This week the bizarre priorities and policies of the President presented themselves in relief so stark even the members of those upscale synagogues headed by J Street rabbis -- the guys who say “never again” and then support the very Administration that is making “again” more likely -- must be starting to catch on.

In a speech full of platitudes and signifying nothing much at all besides his 1960’s style fantasies of history and human behavior, Obama made his Middle East peroration in Cairo in June 2009.   Just as he preposterously promised us that upon his election the oceans would begin to recede, there he sketched a rosy picture of peace and tranquility in the Middle East.   At the same time, in defiance of the Egyptian authorities which had declared the Moslem Brotherhood an illegal organization, he insisted 10 members of the opposition party, the Moslem Brotherhood, be invited to hear his oration. 

Ironically, what happened next showed that the only way to bring peace in the Middle East was to ignore Obama completely.   True his tacit support of the Moslem Brotherhood helped them unseat Hosni Mubarak and install Mohamed Morsi in his place, but Morsi so overplayed his hand that he was soon deposed and the “Moslem coup” died aborning.   His successor, Abdelfattah el-Sisi has been a forthright supporter of reform in Islam, has cut off supplies to Palestinian terrorists, even bulldozing the area near their border to make cross border smuggling of arms, terrorists and  supplies more difficult.  By all accounts Egypt and Israel are on better terms than they were in 2009, but only by not making concessions to Palestine, as Obama would have them do, and by not turning over control of Egypt to Obama’s friends in the Moslem Brotherhood.

To date, Obama’s upending of long established alliances around the world has done the most harm in the Middle East where the Iranian government directly or through subsidiary outfits is gobbling up more territory, as we pretend the stalled nuclear negotiations are going to do anything to halt Iran’s nuclear program.   This week we released billions of dollars of their frozen assets, refused to go along with harsher sanctions for their open violations of existing agreements, and stood by as their proxy Houthis in Yemen overthrew that government, posing an even greater challenge to the Saudis and to our drone warfare program based in Yemen.  Once again, Obama’s proven himself a false prophet, for just last September he hailed that country as “a success story”.   Best describing the situation there was Tom Maguire:

 “The enemy of my enemy is my other enemy”

Further unsettling the area was the death this week of Saudi King Abdullah.  

Abdullah reportedly could not stand Obama.   The President was going to send Joe Biden to pay the nation’s respects but now claims the White House staff just happened to notice that he’d be leaving India in time to do this himself.   The Saudi succession is unclear, the area is increasingly unstable and Iran’s threat to the Kingdom grows by the moment fed by Obama’s feckless policies.   One wonders how delighted they will be to see him.

But that’s just background to the week’s events which saw our thin-skinned puerile president fighting a childish war with Congress and Israel, in a fight his party which depends so heavily on Jewish support and contributions was hoping would stay hidden behind the major media screen.   (The deflated balls the media paid most attention to this week were on the football field, not in Washington.)  They hope Jewish voters still don’t understand the virtually unanimous support of the Republican Congress for Israel and the Democrats’ leftward swing toward her enemies.  (Robert Menendez, co-sponsor of the  bill to toughen sanctions is a welcome exception to the Democrats on this issue.   The day after Obama’s State of the Union address, he said the Administration’s talking points seemed to have been crafted in Tehran.)  Don’t hold your breath waiting to hear from Senators Schumer or Boxer on this development.

Speaker Boehner fired the long overdue volley, inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to address both Houses of Congress about the threat from radical Islam and Iran.  This is an unusual move to be sure and Peggy Noonan and others gasped at the audacity.   Still, what’s more audacious than cozying up to America and Israel’s enemy, Iran, while garnering up Jewish campaign funds and support with lies about your intentions?  And what else is left besides Congress and a supine press to fight the President’s sellout of the Middle East to America’s enemies?

The White House has been dealing with Iran in secret without informing Israel.

Despite ostensible full coordination between the US and Israel over strategies for thwarting Iran’s nuclear weapons drive, the administration did not keep Israel fully informed on those talks, Channel 10 news reported, but Jerusalem nonetheless has a pretty clear picture of what has been going on in the secret channel.  

White House spokesman Bernadette Meehan was quoted by Haaretz as saying that the report was “absolutely, 100 percent false.”

The report, which relied on unnamed senior Israeli officials, said the US team to the secret talks was led by Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.   Her primary interlocutor, the report said, was the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi.   The talks have been taking place in various Gulf states.

