By Sig Demling
When it comes to Israel's vital interests, Barack Obama is about as trustworthy as a viper. Actually, B.O. (as in Bad Odor) can be relied upon less than a poisonous snake.
What's astonishing is that it has taken previously neutral observers to realize this fact of life which should have been evident years and years ago.
This delayed reaction is starkly reminiscent of the length of time it has taken for the average (non-left wing) American to understand that Uncle Sam's leader holds the Olympic record for blundering.
And that goes for his fumbles with Obamacare all the way up to foreign relations where the White House has failed everywhere from Benghazi to Beirut -- and while you're at it, you can throw in Teheran and Tripoli.
I told you so; not yesterday, not last year but before the Democratic nominee was even voted in for his first term. What's more, I reiterated that point about a dozen times on these pages.
Why should any Jew be surprised at Obama double-crossing Israel when -- for twenty full years -- he attended a Chicago church whose preacher was, and still is, an avowed anti-semite?
Why should any Israeli be surprised at the president's record-setting appeasement of the Iranian mullahs. This was obvious from the moment he chose to open his first-term Arab-coddling with an Islam-wooing speech in Cairo before putting the skids on America's -- and Israel's -- ally, Hosni Mubarak.
Anyone who doubts what I've said for years -- he's America's Muslim president -- merely has to consult events of the past month to really understand what Obama told a gullible AIPAC convention months ago.
"I've got Israel's back," Obama intoned to enthusiastic applause.
Unfortunately, the AIPAC crowd -- ignoring the Chief Executive's immoral past -- didn't quite get it. What Obama meant was that, yes, he has Israel's back but he's holding a large dagger in his right hand, ready to plunge it into the back of the Middle East's only democracy.
Alas, the dagger was inserted -- and turned a few times -- once the president and his Secretary of Stupidity John Kerry began fervently wooing Iran, the decades-long sworn enemy of the United States. Not only did they ignore the pleas of Benjamin Netanyahu but deceptively dealt to the detriment of Israel, their only true Mediterranean ally.
Time and again, the administration's behavior has encouraging militant Islam because if anything is true of the Arab world it is that when enemies -- such as the good old USA -- come begging for pal-ship, they are regarded as the political equivalent of the 98-pound weakling kicked around by the beach bully.
Respected political analyst Elliott Abrams, writing for the Council on Foreign Relations, succinctly summed up the Obama administration's ineptitude.
"We (America) look weak to the very officials to whom we are trying to look strong," Abrams asserts.
That's bad enough but the lies spewed by Obama, Inc. continuously rain on the volatile Middle Eastern scene like gasoline on a fire. In September the chief executive told the United Nations that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons."
But upon checking, it turns out that no such edict exists. Once again, the president lied.
Want more? During his most recent visit to Israel, Kerry blatantly lied to Bibi about concessions that would be made to the Iranians in order for America to shove an Israel-endangering agreement down the world's throat. Thankfully, the French -- hopefully, also the Saudis -- saw through the deception and at least momentarily prevented the terrible deal to be cemented. Ever on the case, Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick accurately X-Rayed the scene with these words:
"Obama has dispatched his secretary of state to threaten and deceive U.S. allies while surrendering to US foes. It is now an indisputable fact that the U.S. government may use its power to undermine its own interests and friends world wide."
Meanwhile, Kerry continues to tighten the negotiating vise on Israel while completely ignoring the machinations of Mahmoud Abbas and his Ramallah gang of liars. Worse, the PA's new strategy of systematic attacks on Israelis -- the latest, an IDF soldier murdered on a bus by a Palestinian -- continues along with endless incitement emanating from the West Bank.
"Surrounding the murderer," Bibi asserts, "is an education system, official PA newspapers, mosques and other places in Palestinian society that are full of incitement. If we want real peace the incitement has to stop."
But it won't cease and desist because Kerry's pro-Arab stand and refusal to condemn the likes of Abbas merely is encouraging a continuation of Arab attacks on Israelis.
It's now a question of whether brakes can be applied on the administration's machine that is roaring hellbent toward destroying Israel.
One hope is the American Congress. Another is Jerusalem's decision to call out Abbas every time another murder of an Israeli takes place while pointing out the futile nature of peace talks.
And, finally, there is the possibility of an unlikely Israel-Saudi alliance to apply realistic military pressure against the nuclear mad men in Iran!
