I continue to be amazed at President Obama’s critics – and we have no shortage of them in West Texas – who keep harping on his so-called passive stance regarding Israel.
As the New York Times article linked to this blog notes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embracing Obama’s declaration of support as he – Netanyahu – faces his own election challenges in January. Yes, Bibi wanted his long-time friend Mitt Romney to win the U.S. presidential election. But he lost. And now the Israeli PM must lock arms with the man who is president – and who will be president of the United States for the next four years.
Obama critics keep suggesting that the United States is doing too little to support Israel in the wake of the terrorist rockets being launched from Gaza into neighboring Israeli cities. What’s the president supposed to do? Send in a brigade of Marines? Scramble fighter jets off a carrier battle group to bomb and strafe terrorist targets? Order a Delta Force strike?
As many observers have noted, the Israeli military is quite capable of defending the country. The U.S. president’s role in this current crisis is to assure Israelis that the United States will lend all diplomatic, political and intelligence-gathering support it can to assist our ally.
Maybe I’m hearing things and/or hallucinating, but I’m quite sure President Barack Obama has done everything possible to lend support to Israel.