ROBERT B. YUDIN
Opinion: U.S. stance on Israeli-Palestinian conflict weakens Israel
August 21, 2014 Last updated: Thursday, August 21, 2014, 1:21 AM
By ROBERT B. YUDIN
The Record
SINCE THE founding of Israel in 1948, it has been the bedrock of U.S. foreign policy to support Israel politically, economically and militarily. The one inviolate rule was that Israel must always retain its qualitative military superiority. Until now, both political parties have in a very non-partisan manner adhered to this principal.
A recent Gallup poll shows a change in this thinking. When asked about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas and specifically “Americans’ Views of Israel’s Action in Current Middle East Conflict,” 31 percent of those identifying themselves as Democrats felt Israel was justified while 47 percent felt Israel was not justified. Among those identifying themselves as Republicans 65 percent felt Israel was justified and 21 percent felt unjustified.
When you couple this with President Obama’s freezing military shipments to Israel in the middle of a shooting war with a terrorist organization – Hamas – many people have a right to be concerned.
Hamas has stated in its charter that it is dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and to the death of world Jewry. To date, Hamas has fired over 3,000 missiles into Israel as well as using tunnels into Israel for the purpose of killing Israelis.
The freezing of military shipments indicates a basic change in Obama’s policy to Israel. Reuters is quoted as saying that State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf says it is not a diminution of U.S. support of Israel. Yet actions speak louder than words, and withholding delivery of munitions speaks volumes.
In addition, Obama says Israel has a right to defend itself but that he is concerned with civilian casualties. I hear that as code for saying Israel does not have a right to defend itself because if Hamas puts missiles in the basement and purposively places civilians on the first and second floor when Israel, in defending itself, sends a missile into that basement to take out Hamas missiles before they are fired into Israel, the civilians on the first and second floor will become casualties. That is what Israel means when it says Hamas uses civilians to shield its missiles.
Leading up to World War II, few people believed Hitler when it became clear what his intentions were toward the Jews – it was the Holocaust. How can anyone fault Israelis for believing Hamas when its own charter calls for the same Holocaust?
Whether it is Hamas, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, al-Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood, their goals are the same: the destruction of Judaic-Christian religions, the destruction of our way of life and the domination of the world through the establishment of a Worldwide Caliphate.
Israel’s fight against Hamas is also our fight. If Israel loses, we are next.
Robert B. Yudin, a resident of Wyckoff, is chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization.
