The latest from the most anti-Israel President in American history
First, we had two instances of the Obama team excluding Israel in a very crude and clear way from a list of nations that have suffered terrorism and that have extended aid to Haiti after its severe earthquake.
From Martin Peretz, emeritus editor of the New Republic and a former big supporter turned big critic of Barack Obama
I wish it would be historically possible-that is, historically honest-for Israel to be omitted from the long list of target countries that have been the victims of terrorism. Alas, it is not. But President Obama has a habit of making such lists, and he always fails to include Israel (or anyplace within its borders) as a target of this distinctive and most vicious form of warfare.
The omission is surely deliberate. Here's the latest one, linking 9/11 to terror elsewhere, from The New York Times, August 29, 2011:
As we commemorate the citizens of over 90 countries who perished in the 9/11 attacks, we honor all victims of terrorism, in every nation around the world. ... We honor and celebrate the resilience of individuals, families, and communities on every continent, whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London.
And here on July 24, 2008 in Berlin:
We can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.
I've made an observation about Obama's omission of Israel in another list of his once before. In my ex-blog, The Spine, I observed last January that in the president's litany of countries that aided Haiti in its terrible need and despair he'd omitted Israel. Given the depth of Israel's rescue work, it cannot have been an oversight. So was it Obama himself who flinched when he saw the troublesome country's name in the text prepared by his staff? Or did his staff not name Israel in the first place? There's a story to be told about his speechwriters. And it might just be that they know his prejudices.
Even CNN -- a network not known for its good coverage of Israel -- highlighted the stellar efforts made by Israel to help Haitians (as did Peggy Shapiro on American Thinker). But Barack Obama...nothing but silence and exclusion. Gee...one would think that someone who has become a symbol of inclusion would be sensitive to people being treated as pariahs. I guess his concern does not extend to the one minority that did more than any other group to help African-Americans before, during, and after the Civil Rights era.
Now the latest outrage comes to me courtesy of William Katz , the blogger behind the superb Urgent Agenda:
Hillary Clinton, in New York, just announced something called the Global Terrorism Forum. Here is the State Department fact sheet:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/09/172010.htm
This "forum" is presumably set up to fight terrorism. It will initially be chaired by...and get this...the United States and TURKEY, a country becoming increasingly hostile and slipping behind the Islamic curtain.
There are 30 founding members, including such anti-terrorist worthies as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and South Africa.
One country is left out: Israel.
This is a complete outrage. Any "forum" set up presumably to fight terrorism should clearly contain the one nation that knows more about the subject than any other.
Turkey was behind the Mavi Marmara incident in which a flotilla to extend aid to Hamas-ruled Gaza was boarded by Israeli military trying to enforce a blockade on Gaza to stop terror attacks on Israel. This blockade was recently held to be legal under international law by no less than the United Nations (not a hot bed of Israel support). The Israelis were viciously attacked by terror supporters (if not terrorists) on the boat and defended themselves, resulting in several deaths. This boat took off from Turkey, was sponsored by a Turkish "charity" that serves in reality as a terror-supporting group, and several of the dead were from Turkey.
Now Turkey, a nation that has been lurching into the anti-American and anti-Israel orbit of Iran, is considered fit not just for membership but leadership of an anti-terror forum established by President Obama and his minions.
Apparently, Barack Obama has no problem with treating Israel as pariah nation. And promoting the prestige of terror-supporting nations.