The President's Trip - An Opinion

The President is in Israel and I for one think this trip is a very positive reinforcement of the President's Pro-Israel, Pro-Two State agenda. For me, the trip cements some opinions of the President that I have held from the very beginning that President Obama is a great and solid friend to both Israel and the Jewish people.

What does this trip tell me?

1. Well, the President is now in his second term. He is done campaigning. He certainly didn't have to make this trip, he doesn't need the help from Jewish voters in swing states anymore.. YET... he still goes to Israel to re-affirm our friendship and commitments to Israel and it's security. Unlike the screeching of Jennifer Rubin and her usual nonsense (I still can't figure out how anyone who gets everything so wrong manages to have a column at the Washington Post but we'll leave that for another day), the President's words are very important.

In his speeches and discussions today, the President laid his understanding of exactly what the State of Israel means to both the Jewish people and the world. But, not only are his words important for Israelis (who are fed a strict diet of FOX News and U.S. Republican nonsensical garbage) to hear, but they are important that the Palestinians and Arabs hear them as well. Because no matter what he says to them, they have been told in very clear and unequivocal terms that the U.S. understands that Israel IS the National Homeland and State of the Jewish people.

2. His third trip to Israel gives President Obama a chance to directly speak to the Israeli people, side-stepping the machinations of the Right Wing, that are completely distraught and feinting at the possibility that their lies regarding the President be exposed. I think he will be clear that he does not call for "retreat to the 1967 borders", a myth that is spread by the right, despite all the availability of transcripts and documentation that he believes in something more akin to the Olmert plan of 2007-08.

Too much of the President's words and actions have been lost to the machinations of the punditry on the Right, who will stop at nothing, tell any lie and twist any truth just to make sure that people believe the worst in President Obama. BUT his history of support, in the U.N., with increased foreign aid (though the "sequester" does threaten some of that), with strongly enhanced security and intelligence cooperation between the two nations tells the TRUTH regarding his friendship.

Now will the Israeli Right (and their American cohorts) be happy regarding any of the President's trip to Israel. I sincerely doubt it. Up until now, they have been the ones to frame the discussion around Israel with their "Agree with us 1000% or you are no friend to the us", lessons learned from the Republican Teahadists here at home.

But this shouldn't be the case. It's time that those of us in the Center and Left stood up to the Republicans and Rightists and hold them accountable for their nonsense. First of all, all of those fans of Mitt Romney, refused to say what Mitt would have done differently. Further, Mitt himself said there was nothing he would have done differently. For instance when pressed on Egypt. Romney stated:

MR. SCHIEFFER: Governor Romney, I want to hear your response to that, but I would just ask you, would you have stuck with Mubarak?

MR. ROMNEY: No, I believe, as the president indicated and said at the time, that I supported his — his action there. (vb1 emphasis)  I felt that — I wish we'd have had a better vision of the future. I wish that, looking back at the beginning of the president's term and even further back than that, that we'd have recognized that there was a growing energy and passion for freedom in that part of the world and that we would have worked more aggressively with our — our friend and with other friends in the region to have them make the transition towards a more representative form of government such that it didn't explode in the way it did. But once it exploded, I felt the same as the president did, which is these — these freedom voices in the — the streets of Egypt where the people who were speaking of our principles and the — the — President Mubarak had done things which were unimaginable, and the idea of him crushing his people was not something that we could possibly support.

And why should they own up to this? It doesn't fit their meme that President Obama is no friend to Israel. I mean the guy they were voting for ADMITTED he would do the same.

These are the messages that the Israelis need to hear. Not some spinning FOX head who simply makes up the news wholesale.

But more importantly the President (AS EVERY OTHER AMERICAN PRESIDENT SINCE 1967) has re-affirmed the American commitment to the Two State Solution. The Rightists who now are in J'slem, from the Deputy FM Ze'ev Elkin to the Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, to DM Moshe Ya'alon, to Naftali Bennett and his entire HaBayit HaYehudi Party are firmly AGAINST the two State solution. They have come out with an annexation plan for the Occupied West Bank.

So are we to let these people frame the argument of who is for Israel and who is not? I say no. I stand with our President and the Israeli Center / Center Left in their calls for Two State solution. It is the only way that Israel will remain a vibrant and Jewish Democracy. The President's actions and speeches have stood up to help support Israel in the long run. That is good enough for me, and I as a strong supporter of Israel am glad that Barak Obama is indeed President of the U.S. and is a strong friend to Israel.