Monday, March 23, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Obama’s Bile
A lot happened in the last 48 hours that would normally make a U.S. president angry. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while we are in negotiations with his country, joined a crowd in demanding “death to America.” An ISIS affiliate published the names, addresses and photos of 100 U.S. military men and women and urged its followers to kill them right here in the U.S. (See items below.)
Sadly, not a harsh word crossed Obama’s lips in outrage regarding either of these affronts. Instead, during an interview with the Huffington Post, President Obama spewed bile once again at Israel and its newly reelected prime minister.
Obama’s animus toward the only Jewish nation in the world and its government can no longer be denied except by the willfully ignorant. Two recent former Israeli ambassadors to the United States, both men of moderate demeanor and students of diplomacy, are now speaking frankly about Obama’s reckless rhetoric.
Former Ambassador Michael Oren said, “The shared democratic values between [Israel] and the United States are the pillars of the relationship between our countries, and because of that, Obama’s words cause significant strategic harm.”
Former Ambassador Danny Ayalon, who served from 2002-2006, accused Obama of “looking to dramatically deepen the rift with Israel.” He added, “What is Obama doing? Instead of acting in a measured way and understanding that at stake is a mutual interest in maintaining good relations, he slapped Netanyahu in the face.”
Obama’s late congratulatory call to Prime Minister Netanyahu was anything but an act of good will. Some Israeli papers are reporting that Obama harangued the prime minister for 30 minutes.
Not coincidentally, the dangers to both Israel and America are growing every day.
Anti-Semitism On The Rise
From the U.N. to the streets of Europe, the world seems increasingly filled with incitement against the very existence of Israel. A London synagogue was attacked early Sunday morning. At least 20 people were reportedly involved. After beating up a man on the street, the mob chased him into the synagogue, smashed windows and reportedly yelled, “Kill the Jews!”
The Associated Press reports that more than a dozen Jewish graves were desecrated in a cemetery in Gyongyos, Hungary, about 50 miles east of Budapest. What makes this incident so appalling is that the tombstones were not merely defaced or knocked over. That could be easily fixed. In this case, the graves appear to have been dug up and the remains were scattered around the grounds.
Of course, Barack Obama is not calling for synagogues to be sacked or Jewish graves to be dug up. But the concern expressed by Ambassadors Oren and Ayalon about Obama’s rhetoric is valid. The United States has been a historic defender of Israel. Now that the voice of America’s leader is increasingly hostile, anti-Semites everywhere will predictably be emboldened.
“Death To America”
While President Obama is doing his best to get Iran to agree to a nuclear deal, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is still hoping for our destruction.
During a speech Saturday in which Khamenei was railing against the West and the pressure of sanctions against his regime, his audience began chanting, “Death to America!”
Khamenei did not chastise the crowd for its intolerance. He did not rebuke their belligerence. He embraced it, saying, “Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of this pressure.”
Why are we negotiating at all with this regime? What about its actions gives us any assurance that it can be trusted?
ISIS Targets Troops
Over the weekend, ISIS published online what is being described as a “kill list” — the names, photos and home addresses of 100 U.S. military personnel.
Those who continue to ignore or downplay the religious significance of this conflict should read the message posted with the list. It begins, “O You who worship the cross, O You crusaders that fight the Islamic State. . .”
It continues with a chilling exhortation to jihadists in America to open up a second front in the war. Consider this excerpt:
“With the huge amount of data we have from various different servers and databases, we have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers in America can deal with you. And now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for? Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe.”
The Culture Wars
Establishment voices who insist conservatives should stop talking about abortion need to pay attention to what is happening in Congress right now. Both the House and the Senate are facing gridlock because pro-abortion politicians are demanding hard-working taxpayers be forced to subsidize abortions.
In the Senate, left-wing senators stalled debate on a bill to fight human sex trafficking because the bill contains language, known as the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. The delay on the human trafficking bill is holding up a confirmation vote for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.
Meanwhile, in the House, pro-abortion groups are threatening to scuttle a deal on Medicare reforms over the Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment is not something new or controversial. It has been routinely included in spending bills for nearly 40 years because Democrats and Republicans, no matter how they felt about abortion, could at least agree that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize it. A January Marist poll found that 68% of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.
As I have written before, no matter how much they might prefer to talk about marginal tax rates or trade policy, conservatives cannot avoid the culture wars. On issues like this, they should speak up boldly. No American should be forced to pay for even one abortion.
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