Back in June, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton caught some flack for acquiescing to Israel’s exclusion from a global counter-terrorism forum. The event was held in Istanbul and the snub to the Israelis was widely believed to be the result of a demand from the event’s Turkish hosts that the Jewish state be kept out of the party even though it has unique expertise in the area. But apparently, the slight to the Israelis was not limited to the event’s initial venue.
As Adam Kredo reports at the Washington Free Beacon, Israel wasn’t invited to the session of the counter-terrorism forum held yesterday in Spain. That was especially telling as Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, delivered a speech at the Spanish conclave titled “Victims of Terrorism.” But not only was an Israeli delegation not present when she spoke, but during her address, Otero never even mentioned the experience of Israeli terror victims. Though Otero’s anti-terrorist sentiments were unexceptionable, the exclusion of Israel, one of the primary targets of international terrorists and among the leading experts in how to deal with the problem, was clearly intentional. As Kredo noted, the State Department spokesperson refused to answer when asked about the omission of Israel from the speech and the conference. Though the Obama administration has been touting the president as Israel’s best friend ever during the election year Jewish charm offensive that followed three years of constant fights with the Jewish state, American diplomats have not gotten with the White House’s political program.
Though President Obama has boasted of his friendship with Turkey’s Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, this is not a theme Democratic campaign surrogates like to discuss. Though the close relations with Turkey are sometimes explained as part of the administration’s efforts to isolate Iran, Erdoğan has made a fool of Obama by continuing his country’s lucrative trade with Tehran and using gold as a method to elude the Western sanctions on the Iranians. But rather than placing extra pressure on the Turks, the president has characteristically sought to appease them with the exclusion of Israel from the counter-terrorism conference as part of the down payment.
Though Israel wisely chose not to publicly complain about the snub, reportedly it did register its views privately and some members of Congress spoke up about the issue last month. But the complaints fell on deaf ears as Otero’s speech demonstrated.
Though this is not a major issue, it is one more sign of the administration’s attitude toward the Israelis. Should the president be re-elected and get the “flexibility” that he has said he would then have to act on foreign affairs, Israel should expect a lot more of this sort of thing if not worse.
Om sure as soon as Obama advisers Beinart and Friedman catch wind of this shabby treatment of Israel, Obama will set things right. I'm sure Susan Rice and Hillary of the Natural Do don't know about this and wouldn't countenance it of they did. n nIf all else fails, no doubt MJ Rosenberg, Jeremy Ben Ami, the Cohen twins, and even upstart Justin Rubin can raise hell and get it fixed.
Pro-Israel Democrats are largely sell outs and they won't care one bit about this. There are a few exceptions, of course, like Alan Dershowitz, but by and large they will subordinate being Pro-Israel to being an Obama supporter. The sad fact is that Israel is just not very important to many American Jews. Gay marriage and ObamaCare is far more significant to them.
It should be pointed out that the reporter who first asked about it at the State Department briefing was Matt Lee who is not noted for his strong defense of Israel. So kudos to Matt Lee for stepping over his usual anti-Israel animus and asking about the exclusion of Israeli victims of terrorism. n nThis does bring up the issue of why there are is not a single pro-Israel voice that regularly attends State Department briefings. Surely a pool reporter for the various Jewish news services can be hired to cover these briefings? As someone who has closely followed State's briefings for well over a decade, I can attest to the fact that nearly all of them eventually get hijacked in order to promote the Palestinian narrative. This is perhaps the single most important reason why news coverage is nearly always slanted to favor the Palestinian viewpoint. If there is no one to challenge the one-sided questions then it will be those questions and answers to those questions which will get reported. For example, want to know why the State Dept. never criticizes Palestinian incitement? Because there is no one in the room, no reporter in other words, to ask the State Dept. spokesperson about it.
it is NOT a minor issue. it's a symptom of a very large issue indeed: whose side is Obama on? n nmy fellow Jews are supposed to be so smart. where's your smarts now, liberal Democrat Jews? can you not see that this guy means us no good? n nas the article points out, a second-term Obama would be much, much worse for Israel–to the point of supporting the Palestinian unilateral UN resolution for a state. n
rulieg, the percentage of American Jews who voted for Obama in 2008 is within sampling error of equaling the percentage of Jews who preferred Egyptian idolatry and promiscuity to Torah at the time of the Exodus.
I would say Israel might be uniquely UNqualified to discuss terrorism control. The fact that Israel by its own account is one of the biggest victims of terrorism, might be reasonably taken as an indication that Israel does not know how to effectively reduce terrorism. n nIndeed, Israel is more apt to inflame terrorism in its neighborhood (and beyond) than to tamp it down. Not to mention that some of the early leading statesmen of Israel were terrorists themselves.
well said–the destruction of the King's property and the murder of Her Majesty's official agents exposed the terroristic proclivities of the opposition to the lawful Mandate from the beginning. How could anyone listen to one word about the "rights of man" from such criminals as Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Ja…what? n noh, never mind
Or it might be taken as a recognition that the victims have to be lucky every time and the terrorists only need to get lucky once. The non-Jewish press reports a tiny fraction of the successful attacks, and almost never reports the thwarted attacks. But by all accounts, the number of attacks thwarted by Israel far outnumbers those that have succeeded. Maligned tactics including the security fence and more controversial demolition of homes are known to have stopped attempted attacks. n n"Israel is more apt to inflame terrorism in its neighborhood ", – yes, its those damned Jews again, insisting on living where they are not wanted on land they purchased, and on defending themselves and their families from attack. n nFor someone who claims to be tired of hearing about Israel and does not care about its wars with the Arabs, you certainly take a keen interest.
Israel can't sit back and hope for better. It has to take steps on its own. That has to include disengaging slightly from Washington's orbit. Israel wasn't a US ally from 48-56 and since 67 it's been a slow slide downward. There are plenty of 4.5 generation fighters in the world, there are plenty of outlets for the technology and services Israel excels in. And there are plenty of nations who see the world as it is not as Obama wishes it to be.
As Obama and the Green tree huggers drag the United States into deindustrialization Israel could look to natural neutrals or allies as a counterweight to the Shia and Sunni Islamic Conference, India, South Korea, Japan, as well as identify up and comers in the Pacific Rim. etc.
Israel is not only one of the main victims of terrorism, it is also one of the most succesful countries in the world in combatting it. Israeli expertise is widely recognised and Israeli methods are copied all over the world, including in the US and Turkey. Israel has provided counter-terror training to countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. All of this is not in dispute. So why is Israel excluded from this conference? Because, of course, it has nothing to do with fighting terrorism and everything to do with Obama's (and some European leaders's) naive and disastrous strategy of trying to ally himself with "moderate" Islamists against the "radical" ones. The first victim of this will be liberals, women, religious minorities etc. in the Islamic world, the next one (particularly if Obama is reelected) Israel and the final liberal values everywhere.
2 points: n1– Turkey's erdogan was a quiet sponsor of the Mavi Marmara of May 2010 that was trying to break Israel's lawful and necessary blockade of Gaza whence rockets rain down on Israeli towns, cities and farmlands. The IHH jihad terrorist group that directly sponsored the Mavi Marmara and the "flotilla" as a whole works closely with erdogan and his ruling party. n n2– "Israel wisely chose not to publicly complain about the snub " — I don't understand the wisdom in Israel not making a big fuss about being excluded from the so-called "anti-terrorism" conclave in Istanbul. Can you explain that please, Jonathan?