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Netanyahu to Obama, Kerry: Don't second-guess me again

By Dan Calabrese ——--August 4, 2014

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Benjamin Netanyahu understands the realities of the threats that face Israel on a daily basis, and that's one of the reasons he has had such a long and successful political career there. Even when his Likud Party has been out of power, Netanyahu has remained as a respected leader and national figure, and he always ends up returning the role of prime minister because - when the always-under-seige nation's security is at stake - Israelis know who they can count on to protect them.
So when Hamas starts launching rockets into Israel, Netanyahu is not going to have much patience with American poseurs who only question his reading of the situation - all so they can push a truce that anyone could have seen would be unworkable. And this week, Netanyahu made it clear that he doesn't want to hear that nonsense from Barack Obama and John Kerry again:
Following the quick collapse of the cease-fire in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the White House not to force a truce with Palestinian militants on Israel. Sources familiar with conversations between Netanyahu and senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration "not to ever second guess me again" on the matter. The officials also said Netanyahu said he should be "trusted" on the issue and about the unwillingness of Hamas to enter into and follow through on cease-fire talks.
The Obama administration on Friday condemned "outrageous" violations of an internationally brokered Gaza cease-fire by Palestinian militants and called the apparent abduction of an Israeli soldier a "barbaric" action. The strong reaction came as top Israeli officials questioned the effort to forge the truce, accusing the U.S. and the United Nations of being naive in assuming the radical Hamas movement would adhere with its terms. The officials also blamed the Gulf state of Qatar for not forcing the militants to comply.
Notice his quickly Obama backed down and started issuing condemnations of Hamas. Not that it matters, since Obama is not going to do anything to punish Hamas for its aggression, but what we see consistently is that when either friend or foe stands up to Obama, he folds like a cheap suit. Conventional geopolitical wisdom is that Israel needs the protection of the United States too much not to be submissive when the U.S. wants something, which has sometimes been cited as the reason Israel restrains itself when it really wants to unleash all its power against its tormenters. I'd say that didn't happen in this case for two reasons:
  1. Netanyahu has no fear of any threat from Obama or Kerry to impose consequences on him, because they are all talk and no action, and Netanyahu knows it.
  2. Because they are all talk and no action, there's no point in holding out for their help. Their help is a big nothing burger.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has brought the usual condemnations from the United Nations crowd, as well as the usual media sob stories about civilians supposedly being hurt or killed. But in truth, the blood of all those people (assuming the stories are legitimate) is on the hands of Hamas, and not on Israel at all. All Israel wants to do is live in peace with its neighbors and not be attacked. Hamas refuses to let that happen, and in that situation, Benjamin Netanyahu knows exactly what to do. He also knows what not to do, which is to listen to Barack Obama and John Kerry. In fact, that's pretty good advice for all of us to follow, in all situations.

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Dan Calabrese——

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.

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