Washington, D.C., Comics: Dr. Ignoro vs. Bibi

Townhall.com ^ | March 25, 2015 | Jonah Goldberg

[Kaslin]

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough recently spoke to J Street, a left-wing organization that fancies itself the headquarters of the tough-love-for-Israel crowd. J Street's critics would phrase it a bit differently. In a charitable mood, they'd say J Street is all about loving Israel to death.

Regardless, J Street is the perfect think tank for the Obama administration to get its message out. Which is why McDonough was there to deliver harsh criticism of Israel and to signal that the U.S., under President Obama at least, will not be as reliable an ally to Israel as it once was, particularly at the United Nations.

The ostensible reason for the breakdown in relations is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won re-election by saying things the White House didn't like. Specifically, Netanyahu said that there would not be a two-state solution on his watch if he were re-elected. Netanyahu's point was merely that given the current circumstances in the Middle East and the disastrous experience of handing Gaza to Hamas, it's unlikely we'd see a two state solution anytime soon. But even if you were inclined to read something more nefarious into his remarks, Netanyahu has since modified -- or "walked back," as they say in diplomatic circles -- his statement.

Too bad, says the White House. Bibi said what he said. "We cannot simply pretend that those comments were never made," McDonough told the crowd at J Street.

There's nothing in the news accounts about whether the J Street audience burst into laughter or even if McDonough intended this as a laugh line. But intentional or not, it is hilarious.

For if there is one thing we know about Obama, it is this: He is very good at ignoring things he wants to ignore. If he were a superhero, he might be The Ignorator or perhaps Dr. Ignoro, complete with a cape, a giant "I" on his chest and his signature blinders blocking out all the inconvenient bits of life.

While the White House claims that it cannot pretend Netanyahu didn't make those remarks, it has no problem playing make-believe with comments from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (currently serving out the 10th year of his four-year term), who has repeatedly said the Palestinians will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Abbas, who literally has a Ph.D. in Holocaust denial, is what counts as a Palestinian moderate. Nonetheless, he formed a unity government with Hamas, the terrorist group openly determined to slaughter the Israelis.

But such facts are no match for Obama's limitless powers to pretend away annoying details. Why, just last week, Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, responded to chants of "Death to America" by saying, "Of course, yes, death to America." The White House is pretending he didn't make such comments. And when the administration gets a deal with the Iranians on their nuclear program, the president will take it to the U.N., not the Senate, because ignoring Congress -- and the Constitution -- is simply what he does on days that end with "y."

Barely six months ago, Obama cited Yemen as a great example of how successful his counterterrorism approach is. This week, as Yemen spiraled toward civil war and American military forces fled, Obama went golfing, ignoring the whole mess. (For Dr. Ignoro, the golf course is like his Batcave or Fortress of Solitude).

When his own advisers, military and civilian, warned Obama that fully bugging out of Iraq would be calamitous, leaving a vacuum for terrorists and Iranian meddling, the president ignored the advice and pretended everything was fine.

When a reporter for The New Yorker asked him about the Islamic State gobbling up Iraq, Obama explained why they should be ignored: They're just a "jayvee team," he said.

Obama is at his best when ignoring his own comments. His "red lines" are drawn in disappearing ink as far as he's concerned. Twenty-two times Obama said he didn't have the authority to unilaterally legalize immigrants. He did it anyway. You can keep your doctor and your insurance, he said -- before he stopped saying it.

So the notion this White House can't pretend Netanyahu didn't say what he said is simply hilarious, particularly given that what Netanyahu has said isn't what the White House is pretending to hear.

Of course, no informed person believes the White House is angry about how Netanyahu won re-election. It's angry that he was re-elected at all (unsurprising, given that Obama's political allies worked to oust him). Obama detests Netanyahu and is letting that animosity poison a strategic alliance. He is making that choice while pretending he isn't. That's what he does.

[Louis Foxwell]

We have the abiding hope that this skid mark on the pages of US history will fade with time.

[Star Traveler]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained, after the election, that he did not abandon Bar-Ilan and/or the TWO-STATE SOLUTION!!

Obama is making up several issues ... which are really “non-issues” ... and are for only making “political hay”! Obama wanted to get rid of Ambassador Dermer, because of the arrangements made through him (with the Speaker of the House) to have Netanyahu give a speech to a Joint Session of Congress. That really fired up the political opposition to the Iran agreement that Obama is trying to push through, and therefore Obama was looking for some “payback” ... namely “get rid of Dermer”!

And in regards to the other issue, and Obama accusing Netanyahu of being against a TWO-STATE SOLUTION ... that’s just an outright lie from Obama.

Obama is making this out to be REAL BIG ISSUE and is throwing a Temper Tantrum over it, even though he knows it’s TOTALLY FALSE and it’s a LIE that he’s telling the American public. Obama is hoping the FOOLS in America will believe him and not Netanyahu, when Netanyahu says he STILL supports a Two-State Solution, per Bar-Ilan.

The reason why Obama is making this out to be a big issue, is that he wants to “use it” to abandon Israel in the United Nations (by refusing to block UN Security Council Resolutions against Israel) and in the future by implementing sanctions against Israel.

As Obama knows very well, and as Netanyahu has made clear repeatedly after the election ... Netanyahu has not abandoned his Bar-Ilan policy speech regarding his support for the Two-State Solution.

Obama is trying to take a misunderstood campaign blurb and turn into a major policy reversal. It’s no such thing and Obama knows it!

This is what I said regarding what the Liberal press and Obama are doing ...

— — —

This a FALSE statement from the press and from Obama. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has REPEATEDLY sought to correct the mistaken impression that he does not support a TWO-STATE SOLUTION.

He does support it and he says that he has maintained that same support ... going back to his Bar-Ilan speech, when Obama first got into office. He says his position in support of the Two-State Solution has not changed since then.

What it is ... is that the liberal press and Obama want to hammer on Netanyahu no matter what ... and they’ve picked up on a LIE that Netanyahu does not support the Two-State Solution.

Here’s Netanyahu’s support for a Two-State Solution from what he has been referring to in the last several days to COUNTER THIS LIE!

Address by PM Netanyahu at Bar-Ilan University [Relates to Netanyahu’s Re-election]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3270248/posts

[Star Traveler]

Jewish establishment sounds alarm as White House rhetoric intensifies [Israel]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3271564/posts

Leading figures in Washington’s pro-Israel community are calling on the Obama administration to turn down the temperature.

For years defensive of their support for US President Barack Obama and his White House, Washington’s pro-Israel establishment now fears that the train of US-Israel relations is “running off the tracks.” Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, their reactions ranged from deep concern to “bewilderment.”

“The fact that the outcome of a Democratic election in Israel seems to be of great concern” to the Obama administration, said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, “is cause for deep anxiety and puzzlement.”

“Whatever the failings of the prime minister, the way this is unfolding runs completely contrary to the spirit of US-Israel relations,” Harris said. “The US appears to have a reasoned interest in prolonging the crisis.”

“As someone who was critical of several steps by [Netanyahu] during the campaign leading up to his re-election,” said Abe Foxman, longtime national director of the Anti-Defamation League, “I am even more troubled by statements now coming out of the White House.”

“What we are hearing from the Obama Administration raises deeper questions about their intentions and perspectives,” Foxman said. “From the beginning of the Obama years, there was a disturbing indifference to the mindset of the Israeli public.”