The recent performance of the Obama administration on three occasions concerning Israeli security and self defense is an absolute disgrace. I hope that the Jews who supported him (like Martin Peretz) are happy. John Bolton (whom should have been Sec. of State instead of the underwhelming Condoleeza Rice) lays it out for us.
by John Bolton
In less than a week, the Obama administration left Israel hanging out to dry three separate times.
Media coverage of the “flotilla” incident has ignored this critical shift in US policy. But it’s a safe bet that America’s adversaries, especially the terrorists, understand it all too well. Worse yet, President Obama’s visible discomfort in defending hard-pressed US interests around the world is only growing — with implications America hasn’t experienced since Jimmy Carter’s presidency.
Let’s recap the Obama “defense” of Israel.
First, in the UN Security Council, the administration succumbed to the rush to criticize Israel in a statement that, albeit watered down, nonetheless greatly intensified international pressure on Jerusalem. The correct approach was to resist the diplomatic peer pressure and bar any council action until tempers cooled and more facts were available — meaning at most a day or two’s delay. This America could easily have done. Failure to withstand the short-term heat only feeds the impression of White House weakness, and will come back to haunt us.
Second, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, America, joined only by Italy and the Netherlands in dissent, overwhelmingly lost a vote to establish an international investigation of the Gaza incident. Even as the Obama administration touted its success preventing a Security Council investigation, it was losing precisely the same issue in Geneva — demonstrating why concessions in New York did absolutely nothing to stem the anti-Israeli tide. So much for Obama’s idea that he could reform the palpably illegitimate Human Rights Council by having the United States rejoin it.
Third, just a few days previously, at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, the United States joined the consensus on a statement condemning Israel (which is not even a party to the treaty) and its nuclear program, while failing to condemn Iran, an NPT signatory that has been happily violating its treaty obligations. After the vote, National Security Adviser James Jones condemned the reference to Israel, utterly overlooking the fact that the Obama administration could readily have blocked it.
All three cases demonstrate deep-seated White House weakness. It would be a stunning admission of administration incompetence if diplomats in three separate venues had made these decisions entirely on their own (although that does happen too often at the State Department). Instructions to the US negotiators in all three likely came from either Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, so there is no dodging White House responsibility here, or the unmistakable pattern it represents.
Read the rest here: Letting Israel hang – US undercuts ally
Meanwhile if you can believe it, the British press lead by al-Guardian are impressed by Israeli Public Relations! I guess getting those videos and pictures out was a good idea.
Hat tip Israellycool
by Herb Keinon
While conventional wisdom in Israel holds that the government’s public diplomacy (hasbara) efforts following the Mavi Marmara incident last Monday were an unmitigated disaster, the picture painted in some circles abroad is that of a vast, smooth, efficient propaganda machine that has effectively dominated and controlled the flotilla narrative.
“Israeli PR machine won Gaza flotilla media battle,” ran a headline Friday in the Guardian, a British newspaper extremely critical of Israel.
The article was one of a number of stories the National Information Directorate had gathered and sent to reporters to combat the widespread narrative here that last week was an utter hasbara failure.
“In an operation reminiscent of the first week or so of the Israeli offensive against Gaza in winter 2008-2009, the Israeli PR machine succeeded in getting the major news outlets to focus on its version of events and to use the Israeli authorities’ discourse for a crucial 48 hours,” wrote Antony Lerman in the Guardian.
“This Israeli version of events was very often given an uncritical airing,” Lerman wrote. “The news imbalance may have been partly redressed, but the Israeli version of the events and the presentation of legal arguments to justify Israel’s actions by friendly commentators continues to occupy significant media space.”
The Independent, another British newspaper hypercritical of Israel, published an article the day after the incident headlined “Israel ruled the airwaves as it did the seas.”
Read the rest here: British press marvels at Israeli PR
Tags: Herb Keinon, John Bolton
