Our Republican friends will do their darndest to convince us that the answer is Barack Obama. President Obama is not perfect, but let's compare him to his predecessors rather than to perfection.
George W. Bush (43) pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Gaza elections despite the objections of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, thus granting Hamas a diplomatic coup and a legitimacy it otherwise could never have attained.
Bush failed to stop North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. Instead of making Iran a top priority, he eviscerated Iran's two natural enemies, Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving Iran free to focus on its quest for nuclear weapons. Bush, who never met a military action he didn't like, not only did not attack Iran, but he rejected Israeli requests for aid for an Israeli raid on Iran's main nuclear complex. Bush also violated security agreements with Israel in which the U.S. promised to preserve Israel's qualitative military edge over Arab armies.
George Bush (41) opposed loan guarantees because of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza. He also opposed new "settlements" in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Bush complained that he was "one lonely little guy" up against thousands of lobbyists on the Hill. Those "lobbyists" were volunteers exercising their rights as American citizens. People like you and me.
Ronald Reagan faced down AIPAC and sold AWACs to Saudi Arabia despite intense opposition from the pro-Israel community. Reagan supported a UN Security Council Resolution condemning Israel after Israel saved countless lives by bombing Iraq's nuclear reactor. Reagan suspended delivery to Israel of F-16's after Israel bombed Iraq. After Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, Reagan suspended the strategic cooperation agreement between the U.S. and Israel, prompting Prime Minister Begin to accuse Reagan of treating Israel like a "banana republic."
Reagan called for a settlement freeze in 1982. In 1988, Reagan reversed long-standing U.S. policy and authorized the State Department to negotiate with the PLO, then considered by the U.S. to be a terrorist organization. Reagan never visited Israel in his entire life, but he did visit Bitburg and its SS cemetery in 1985, despite pleas from Elie Weisel and many others not to.
In 1975, Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger announced their intention to "reassess" relations with Israel to coerce Israel into signing an agreement with Israel that at the time was heavily tilted toward Egypt.
Dwight Eisenhower forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai in 1956.
The criticisms of President Obama, real and imagined, pale in comparison to the records of previous presidents. Bush 43, Bush 41, Reagan, Ford, and Ike were not anti-Israel. But if President Obama's record contained even a fraction of the anti-Israel activity of his predecessors, our Republican friends would be apocalyptic.
President Obama's record is firmly pro-Israel. He has done more to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions than any other president. He's imposed tough economic sanctions, he's rallied the international community to impose sanctions, and he's worked with Israel on viral attacks against Iran's computer networks. Iran is further away from acquiring nuclear weapons today than it was when President Obama took office. No matter how tough sanctions are they could always be tougher, and no matter what President Obama does to stop Iran, some Republican will pop up to say he could be doing more. But no one else has ever done more than President Obama to stop Iran, and he has consistently reiterated his determination to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. President Obama demonstrated in Libya and by his order to kill Osama bin Laden that he will not hesitate to use force when appropriate.
President Obama has taken military cooperation between Israel and the U.S. to unprecedented levels, and he's reversed the erosion in Israel's qualitative military edge that began during the previous administration.
President Obama has provided more security assistance to Israel than any president in history.
President Obama has fought attempts to delegitimize Israel in the international community. He refused to participate in Durban II or Durban III because of their anti-Israel agendas. He condemned the Goldstone Report. The only UN veto cast by the US during the Obama administration was in opposition to the one-sided anti-Israel Security Council resolution condemning Israel's settlement activity.
President Obama has surrounded himself with staunchly pro-Israel advisors, including Dan Shapiro, Dennis Ross, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Rahm Emanuel.
The list goes on and on. If you want to read the list to learn more about the above, documentation of the above, and more not mentioned above, click here.
We're going to hear again and again about how President Obama is supposedly not strong on Israel from Republicans who value partisan gain more than strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship. Our nation is united in its support for Israel. By using Israel as a wedge issue to create the illusion of policy differences between the parties on Israel, these Republicans only strengthen enemies of the US and Israel.
History proves that President Obama is a good friend of Israel.
For that we should all be thankful.
I must add that this is my opinion based on trends that I perceive. I rather hope that it may turn out different but as an old World-watcher nearing seventy, that is my prediction.
Reagan was what you would call an anti-semite today just by the fact that he didn't care for our historical relationship with Israel. He didn't try to undermine it but he refused to dance to their tunes.
