Israel to Obama: "No You Can't!"

North Korea is launching missiles, Iran is building nukes, Saudi Arabia is sponsoring hate that translates into worldwide terrorism, Sudan is still massacring and raping, China is busy ethnic cleansing Tibet into a Chinese province... but the Obama Administration is furious, yes "furious" at only one country, Israel.

What did Israel do? Well it's building a hotel in Jerusalem.

Washington is furious over the Interior Ministry's anticipated approval of a plan to build a new hotel in East Jerusalem, just 100 meters from the Old City's walls. In conversations with Israeli officials, senior American officials have made it clear that they want Israel to freeze all plans for expanding the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, and especially in the Holy Basin - the area adjacent to the Old City.

What right does Israel have building a hotel in its own capital anyway? So far we've had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demand an end to Jewish babies being born, as if she were Pharaoh dressed up in a power suit. The administration has demanded an absolute freeze on settlements, with Jerusalem to be viewed as a "settlement" too, in exchange for Abbas and Hamas, maybe sorta stepping up their security cooperation. The double standard here isn't exactly hard to find.

The Muslim world can build nukes (Iran), commit genocide (Sudan), occupy anyplace they want including the territory of a NATO ally (Turkey), and Obama will come hat in hand to them, bearing apologies and huge aid packages.

Israel however had better not even think of building a hotel in its capital city. Or having babies. Or the Obama Administration will be furious and leak supposed plans to "punish" Israel for having the temerity to keep on living, building and growing.

In only six months, the Obama Administration has already become the most Anti-Israel administration since the reign of "Apartheid" Jimmy Carter. In an NPR interview Obama described his administration's Anti-Israel trajectory as "Being Honest", which apparently makes Israel-Bashing, the New Honesty.

Obama expects Netanyahu to rush forward and begin the ethnic cleansing of 475,000 Jews from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all to create a Palestinian state out of the Fatah and Hamas terrorist gangs. Now why exactly wouldn't Israel want to do that? Especially when Hamas and Fatah's main goals remain the destruction of Israel, and that most of their budgets go to training terrorists and trying to kill Israelis with bombs, shelling and rocket attacks.

Sure let's create a Palestinian state out of two mini-states that have no economy of their own, are entirely funded by foreign money, and over 17 years have shown no sign that they can A.) Run their own affairs B.) Stop the terrorism.

While the proposed Palestinian State has no economy, no plans for the future that don't involve blowing up Israel, and already plays host to a branch of Al Queda... it does have its own anthem. With lines like "With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my revenge", or "Palestine is my revenge and the land of endurance", the theme here is none too subtle. Revenge. Death. Killing. Not peace.

"Palestine" is nothing more than an instrument for destroying Israel. It's what the PLO was created for. It's what Iran keeps funding Hamas for. The mythical Palestinian nationalism has as much to do with it, as Afghani nationalism has to do with the Taliban. They are both projections of a much larger Islamist agenda.

And Netanyahu agreeing to a Palestinian state based out of Israel's own capital, would be as lunatic as an American President agreeing to a Taliban state in Mexico, and parts of Texas, Arizona and Washington D.C.

Nevertheless the Obama Administration which has already stated that it has no intention of honoring the Bush Administration's guarantees to Israel, expects Israel to rush off and create a terrorist state so Obama's Cairo speech will win a better Muslim reception.

That too is part of the pattern. Every one of Obama's attempts to appease Muslims have been stupid, misguided and dangerous. And usually have come at someone else's expense. Obama muscled Turkey into a leading role in NATO over European objections, despite Turkey's slide into Islamic radicalism. Obama risked the lives of US soldiers with a proposed release of detainee photos that was only halted when Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki forcefully pointed out to him that the release would stir up terrible violence and sabotage Obama's own plans for a timely pullout.

Now Obama is going three for nothing, trying to muscle Israel into putting its survival on the line so he can get some applause when he does his Islamic Apology Tour. And to his furious consternation, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Israel told him, "No".

No, isn't a word that egotists like Obama are used to hearing. But Obama didn't win any elections in Israel, and his administration can't come to terms with the man who did. That of course is diplomacy, which Barry Hussein isn't very good at. The Obama Administration has two diplomatic modes, the naif and the thug.

Russia, the Muslim world and America's enemies are getting the naif who's willing to give away the whole store for a kind word and a handshake. America's allies are getting the cheap trashy thug who brings the Queen of England an iPod with his own speeches on it, tells the head of the Greek Orthodox Church that he had better come to terms with Islam, shakes down an apology for his country's freedom of speech from the Danish Prime Minister and berates the Prime Minister of Israel for not agreeing to destroy his country, so Obama can get another round of applause in Cairo.

But while Obama is busy picking his fight with Israel, Israelis from the Prime Minister, down to ordinary citizens are telling Obama, "No you can't."

Israelis understand that the issue really isn't about settlements, as Hugh Fitzgerald puts it,

Opposition to what are so tendentiously called "the settlements" is not about the "settlements" at all. It is about whether Israel is going to be allowed to decide for itself the minimum conditions of its own survival, or whether others -- apparently to include an Administration so deeply unlearned in the history of the area, and in the claims, and rights, of the Jews to build these "settlements" (simply Jewish villages and towns) on land that was always intended for Jewish settlement by the League of Nations in its Mandate for Palestine.

After 17 years of terror, Israelis went to the polls and voted for security. They did not vote for a two state solution. They did not vote to be Obama's pinata, or to be thrown under the bus whenever Obama tries to play up to the Muslim world.

Brick by brick, Obama has built up an administration that is hostile to Israel. He is sabotaging Israel at a military and political level. By voting for security, Israelis chose their own security, over Obama's foreign policy ambitions in the Muslim world. Now Obama is punishing them for it. Fueled by a longstanding bias toward Israel, with a worldview fed to him by a racist church where Israel was accused of creating genetic bombs and genocide, the last thing Obama cares about is Israel's survival. And in response, Israel has told Obama, "No you can't."