We’re a few hours away from what promises to be the least… even-tempered… episode to date of One Jerusalem Radio’s TOCS. You can tune in live via either the main show page or the episode page, and as always the phone lines and chat room will be open for comments and questions.
It turns out that abandoning and attacking a long-standing ally – no matter how much one’s Columbia professors and Chicago office mates would approve – is simply unhelpful in promoting the peace process and securing regional stability. So we’ll be talking mostly about Obama doing that, plus the openly genocidal riots and diplomatic hardening his blunders have triggered.. Official blurb:
Omri covers the diplomatic, military, and strategic consequences of the manufactured crisis between the United States and Israel. News segments will focus on the consequences of the Obama administration’s hypocritical, one-sided broadside: an endangered Israeli-Arab peace process, degraded US influence across the Middle East, reinvigorated attacks on Jewish rights in Jerusalem, and renewed Palestinian violence. As he does every week, diplomacy and media specialist Dan Diker will call in to provide context and analysis directly from Israel. This week he and Omri will discuss the degree to which the US-Israel special relationship has been downgraded by perceptions of White House hostility, and how that will affect the stability and threat perceptions of countries throughout the region.
Underlying everything, of course, is the manifest relish that this administration takes in slapping around the Jewish State. There’s been Clinton’s public gloating in hostile British media outlets. There’s been Biden’s unconcerned “get over it” to the Israeli public. And of course there’s been Obama’s protestation about balance, a precise claim about wording that was so demonstrably false that many suspected it was a deliberate show of disrespect. Ditto for the incoherent and contradictory justifications the White House has been trotting out for its animus. These are smug rhetorical sneers: brazenly daring people to call them out on their disingenuous nudge-wink banalities.
Those suspicions were more or less confirmed when Netanyahu showed up for his meeting and was publicly humiliated by Obama. This has morphed from a mere trend to an out-and-out diplomatic strategy in the last couple weeks, a dynamic not lost on the White House press corps. This morning they grilled Gibbs on Obama’s repeated snubs and his responses were – quote – “we were comfortable” and “we were pleased” with the format. I’ll go over the clips and try to take any callers who’d like to comment. Democrats who were totally insufferable during the election about how you’d have to be an absolute idiot to doubt Obama’s pro-Israel bona fides – you’re especially welcome.
It’s a diplomacy topic today so of course that means an extended call with Dan Diker from the Institute For Contemporary Affairs. Above and beyond getting the in-depth analysis you’d get if you caught him on Israeli and Arab media outlets, you’ll want to specifically listen for the part where we discuss Clinton’s AIPAC speech. I haven’t done a full post on this yet but wait till you hear what she said. It starts around 7:00 in the segment. Just wait.
References and related after the jump…
References:
* One Jerusalem Radio’s TOCS [Blog Talk Radio]
* The Obama Intifada [TOCS]
* Hillary Gloats: Slapping Around Israel “Is Paying Off” [Mere Rhetoric]
* Biden: Why Can’t Folks Just “Get Over” How I “Condemned” Israel, Which I Will Now Do Again [Mere Rhetoric]
* Obama: What’s All This About Me One-Sidedly Attacking Israel? [Mere Rhetoric]
* Compare And Contrast: “Condemnation”-Worthy Israeli And Palestinian Symbolism During Biden Visit [Mere Rhetoric]
* Obama Hosts Netanyahu [WSJ]
* WaPo: “Biden Flunked” On Israel Trip, Needlessly Alienated Netanyahu [Mere Rhetoric]
* Mel Levine’s Defense Of Obama: He’ll Make Obsessed Anti-Israel Lunatics Love The US. Presumably By Magic. [Mere Rhetoric]
* Obama Shill Tells Jews To Get Over Their “Obama Paranoia” [Mere Rhetoric]
Related Mere Rhetoric Categories:
* TOCS
* Politics Israeli
* American Politics
