Rolling Out

(Cross-Posted at Israel Thrives)



Well, I am outa here, folks.

As Laurie and I get ready to hit the road for Israel, I am pondering some writing ideas, both short term and longer term. In the short term, I think I may write about how the Obama administration's hositility toward Israel and general failure in foreign policy may lead to a significant split in the American Jewish community. On the longer project, I will probably write on the administration's failure in regards the Arab war against the Jews from the beginning of his administration until the present moment.

However, before I do any of that, let me leave you with a Barry Rubin quote from an article that he published at the Jerusalem Post, yesterday:

Perhaps the most incredible aspect of all this is the numerous attempts by the Obama administration and its apologists –including Jews – to pretend that its policy is really good for Israel. Over and over again such people and their writings always ignore the regional strategic aspect of the damage that it is doing.

So what if the US government gives Israel military aid, which mostly consists of maintaining old programs? The Obama administration is building up the threat Israel faces to unprecedented levels. “I love Israel” statements don’t solve this huge strategic problem.

Indeed, the "regional strategic aspect." It doesn't much matter to me how many high-ranking Israeli officials say nice things about Barack Obama. And the fact that Israel and the United States maintain a high level of military cooperation is not surprising. What is surprising, or at least disappointing, is that the administration, like the progressive-left more generally, is turning a blind eye to the rise of the Jihad throughout the Middle East. What the administration should be doing about this very serious development is open to question, discussion, and debate, but what is not open to much question is the fact that this administration is simply denying reality.

There is no recognition that the "Arab Spring" is really the "Islamist Spring" and the administration is apparently standing by its contention that the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Islamist forces in the region, is something akin to the American Revolution and / or the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

I would like to suggest that Obama is probably just a tad mistaken on that question and that there is nothing to indicate that the he has even the slightest awareness of this mistake.

Well, the Jewish people have been around for over 3,500 years and I feel reasonably confident that we will survive this administration, as well.

And, with that, I am off.

Laurie and I head to Israel for a little while in our Quest for the World's Best Falafel. Some say Gina's in Tel Aviv while others insist upon Moshiko's in Jerusalem. We shall see, but I am still pulling for my friendly local food-truck guy at the Grand Lake farmer's market in Oakland.

We shall see.

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