On Planet Obama

Guest Commentary by Edward Cline:

One sometimes wonders what planet President Barack Obama lives on. It must be that mythical doppelganger of Earth that revolves unseen by us on the exact opposite side of the Sun. There, he can address a gathering in the State Department about an incredible vision of an Israel that is peacefully embraced on all sides by a benign Palestinian state whose government and citizens bear no grudge against Israel – an incredible vision of “coexistence” which nonetheless everyone believes is possible. There, in that mythical Palestine, Muslims win most of the Nobel Prizes in science and medicine, and Muslims read accounts of how Muslims discovered America and landed men on the moon.

There, Muslim entrepreneurs invented the Internet and economical ways to irrigate desert land. There, Muslims are close to curing cancer. Gaza is known as the “Haight-Ashbury” of the Middle East, populated by Woodstockian, free-loving, surf-happy hippies. There, Palestinians are noted for their strenuous opposition to the death penalty, and who stiffen indignantly at any suggestion that they would ever accept foreign aid or handouts. There, the Hamas Medical Center in Samaria rivals the Mayo Clinic in cutting edge research. There, the late Yasser Arafat, at his own private expense, operated an “underground railroad” that spirited tens of thousands of Jews, Copts, Christians and apostate former Muslims from religious and political persecution in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iran. There, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem rivals that in Washington, D.C. in size and information.

Fantasy? Please excuse the satire. It is nearly amusing to mock the zeroes of “Palestine” with wondrous achievements and virtues. But, is the vision of the real Barack Obama in his real May 19th speech any less fantastic? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for all to see, in the company of the president, sent Obama to the back of the class in his reply that this vision is not going to happen, because reality will not conform to his vision or his wishes.

What is Obama’s vision of the Middle East?

For one thing, it is the deliberate encirclement of Israel by a Palestinian state. His notion of a contiguous Palestinian state means the linkage of Gaza and the West Bank. Which means that Israel would need to surrender its Mediterranean side, cede all of the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and have a single border – with a Palestinian state and no other. The alternative, after “swaps” probably negotiated by Jimmy Carter, at best, would mean a contiguous Palestinian state that would cut Israel in half. Any way one looks at it, it means the dismemberment, strangulation and asphyxiation of Israel. Or death.

The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.

The death of Israel has been the goal of the Palestinians for half a century.

Off camera, out of sight, the wolves are licking their chops.

That is the nub of Obama’s speech. All else is patronizing, insincere nonsense. To wit:

The international community is tired of an endless process that never produces an outcome. The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation.

Which outcome? The destruction of Israel? Because that is all the “process” can produce.

Like Henry II about the stubborn Thomas Becket, the “international community” is “tired” of the troublesome effort to reconcile good and evil. “Will no one rid us of this troublesome nation?” And, of course, there is Helen Thomas’s solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum: the Jews should go back to a Europe, as it morphs into Eurabia, that is growing more and more inhospitable for Jews.

“Permanent occupation”? To the victor of three wars, all initiated by Israel’s enemies, belongs the land, to be permanently occupied and annexed into the nation because, well, the Arabs, who invaded Israel, lost. And possession of those lands has helped to guarantee Israel’s existence. Tough. Too bad. You initiate force, you risk loss. That is the reality of war.

The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. And the duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated.

This is fantasy on LSD. Israel withdrew from Gaza. Result? Thousands of rockets fired into Israel. Tunnels that smuggle arms and terrorists into Gaza. The Israeli withdrawal was a gesture of peace. The Palestinian answer was a “peace” sign composed of an upraised middle finger.

The greatest untapped resource in the Middle East and North Africa is the talent of its people. In the recent protests, we see that talent on display, as people harness technology to move the world. It's no coincidence that one of the leaders of Tahrir Square was an executive for Google. That energy now needs to be channeled, in country after country, so that economic growth can solidify the accomplishments of the street.

The only technology I am aware of that Muslims are harnessing is the technology of murder, massacre and war, and it has moved the world from one of relative safety to one of unknown, unpredictable peril, in America, and abroad. As for that Google executive who was a “leader” of Tahir Square, has he apologized to Lara Logan for the assault on her by pro- and anti-Mubarak Muslims? Guess not. Rape and brutality are the Arab way. Or the islamic way. It is written.

For just as democratic revolutions can be triggered by a lack of individual opportunity, successful democratic transitions depend upon an expansion of growth and broad-based prosperity.

Obama is right to use the term “democratic.” Democracy means mob rule by a majority. The majorities in Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria are Muslim. Muslims, like Obama, have no conception of individual rights, or of freedom of speech. They will vote the straight Islamic ticket drawn up by Hamas, Fatah, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is the height of venality for Obama to speak of “individual opportunity” and “broad-based prosperity” when he is doing his damnedest to eradicate those things in the United States. Anything Obama has ever said or will ever say about “prosperity” and “inalienable rights” and “the rule of law” is glitter-dusted excelsior concealing his main point, like the stuff that swaddled the bogus Maltese Falcon. In this instance, his main point is to assign Israel the impossible task of playing Huggy Bear and kiss-kiss with Hamas, Fatah, and any random Palestinian without getting a chiv sunk into its back. The liberal media and all others who blatantly wish Israel would just submit to Islam or be so good as to drop dead will natter on endlessly about the feasibility of Obama’s proposals. They have been doing it for years.

Our itinerant Kenyan is not satisfied with Mau-Mauing his own country with spending policies that ensure its decline and bankruptcy. No objective appraisal of his Middle East plan can ignore the fact that it is not merely suicidal, but is eminently impractical even by the Huggy Bear “ideals” of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It is a prescription for homicide.

The “peace” sought by the Palestinians is the “peace” preached by Islam: the “peace” of conquest and subjugation. When all the world is under a global caliphate, there will be “peace.”

And not only does Obama expect Israel to “negotiate” itself into oblivion, but he will force the American taxpayer to subsidize the process. It is not pathetic enough that the U.S. is training the Palestinian Authority’s “police.” Is this not tantamount to cooperating with Hamas and Fatah? Is it not a dereliction of office that we will “sell” the Saudis billions in modern fighter jets while they goose us at the gas pumps? No, we must help Israel’s enemies by pouring money into their corrupt coffers.

[W]e do not want a democratic Egypt to be saddled by the debts of its past. So we will relieve a democratic Egypt of up to $1 billion in debt, and work with our Egyptian partners to invest these resources to foster growth and entrepreneurship. We will help Egypt regain access to markets by guaranteeing $1 billion in borrowing that is needed to finance infrastructure and job creation….[W]e're working with Congress to create Enterprise Funds to invest in Tunisia and Egypt. And these will be modeled on funds that supported the transitions in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. OPIC [Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. agency, a counterpart of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] will soon launch a $2 billion facility to support private investment across the region. And we will work with the allies to refocus the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development so that it provides the same support for democratic transitions and economic modernization in the Middle East and North Africa as it has in Europe….

Briefly, the “stimulus” goes international, and the results will be similar to what they have been here in the U.S. Much of that money will go to projects other than “peaceful” ones, funneled and laundered to further promote the arming and enabling of Israel’s enemies. Bet on it. That “charity” will make the Holy Land Foundation case look like an episode of Three Card Monte.

Treachery, thy name is Obama.

Crossposted at The Dougout