, Hinderaker says, but Wright seized his speaking opportunity to sound his favorite theme–he hates Israel.

Wright began by noting that he had been preceded to the stage by a group of Native Americans. He likened them to the ‘people’ who were driven out of ‘Palestine’ by ‘Europeans’, going back to the Book of Judges.

Really? Jews (those ‘Europeans’) drove out ‘Palestinians’ some 3,200 years ago? Europe didn’t exist then. ‘Palestinians’ didn’t exist then. Islam didn’t exist then.

Facts don’t matter to Jew-haters. Wright marinates in hate. That’s why he said, ‘Jesus was a Palestinian’.

As Hinderaker points out, Jesus was a Jew. “The Palestinians, if by that one means Arabs, didn’t arrive on the scene for another 600 years” (ibid).

Wright doesn’t give a damn. His hate trumps fact. He claimed that black youth of Ferguson, Missouri (who riot) are connected to ‘Palestinians’ (who riot). He suggests that a security fence Israel built is an ‘apartheid wall’ built to harm ‘Palestinians’.  

Wright failed to mention the real purpose of that fence: to stop ‘Palestinian’ suicide bombers from blowing up Israeli Jews. The fence/wall worked. Once it went up, the suicide bombings stopped.

Apparently, Wright isn’t interested in saving Jewish lives. He hates Jews too much.  

Nice guy.

Barack Obama couldn’t have missed all this hate. That means, as Hinderaker suggests, that Obama must have agreed with it, or at least been fine with it (ibid).

Our Jewish Heritage (Mishlei, 13:20) teaches, “He who keeps company with the wise will become wise, but he who consorts with dullards comes to grief” (JPS translation). One might extrapolate from these words of wisdom that, ‘he who listens to 20 years’ worth of hate will come to hate’.

Barack Hussein Obama heard hate in his ‘church’ for close to twenty years from a man he respected. His behaviour today seems to be living proof that you can tell a lot about a man by the company he’s kept.

He’s no friend of Jewish Israel. He’s more a creature of Wright. Like Wright, he’s wrong.

Israel’s leaders should treat him accordingly. They should declare that Israel is the Land HaShem gave to us. They should declare that Israel built two Temples on its Temple Mount more than 1,000 years before Islam. They should declare the Temple Mount is Jewish holy ground, not Islamic.

Barack Obama isn’t going to change. Israel’s leaders should treat him as an enemy, not an ally.

Israel does business with many of its enemies. That’s the way of the world.

Israel doesn’t have to bow to any of them.