An influential paper with the Orthodox Jewish Community in New York, the Jewish Star, strongly endorsed Mitt Romney for president today. The editorial was titled, “The New Jewicide,” and clearly delineated why Barack Obama is dangerous for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
As the writer stated:
Obama’s bad positions on Israel and terrorism during his first term will only worsen in a second when he would no longer need financial support from major Jewish donors and electoral support from Jewish voters. Just like he told Russian President Mevedev Obama will have more flexibility in a second term …
The reason there is no progress toward Israel/Palestinian peace can be explained in three words, President Barack Obama. While the Palestinians have never accepted Israeli settlements, secession of all settlement building has never been a precondition to talks. Israel had long ago agreed not to build new “settlements” in Judea and Samaria but would continue to add housing units to existing communities. They have never agreed to restrictions on building Jerusalem …
It was the Obama administration’s naiveté that made the settlements an issue. Hillary Clinton first demanded the freeze in 2009 and was quickly backed up by Obama. What the President and his advisers perceived as a minor concession, a settlement freeze including no new housing units in existing communities, was for Israel a grave sacrifice. From the Israeli point of view he was telling parents their children that they could not buy a “home in their community …
Obama has said Israel is the Jewish State and has called on the Palestinians to recognize Israel but has never called on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the Jewish state–never (the UN partition which created Israel called it a Jewish State) …
The 2008 Democratic Party platform agreed, saying that a peace process should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel. This was removed from the 2012 platform by the President’s people along with Jerusalem, refusal to recognize Hamas and the need for changes to the 1949 Armistice lines. The only one added back was Jerusalem (and that was over the votes and boos of the convention attendees).
The editorial notes that Benjamin Netanyahu offered the PA a deal whereby the Israelis would freeze settlement building if the PA would recognize Israel as the Jewish state, which was rejected.
If Obama truly backed Israel as the Jewish State he would have publicly endorsed this Israeli offer that would have rid the Palestinians of the Obama-created excuse not to negotiate.
The editorial noted that Obama refuses to acknowledge any part of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital:
The Obama policy is different from that of the Bush administration. The Bush administration recognized Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, but delayed the moving of the embassy till the borders of Jerusalem were determined through negotiations. Obama refuses to recognize any part of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel.
In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act endorsing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and requiring the US Embassy to move to Jerusalem. But Congress gave the executive branch an out, every six months the State Department/President can request and receive an automatic waiver. A waiver that President Bill Clinton issued to congress every six months as required.
President Bush continued the policy every six months, but in Bush’s case, he inserted into the legal jargon a sentence stating, “My Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.” The phrase appeared in all 16 Bush waiver notifications. The Obama administration removed that phrase from their waiver requests.
That Obama wanted Israel to return to the 1949 Armistice Lines:
Another section removed from the 2012 Democratic platform and not replaced was … All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. Obama walked away from that big time last May when he called for Israel to begin negotiations by agreeing to return to the 1949 lines. At the time the Democrats said it was no change from previous policy–which is a lie.
That Obama endangered Israel vis-a-vis Iranian nuclear weapons:
On one hand Obama says the US will protect Israel should Iran get on the precipice of nuclear weapons; on the other he ties Israel’s hands. The President wants Israel to give time for the sanctions to work, but opposed Congressional action to strengthen those sanctions. King pointed out the issue of a nuclear Iran is one that should not only concern Israel, but the entire Western world.
The Orthodox Jewish Community is closely knit. This endorsement will fan out across the country.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.