Posted on 03/20/2019 6:17:16 PM PDT by markomalley
President Donald J. Trump will host Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, displaying a significant shift in policy from President Obama.
Netanyahu will join Trump for a working meeting on March 25 during which they will “discuss their countries’ shared interests and actions in the Middle East,” according to the White House press release Wednesday. The U.S. President will then host Netanyahu at a dinner on March 26. This will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the Trump White House.
What a difference nine years makes.
It was on March 23, 2010, that Netanyahu came to the White House. He was met there with a very different reception by then-President Barack Obama.
When Obama came into office his views of the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs had been formed by relationships with those who viewed Israel as the primary stumbling block to peace in the region.
Obama famously told a group of prominent American Jews that he intended to insert “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel. The reason given for the intentional distancing was that Obama believed no forward progress had been made during the time when the U.S. and Israel were close allies. Obama decided it was time to wield the stick instead of the carrot. But he would wield the stick only on the Jewish State, not its neighbors.
And so when Netanyahu came to the White House on March 23, 2010, Obama treated him “like an unsavory Third World dictator.”
There was no official press conference, as is de rigueur when world leaders come to the White House. No photographs were permitted of even a handshake between the two leaders.
Upon Netanyahu’s appearance in the White House, Obama handed Netanyahu a list of 13 demands. When little progress was made, Obama abruptly stood up and informed Netanyahu that he was “going to have dinner with Michelle and the girls,” and left the Prime Minister to cool his heels for over an hour.
When Obama finally returned to meet with Netanyahu, relations had not improved. A request was made by Israel for the issuance of a joint statement. The White House refused.
Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York City, was appalled by Obama’s treatment of the Israeli Prime Minister. Koch said at the time that it was “unimaginable that the President would treat any of our NATO allies, large or small, in such a degrading fashion.” Even though there were clearly policy differences between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government, according to Koch, a Democrat, that was “no excuse. Allies often disagree, but remain respectful.”
The announcement of Netanyahu’s visit to the Trump White House has come while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Jerusalem, during a several days-long swing through the Middle East.
Tongues were already wagging when Pompeo’s visit to Israel was announced. Israelis head to the voting booths next month, and some were suggesting Pompeo’s visit would provide an unfair boost to Netanyahu’s standing.
The political party of the Prime Minister, Likud, has once again been climbing in the polls, after several hard blows including indictments threatened against Netanyahu, and the formation of a new purportedly-centrist political party.
Netanyahu’s surprise visit to the White House this close to the election will likely be seen as yet another finger on the scale to assist the Prime Minister. But what a far cry from the relations between the Israeli Prime Minister – and Israel – and the last U.S. administration.
You beat me to it, I was just going to bring that up. Here’s a link. It puts a smile on my face every time I watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GZvrkZcxlc
Maybe I’m imagining it, but it looks to me like that Secret Service guy in the background is having a hard time not smiling. LOL!
Nice. Thanks for putting it all together.
ISIS
that’s all that needs to be said
OIbastard Couldn’t even call them that. Called em quietly. “ISIL “
Thanks. I think it is crazy to try to create a country when there is literally no central leadership, no real justice system, no government with a monopoly on the use of force and where various parts are controlled by different independent armed militias. There are other reasons but these are some of the biggest. Imagine if Canada had a dozen or so various political factions each with their own arsenal of rockets and bombs and guns and firing into American cities, and the Canadian government didn’t do a thing to stop it or punish the perpetrators? Nobody would want that. We’d be justified to invade and occupy parts of Canada and pursue the criminal elements.
To become a country in the modern day sense, there are just some basic prerequisites. You have to have a government. That government has to have the interests of its people out front and while societal violence exists all over the world, that government must act to prevent violence, mete out justice to the violent, and of course not allow rogue groups to go attacking and extorting civilians to exert their will - let alone attacking the country next door if only because of what the repercussions will be on the national interests. No country can allow unelected militias to drag them into a war.
Sorry, I am starting to rant and veering off topic. I am glad to see Trump change the terms of the debate. The policies of the Democrats have been an unmitigated disaster for everyone - most especially the Palestinians themselves. W Bush took a less hands on approach, but under his watch Israel did leave Gaza. But that didn’t even relieve the pressure because, imo, the world continues to reward the Palestinian government for its incompetence, ineptitude, lethargy, corruption and lack of will.
The political elite thought by putting the PLO in Ramallah that it would stop terror in Europe and well, they don’t care if he attacks Israel so long as he doesn’t hijack their planes or machine gun their Olympics. How did that work out? Arafat got rich while scores of other sociopaths started their own terror groups to fill the void.
ISIL, yes. He was one of the only people to call them ISIL. It was an obvious and intentional display of his contempt - perhaps not just for Netanyahu but for Jewish sovereignty in the middle east. To call it The Levant is suggestive of a land where Israel does not exist. There are many people who see Israel as an abomination because they see it as “Muslim land”. For Obama to use the term ISIL makes one wonder.
Upon Netanyahu’s appearance in the White House, Obama handed Netanyahu a list of 13 demands. When little progress was made, Obama abruptly stood up and informed Netanyahu that he was “going to have dinner with Michelle and the girls,” and left the Prime Minister to cool his heels for over an hour. When Obama finally returned to meet with Netanyahu, relations had not improved. A request was made by Israel for the issuance of a joint statement. The White House refused.
In case I'd never mentioned it before, Zero is an [solve this anagram] aehloss.
I may be in the minority here, but I think there should be an independent Palestinian state.>>>>>>
Yes there should be an ndependant Paestinian state. In the first 10 minutes of its existence it would commit an act of war against Israel, thereby justifying wiping Gaza and its inhabitants completely off the face of the earth. The problem would be solved, but not in the ay you would expect.
Yes, create a Palestinian state NOW.
..................
Al Sharpton or Netanyahu, who would you rather meet with?
” may be in the minority here, but I think there should be an independent Palestinian state.”
There was one created the same time Israel was created: Jordan.
The Arabs in Jordan, however, eventually decided they wanted nothing to do with the Arabs in Gaza, et al, leaving the leftover scum that is now called “Palestinian”.
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