Admitting Too Much? Obama and Israel

In light of Obama’s well-known* anti-Israel record (saying that Israel “doesn’t know what its best interests are”, calling Netanyahu a “coward”,  giving free tanks and fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt who thinks the people of Israel are “bloodsuckers” and “the descendants of apes and pigs” for whom Egyptian children should be “breastfed hatred”, etc., etc.), some wonder why he’s even bothering to visit Israel now.  NPR, no Republican mouthpiece, practically admits that it’s just a cynical ploy to ingratiate himself with Israelis so that he can better sell them an unfavorable peace agreement with those who would destroy them:

A centerpiece of the president’s trip is a speech to the Israeli public on Thursday.  By demonstrating his own commitment to the Jewish state, Obama hopes to pave the way for some difficult negotiations in the future between Israel and the Palestinians.

NPR doesn’t have this written down anywhere that I can find, but it is (for now) available in the spoken Hourly News.  (Click on Hourly News near the upper-right corner of the NPR main page, try the link NPR provides, or try the URL it took me to.)  For the full context, I have transcribed this whole item (roughly from 1:00 to 2:00 on the recording):

President Obama leaves for Israel tonight as part of a four-day Middle Eastern trip.  Details from NPR’s Scott Horsley:

This is Obama’s first visit to Israel as president.  It’s an opportunity to refresh his relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who’s just settling in with a new governing coalition.

It’s also a chance for Obama to reaffirm the U. S.’ commitment to Israel’s security, a point he’s underscoring by inspecting an anti-missile battery partly funded by the United States.

A centerpiece of the president’s trip is a speech to the Israeli public on Thursday.  By demonstrating his own commitment to the Jewish state, Obama hopes to pave the way for some difficult negotiations in the future between Israel and the Palestinians.

Obama’s meeting with Netanyahu is also likely to focus on Iran and its nuclear threat.  The administration has promised to do what’s necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Jerusalem.

* Interestingly, even the late Ed Koch, who endorsed Obama in 2012, knew it, as Nathaniel Botwinick, Mark Steyn, and John Fund discuss.

Rounding out the NPR references, to put Obama’s naive political predilections in context, remember that Israel is only ever one bomb away from being entirely destroyed.