This president once re-elected will move toward isolating Israel until they learn to play ball. Hopefully the public will support him to put Likud in its place.
http://pollingmatters.gallup.com/2011_06_01_archive.html
Israeli PM Netanyahu's unguarded talk on video: How I destroyed the Oslo Accords, and how easily Americans are manipulated and how to inflict massive pain on civilians.
http://crooksandliars.com/ian-welsh/israeli-pm-natanyahu-america-easily-move
ANY MORE QUESTIONS?
P.S. I hope the truly most anti-Israel president in America's history will realize the above, although emotionally and even intellectually will have hard time understanding it...!!
1.) How does the Palestinians going to the UN to affirm their right to statehood, violate UN SC Res. 242?
2.) How does the Palestinians going to the UN to affirm their right to statehood, violate the Oslo Accords?
It is Israel's relentless building of illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories that is in violation of UN SC Res. 242 provisions on "The inadmissibility of acquiring territory through war", and the demand that "Israel withdraw from the Occupied Territories".
Current Israeli PM Netanyahu unequivocally does not support the Oslo Accords. Here is the evidence: Netanyahu, reportedly unaware he was being recorded, " how he conditioned his signing of the 1997 Hebron agreement on American consent that there be no withdrawals from "specified military locations," and insisted he be allowed to specify which areas constituted a "military location" - such as the whole of the Jordan Valley. "Why is that important? Because from that moment on I stopped the Oslo Accords,"
It violates Operative Paragraph 1: "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."
"How does... violate the Oslo Accords?" It violates the signed agreement prohibiting unilateral action to unilaterally change the legal conditions of the conditions on the ground, specifically pertaining to final-status issues.
"t is Israel's relentless building of illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories that is in violation of UN SC Res. 242 provisions on "The inadmissibility of acquiring territory through war", and the demand that "Israel withdraw from the Occupied Territories"."
The settlements are not "illegal", either according to 242 nor by the Geneva Accords. ""The inadmissibility of acquiring territory through war", " is in the non-operative Preamble to 242, and, in any case, Israel's administration of the disputed territories is not the equivalent of "acquiring" the territories. They have not been annexed (yet).
242 does NOT "demand that "Israel withdraw from the Occupied Territories". Only the "Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict," which it has already done.
"Netanyahu unequivocally does not support the Oslo Accords." Immaterial. He has scrupulously adhered to the terms of the Accords.
I am not sure if the President is anti-Israel or just too naive to understand that the Palestinians hang on his every word when it comes to getting what they want. They are listening to Mr. Obama, and see no reason to negotiate - he is doing it for them.
But fear not Mr. Carter still gets the title of worst President for Israel (or the US) in recent history.
That's the problem. Mr. Carter was America's president - not Israel's. He had his priorities straight.
The fact that he was bad for Israel is almost an aside and can certainly be blamed on his blatant antisemitism we see from him to this day.
The US did not get involved in a democratic election. The people voted for who they thought would defend their interest, no one should stand in the way of that, no matter if some one else thinks its wrong or right. We halted all ecomomic aid to Palestine as a result Hamas win.
Isreal gets about 2.8 Billion in Aid and about 300 million in missle defence funds from our tax dollars.
America needs to stop paying foreign aid to Israel and bring the money home.
and this year alone, US sent US tax dollars to palestinians to the tune of $900 Million.
add to that, the UNWRA $$$ they get, of which, 27% is from US tax dollars.
add to that the *other* aid, making the palestinians one of the largest recipients of worldwide aid.
*worldwide*…and *the* largest recipient per capita.
*Amerika* "needs to stop paying foreign aid to Gaza/WB"….where they take to the streets,
bern amerikan flags and chant d.e.a.t.h. to amerika.
they don't deserve a dime from the US.
I despise Bush utterly with every shred of my being, but even I recognize that is an unfair and unsubstantiated accusation.
Yes, Bush made one blunder after another, sometimes minor, sometimes catastrophic. It's difficult to keep track of all the misjudgments and blunders, across all domains.
But to say that Bush was anti-Israel, because his mistakes were so costly to Israel, is akin to saying that Bush was anti-American, because his mistakes were so costly to the USA.
And no doubt, his mistakes were far costlier to the USA than they ever were to Israel, but even here no one accuses Bush of being anti-American. Just of being a very bad president.
More like "sometimes minor, generally catastrophic".