Rubio Savages Obama for Congratulating Putin, Muslim Brotherhood — But Not Netanyahu
"As we all know, there was an election in Israel this week and many people are wondering, what is this aftermath of the election we keep reading about where there’s this controversy and the back and forth? Certainly some of that happened a few weeks ago when the prime minister of Israel visited Washington and spoke before the Congress. People were wondering, well, what is it that’s going on here and why is there so much controversy around all this? And I wanted to take a moment to delve deeper into this because this is important.
First of all, to answer the fundamental question, why should we care about what’s happening with Israel, in Israel and about Israel? And there’s two reasons I think we should care. The first is because Israel represents everything we want that region of the world to be. Israel is a democracy, as evidenced by the vibrant election process that they just underwent. Israel is a free enterprise economy, a developed economy that provides prosperity for its people and its partners in trade and commerce. And Israel’s a strong American ally, a democracy, free enterprise and a strong American ally.
Don’t we wish the entire Middle East look that way? Don’t we wish we had more countries in the Middle East that looked like Israel, that were our allies, that were democratic and were — and had a free and prosperous economy? How much better would the world be if the Middle East looked more like Israel and less like Iraq and Syria and other places look like at this moment?
There’s another reason why we should care about Israel. Israel’s not just another country. It has a special and unique purpose. It was founded as the homeland for the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Second World War and of the Holocaust where over 6 million human beings were slaughtered and it was founded on the promise that never again in the history of the world would there not be a place for the Jewish people to go and be safe. It’s not just a nation. It is a nation with a special and unique purpose, unlike any other nation in the world. And for one I am proud that the United States has stood with Israel for all these years and I am proud that the American people, on a bipartisan basis, have stood behind the Jewish state of Israel for all of these years.
And so the security, safety and future of Israel is in our national security as well as a moral obligation of every member of this body and us as a nation. And what are the underpins of Israeli security? There are two things. First, the ability of Israel to defend itself, and the second the reality that if Israel ever has to defend itself, the United States will be there to support them. There is little doubt about the first pillar of its security.
As the prime minister reminded us, unlike many other countries, Israel is not asking us to send American soldiers or aircraft to support them. They are willing to defend themselves. But the second pillar, about strong and unquestionable American support, is increasingly being questioned around the world and there’s good reason why.
Let’s begin by the aftermath of this recent election. As far as I know — and maybe this has changed in the last few hours — after this election, the president has yet to call the prime minister. That is unlike, of course, the fact that in March of 2012, he was among the first to call and congratulate Putin in Moscow. Or that in June of 2012, he was among the first to call Morsey and the Muslim Brotherhood when they won the Egyptian presidency. Or that in November in 2012 they called to congratulate the top Chinese communists on their new position, which, by the way, is not elected in the way you and I would consider there would be an election. Or the fact that in 2013, the historic phone call they brag about, how they called the Iranian president and congratulated him on his election. And, of course, in August of 2014, he called to congratulate Turkey’s President Erdogan. And on and on.
Time and again this president has made a habit of quickly calling these leaders when they win. But as of 4:40 eastern time, as far as I know, that call has yet not been made. And thinking about all the things that have been going on with Israel, you would think they would be quick to make that call. It hasn’t happened. Maybe it has already but it certainly didn’t happen enough fast enough. But where does this come from? Is this new? Is this something that happened recently? It isn’t. In fact, you can start to see the trends here pretty early. In October of 2008, then-senator Obama told an audience in Cleveland: ‘There is a strain within the pro—Israel community that says that unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach’— which is one of the political parties in Israel — ‘unless you adopt an unwavering pro- Likud approach to Israel, then you are anti-Israeli’ — which is a silly comment to make since at that time that party had been out of power. In January of 2009, the president, upon taking office, makes a quick phone call to the Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas, before he even phoned the Israeli prime minister.
‘This is my first phone call to a foreign leader and I am making it only hours after I took office’ — Abbas’ spokesman was quoted — quoted Obama saying. In June of 2009, the president hosted American Jewish leaders at the White House and he reportedly told them that he sought to put ‘daylight’ between America and Israel. Here’s the quote that someone at that meeting says he made: ‘For eight years during the Bush administration, there was no light between the United States and Israel and nothing got accomplished,’ he declared."