In the course of the talks, the report said, the Americans offered the Iranians a series of “confidence-building measures,” which underlined American readiness to conclude a deal and undercut sanctions pressure

The White House response reflects Obama’s usual petulance and lies.   First they said it was a breach of protocol to have invited Netanyahu without first consulting with the white House.  Undoubtedly this is so, but this is not a normal Administration or situation.  In any event, Obama is in no position to stand on protocol.   Among his notable departures from protocol: bowing to the Saudi and Japanese monarchs, gifting the Queen of England an iPod of his speeches;  giving a toast while the orchestra played “God Save the Queen” in Britain, making the Dalai Lama leave the White House through the back entrance past the trash containers; leaving Netanyahu sitting downstairs while he went upstairs to dinner.   Surely there are more such instances, which I’ve forgotten, but these breaches stand out.

Another assertion was that Obama would not meet with Netanyahu when he comes because he doesn’t want to affect the upcoming Israeli election.   As far as I can tell, Israeli voters hold Obama in such low regard the only way he could affect the election would be to hug and kiss Netanyahu when he’s here.

The dirty fighting continued with the White House indicating it was inappropriate for foreign leaders to lobby Congress, apparently hoping we’d forget that just days before they had invited British Prime Minister Cameron to do that very thing  to scotch Congressional efforts to force tougher sanctions on Iran.

The capper was the White House leak that Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad itself wanted us to continue Obama’s all carrots no stick policy toward Iran.   When you tell a whopper that enormous expect to be caught out even with our deadbeat press.   We now have an alternative media that remains awake.

 [quote]

On January 21, 2015, Josh Rogin and Eli Lake at Bloomberg News reported Israeli Mossad Goes Rogue, Warns U.S.   on Iran Sanctions:

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has broken ranks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling U.S.   officials and lawmakers that a new Iran sanctions bill in the U.S.   Congress would tank the Iran nuclear negotiations.[snip]

In a rare move, the head of Mossad issued a statement denying the reports that he is against sanctions.

Israel Matzav has the details and translation:

The above was just posted on TwitLonger by Israel Radio reporter Chico Menashe.   Here’s my translation:

Reaction of the Mossad Chairman to the new crisis with Washington:

On 19 January 2015, Mossad Chairman Tamir Pardo met with a delegation of American Senators.   The meeting took place at the Senators’ request, and with the Prime Minister’s approval.

Contrary to the report, the Mossad Chairman did not say that he opposes additional sanctions against Iran.   In the meeting, the Mossad Chairman emphasized the unusual effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Iran a number of years ago in bringing Iran to the negotiating table.

 

The Mossad Chairman pointed out that the negotiations with Iran must be conducted using ‘carrots and sticks,’ and the ‘sticks’ are currently missing.   The Mossad Chairman pointed out that without strong pressure, it will not be possible to bring about significant compromises on the Iranian side.

The Mossad Chairman did not relate to the use of the term ‘hand grenade’ with respect to the imposition of sanctions, because in his eyes, these are the ‘sticks’ that will help to obtain a good agreement.   He used this term to describe the possibility of creating a temporary breakdown in the talks, at the end of which the negotiations will be restarted under better conditions.

The Mossad Chairman explicitly pointed out that the agreement that is being reached with Iran is bad, and may lead to a regional arms race.

Jennifer Rubin sums up the situation:

All of this suggests a quiet diplomatic war behind the scenes.   The administration, contrary to the wishes of Israel and Middle East allies, refuses to put more pressure on Iran.  Our allies and many observers in the U.S. as well as a bipartisan majority of lawmakers fear the president is giving away the store and that Iran is gaining a nuclear weapons capability, all with the blessing of the West.   This is “containment” by another name. [snip] What is certain is that the administration wants a deal so badly it wants no interference from anyone.   Congress, the large majority of Americans, Israel (our closest ally in the Middle East) and the Sunni states understand that there will be no deal, only capitulation, unless pressure is increased on Iran.   This is arguably the most serious break in U.S.-Israeli relations ever, a break that stems from a president who has the worst relationship with Israel since its founding.   That it spilled over into the public tug and pull is a message of how badly relations have ruptured.   Congress needs to act promptly to maintain solidarity with our allies and to stave off a catastrophically dangerous deal.

UPDATE: It is now being reported that the president will not meet with Netanyahu when he visits in March.   This obvious snub typifies Obama’s attitude toward our closest ally.   They are certainly pleased in Tehran.

But none of this seems to have kept Obama from his most important responsibilities.This week he found time to sit down for interviews with three wacky women, including a green lipsticked GloZell who posts online videos of her eating Froot Loops from her bathtub andis known for a comedy video where she says she loves Obama because:

“He black! He black he black he black! Yes, I said it.”

His priorities, public relations stunts and foreign policies are stupid! They’re stupid stupid! Yes, I said it.