Obama's Mideast Bombshell

Editorial - May 26th, 2011 - The Washington Times

The Obama administration is being subjected to a minute examination of everything it says connected to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. As reported by The Washington Times’ Kerry Picket, attention is being focused on a May 18 State Department circular announcing the visit of Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank; The implication in the wording is that the State Department consciously separates Jerusalem from Israel. This is part of an emerging pattern coming from Foggy Bottom. An April 14 press release announced, "Ambassador-at-Large for Global Womens Issues Melanne Verveer will travel to Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank from April 15 through April 22." A release from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad noted, "Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz will travel to Geneva, Iraq, Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank from May 2-12."

The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv denied any shift in policy and explained that the odd phrasing was because of great sensitivity to words in the region and that America was trying to be a fair interlocutor. That's nonsense because the fair interlocutor standard simply affirms Palestinian claims on the city, something Israel rejects and the Obama administration refuses to address openly. In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama said, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." He has not made the same pledge recently and has taken a number of steps that demonstrate he has flipped on this issue.

Dividing Jerusalem from Israel in official communiques affirms what the White House is too timid to say openly, namely that Mr. Obama sees carving up the city as a legitimate path to peace.

Of course Obama does not care what the American people want any more than he cares what our allies in Israel want. He only cares what the extreme left wing radicals in his Marxist circle of sycophants want. And they want Israel destroyed.