Obama, Biden administrations failed Israel

Misplaced trust in Iran among factors that spawned Hamas attack

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

Former President Barack Obama’s and President Joe Biden’s Middle East plans have been an abject failures. They, and their advisers, should never be near the levers of government ever again.

Obama created a Middle East utopian vision built on his cult of personality. Throw in his anti-Israel views, his radical relationships, and his misplaced trust in Iran and the backdrop of Hamas’ attack on Israel becomes clearer.

It’s a saga filled with lies on the Iran nuclear deal, and far more alarming, an Iranian spy ring emerging in the U.S. State Department and Pentagon. Long-time Obama ally Robert Malley is on leave as Iran envoy and he had his security clearance stripped after his role became known this summer. Ariane Tabatabai, who had direct communication with Iran, was “cleared to work as a chief of staff in the Defense Department, with direct access to the most sensitive real-time details of U.S. special forces operations.” Lee Smith wrote at Tablet Oct. 1. This now has GOP members of two congressional committees asking questions, and that was before Hamas’ atrocities. Jay Solomon wrote the initial article for Semafor.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 8 that Iran was responsible for the Hamas attack. Obama didn’t condemn the Hamas attack until late afternoon on Columbus Day, nearly 72 hours later. That’s not unusual given Obama’s Middle East track record.

There was messianic rhetoric attached to Obama in 2007. If that didn’t aid Obama’s hubris, the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize did. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize because he existed, not because he achieved results. Obama developed a lofty view of himself, believing he could convince adversaries like Iran to change their ways.

Obama is as much a narcissist as Donald Trump. Obama believes he’s the “smartest guy in the room.” From his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was praised for his oratory skills. The U.S. media fed his ego and he believed he could talk anyone into anything. Unfortunately, policy requires vision, an understanding of human nature, and moral clarity about the people across the table. This is where Obama failed. 

Obama had relationships with radicals who solidified his anti-Israel views.

He sat under the preaching of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago for 20 years. Wright called Israel an “apartheid state,” among other things. Obama also has been connected to William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn. 

As Mark Hemingway reported at The Federalist:  

Then there was the issue of Obama’s friendship with Rashid Khalidi, who is now a professor at Columbia University, though he formerly worked at the University of Chicago with the future president. Khalidi is cited in press reports as a spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) terror group in the early ’80s, though Khalidi claims this characterization is inaccurate. It’s undeniable, however, that Khalidi has made numerous controversial remarks over the years justifying Palestinian violence.

Obama’s anti-Israel sentiments have Chicago roots, as Hemingway reported:

In August, Tablet magazine published a much-discussed, comprehensive interview between David Samuels and Obama biographer David Garrow. The biggest headlines that emerged from that interview had to do with Garrow uncovering letters where Obama wrote in detail about his gay sex fantasies. But buried beneath that revelation was a substantial discussion of Obama’s anti-Israel politics. Or as Tablet’s David Samuels put it, ‘Obama’s hostility to American exceptionalism also seemed linked to his hostility to Israel, or more specifically to America’s identification with Israel.’ As Samuels went on to note, the inexplicable fixation Obama had with making Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terror attacks, and the same country behind Hamas’ atrocities in Israel over the weekend — a regional hegemon in spite of Israeli (and Saudi) objections is ample proof of that.

It wasn’t all weakness with Obama. He authorized a Navy SEAL Team to kill Osama bin Laden in May 2011. Additionally, he used drones to take out bad guys. However, his hubris, combined with an anti-Israel mindset and his batch of radicals, contributed to his policy failures–and those of President Joe Biden. 

The Obama apology tour started early. The Heritage Foundation chronicled 10 times between his January 2009 inauguration and late May 2009 where then President Obama apologized for something about America.

The Arab Spring unfolded, sweeping multiple Middle Eastern nations. Obama neglected to deal with Iran and Syria, but the world saw Hosni Mubarak ousted in Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi assassinated in Libya. The Gaddafi assassination led to a vacuum of leadership that spawned the Benghazi, Libya attack on Sept. 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed along with three others: Information Officer Sean Smith, and two CIA operatives, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs.

Obama’s key Iran policy was the nuclear deal with negotiations that began in 2012 with the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, plus Germany. An agreement emerged in November 2013 and was signed in 2015. Obama’s biggest failure was the belief that an Iran nuclear deal would somehow end the Iranian regime’s long-standing hatred of Israel, as much a part of their DNA as their Islamic theocratic government.

It’s all circumstantial for a young Obama with anti-Israel views and radicals around him, and who develops an ego aided by the media, to produce an Iran-focused policy of appeasement as president. However, it is foolish to believe in coincidences.

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuke deal in 2018. When Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, was elected president in 2020, it was obvious that He would pursue something new with Iran. Biden views Iran as part of an “integrated Middle East.” 

In prophetic fashion, Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan told a gathering in late September: “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”

Not now.

With the U.S.S. Gerald Ford in the Mediterranean, a second one possibly joining them, and now with U.S. hostages in Gaza, Team Biden has a genuine crisis.

Americans should be focused on:

• How far does the Iranian spy ring reach in the Biden administration? What did they know and when did they know it? Was it a factor for events on Oct. 7?

• How does this war escalate? If it does, who are the players?

• Does some other nation, such as China, use it to start their war on Taiwan?

• What is going on with the weapons left in Afghanistan?

• How many terrorists have crossed into the U.S. from the southern border?

• When will Americans demand morally and/or professionally corrupt public officials be held accountable, with serious professional and personal repercussions?

Team Biden and the Congress must find answers–post haste.