"No US administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours. None. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. It is a fact."
Forgive me, but I'm going to say otherwise.
Yes, Obama has helped fund Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system, and indeed, Netanyahu thanked Obama for his help in rescuing trapped personnel from Israel's Cairo embassy, when it came under attack by thousands of rioting Egyptians in September. Also in September, Obama acted to oppose the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood via the UN Security Council.
But now let's look at the flip side of the coin . . .
Obama visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in 2009, but refused to step foot in Israel. Since becoming president, Obama has visited some 30 different countries, several of them more than once, but Israel has never been on his agenda.
In 2010, Obama sought to humiliate Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, when he visited the White House. As reported by Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/25/president-allegedly-dumps-israeli-prime-minister-dinner/):
"For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Benjamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation."
Obama's contemptuous treatment of Netanyahu has continued unabated, culminating in the recent open microphone gaffe, when Obama bitterly said of Netanyahu to French President Sarkozy:
"You're fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day."
Obama has yet to apologize or attempt to explain away this remark.
Over the past month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta blamed Israel for its isolation (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/world/middleeast/panetta-says-israel-must-mend-ties-with-arab-neighbors.html?_r=1&hp), and indicated at a Pentagon news conference that the US is not weighing a military option to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/11/us-secretary-of-defense-panetta.html).
And although the Obama administration is planning sanctions against Iran's petrochemical sector, it is unwilling to take action against Iran's central bank (see: http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=246117).
Meanwhile, after reading of an isolated incident where several ultra-Orthodox soldiers walked out of an Israeli army concert where women sang, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this month compared Israel with Iran and warned of the erosion of democratic values in Israel (see: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/clinton-warns-of-israel-s-eroding-democratic-values-1.399543).
Consider also the lurking influence on American Middle East policy of senior Obama advisor and Israel-hater, Samantha Power, who in the past contemplated depriving Israel of military aid and investing billions of dollars to create a "protection force" to prevent Israel from perpetrating "genocide" against the Palestinians (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5XxXm8wPE).
Bottom line: Obama may have provided assistance for Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system, but he and his cabinet have dramatically undermined Israel's legitimacy over the past three years. There is a good reason Obama is not visiting Israel. Freed from the constraints of re-election, no one knows what life-threatening concessions Obama might seek to wring from Israel.
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