Even as Israeli President Peres was praising President Obama for being an exceptional friend to Israel and even as he reiterated that Security arrangements between the two nations have never been as good as they are now, the derangers led by Chicken Hawk Republicans here in the U.S. and their Right Wing allies are not letting reality stand in their way. For instance even as President Peres had this to say:
"Mr. President, I know your commitment to Israel is deep and profound," Peres said. "Under your leadership, security cooperation between the U.S. and Israel has reached its highest level (vb1 emphasis).. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a friend in the White House. He reflects the values that make American great and make Israel secure. Thank you President Obama on behalf of my people."
and President Obama had this to say:
"We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically," Obama said in an address at the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC's policy conference in Washington. "Having said that, Iran’s leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United States, just as they should not doubt Israel’s sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs. I have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say."
"That includes all elements of American power. A political effort aimed at isolating Iran; a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored; an economic effort to impose crippling sanctions; and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency."
But was this enough? Why no. It was not. Speaking after President Obama:
“No president has done more to undermine and delegitimize Israel than President Obama.”
I guess President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak didn't get Liz' memo about this. Silly Israeli Leaders... how could they not know this. (/snark).
However, in the end she was shot down by Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) in this exchange:
Cheney: “No president has done more to undermine and delegitimize Israel than President Obama.” Big applause.
Harman: “It’s a grave mistake to turn Israel into a political football. Huge applause.
But the derangement continued... Mitt Romney, the Republican Front Runner had this to say:
When an 11-year-old boy asked the candidate how he would keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Romney said Obama had not imposed "crippling sanctions against Iran." "He's also failed to communicate that military options are on the table and in fact in our hand, and that it's unacceptable to America for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."
Apparently, during the AIPAC speech Mr. Romney was sitting on the floor with his hands in his ears saying: "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU".... I guess he missed... well the entire speech. Oh and I guess he missed reality as well when he was talking about sanctions.
Whoops.....
But in Haaretz, Chemi Shalev explains it well:
There are many people in both America and Israel who wouldn’t believe Barack Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security even if he sang Hatikvah, enlisted in the IDF and did reserve duty guarding an isolated West Bank outpost. These people are now dissecting the president’s speech to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Sunday in a way that will offer incontrovertible proof that it ranks a close second after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s pledge to wipe Israel off the map.
My own version of this a few weeks ago was something along the lines of (paraphrased):
President Obama could be wearing a Kippah, while hugging a Bibi Netanyahu Plush Toy, while singing Hatikvah and the Republicans and ODS'ers would still say he hates Israel.
Shalev finishes strong here and I will let his words speak for me:
Finally, Obama once again demonstrated how much more familiar and how much more comfortable he is with Jews, with Jewish life and with Jewish culture than any of his Republican rivals. As an antithesis to Michele Bachmann’s hilariously mispronounced “chootzpah”, Obama showed that the words “shtetl”, “Haganah” and “seder” roll off his tongue as if he was once a diligent Hebrew School pupil. And he outdid himself not only by announcing that he will be bestowing the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom on Shimon Peres, but by achieving the impossible – in two attempts out of three – of avoiding the inescapable pitfall of the Hispanic Perez and pronouncing the name of the Israeli president correctly.
Of course, none of this will matter for Obama’s diehard skeptics. For them, the closer Obama gets to Israel, the more understanding he is of Israel’s security needs, the more genuine he sounds in his declarations of love and undying friendship – the more they will double down in their conviction that this is all some master conspiracy of camouflage aimed at deceiving gullible Democrats and liberal Jews. From that point of view, the president’s speech was just as satisfactory and reassuring for them as it should have been for those who have Israel’s true interests at heart.
This won't stop the Republican Lies and disinformination but it does just go to show how blatant they are.
