Obama: Israel’s friend
Donald Trump in his address to AIPAC declared that Barack Obama was the worst president for Israel. Unfortunately, his statement received a rousing cheer. Let us look at the record.
During his term in office President Obama was instrumental in getting funding for the Iron Dome Missile Defense System, which has been credited with destroying 75 percent of the missiles directed against Israel from Gaza. Obama supported additional funding to upgrade the system after the Gaza war.
When the Israeli embassy in Cairo was surrounded by a hostile crowd, Obama used his influence with the Egyptian military to make sure that those in the embassy would be protected. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the president directly to thank him on behalf of a grateful nation.
Obama vetoed any attempt to give the Palestinian Authority a permanent seat at the UN. He also rejected resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations.
He has shown a willingness to increase foreign aid to Israel despite the fact that Israel already gets more foreign aid than any other country.
Obama’s cooperation between the military and security agencies has never been better, according to former Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak, present and past heads of the Shin Bet, and Mossad and military officers.
The president’s critics accuse him of jeopardizing Israel’s security by joining with five other countries in negotiating a deal primarily geared to stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. In a signed letter, the former heads of the Shin Bet, Mossad, former IDF officers, and various past government employees expressed their support for the deal. Instead of listening to people who know something about security, Netanyahu chose to listen to his
good friend Sheldon Adelson and the Republican leadership and come to Washington and, in an unprecedented breach of protocol, address a joint session of Congress attacking the president of a friendly country.
One question for my Jewish Republican friends: In his eight years as president, what did George W. Bush do for Israel?
Marvin Bograd
East Windsor
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