Kahl: “No President in History has Done More for Israel’s Security than Barack Obama”

Max Samis — August 16, 2012 – 3:51 pm | Barack Obama | Israel | Mitt Romney Comments (0) Add a comment

Over the past four years, President Barack Obama has time and time again demonstrated his steadfast commitment to the security of the State of Israel - leaving his detractors grasping at straws and deceptions for ways to criticize him. Now, Colin H. Kahl, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for the Middle East, has written an op-ed in Foreign Policy stating that “no president in history has done more for Israel’s security than Obama.”

Kahl wrote:

For more than six decades, the Jewish state has enjoyed wide bipartisan backing in the United States. Yet seven of the last 11 presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman (who famously recognized Israel’s independence minutes after it was declared), never made the trip. Of the four who did visit Israel, two (Richard Nixon and George W. Bush) did so only in their last year in office. What’s more, as the Post’s review of State Department records shows, every president who visited Israel did so only after first visiting Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

So if trekking to Tel Aviv is the exception rather than the rule, why would Romney and his allies resort to such a substance-free metric to criticize Obama’s Israel policy? Because, it’s all they have. As the Defense Department official with primary responsibility for enhancing Israel’s defense capabilities and deepening joint military cooperation with the United States from 2009 to 2011, I can attest to a different reality: No president in history has done more for Israel’s security than Obama.

The case for Obama’s Israel policy begins with record-high levels of Foreign Military Financing (FMF). The Obama administration has increased security assistance to Israel every single year since the president took office, providing nearly $10 billion in aid—covering roughly a fifth of Israel’s defense budget—over the past three years…

Under Obama’s direction, the United States has also deepened defense cooperation aimed at helping Israel address its most pressing security concerns, including rocket and missile threats emanating from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. When then-Senator Obama traveled to Israel in 2008, it wasn’t for a political fundraiser. Instead, he visited Israeli victims of Palestinian rocket fire in the southern town of Sderot, declaring ‘I came to Sderot with a commitment to Israel’s security.’ These were not just words. As president, Obama has championed efforts to provide Israel with $275 million over and above its annual FMF to help finance Iron Dome, an anti-rocket system that has already saved Israeli lives by intercepting approximately 90 percent of projectiles launched against protected areas in the country’s south in the past year…

Beyond efforts to build Israel’s military capabilities, Obama has attempted to shape a regional and international environment that enhances Israel’s security over the long haul. This accounts for his commitment to advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace. At times, the process has been frustrating, and for the moment it appears stalled. But Obama has stuck with it out of a passionate conviction that both Israeli security and the Palestinian quest for dignity depend on it.

When Romney visited Israel in July, many commentators hammered him for what he said, including his comments declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital—a statement at odds with the longstanding tradition of reserving judgment on the city’s official status until it is resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Even more contentiously, Romney’s suggestion at a Jerusalem fundraiser that Israeli culture explains economic disparities between Israel and the Palestinian territories drew fire from Palestinians for his apparent insensitivity, from social scientists for his misunderstanding of culture, and from others who pointed out that Romney’s explanation ignored the economically debilitating effects of Israeli occupation.

But what is more interesting than what Romney said on his trip is what he didn’t say. Although Romney claims to support a two-state solution, he said nothing about the issue while in Israel, and he has never outlined his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace. (On the contrary, when Obama outlined parameters for a final peace accord in 2011 that were consistent with the general formula discussed by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators for years, including secure and recognized borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps and a nonmilitarized Palestinian state, Romney accused him of ‘throw[ing] Israel under the bus.’) Romney’s silence persists even though the majority of Israelis support two states for two peoples, and there is wide and deep bipartisan agreement in the United States that peace is both in the U.S. national interest and in the interest of the two parties. Given demographic realities, many Israelis understand that it will be difficult to maintain Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state in the decades ahead if the Palestinians do not achieve statehood. And, given the volcanic eruption of populism across the region associated with the Arab Spring, a peace deal with the Palestinians is absolutely essential to avoid Israel’s growing isolation in the years ahead. So, how can a candidate running on the claim that he will support Israel’s security completely ignore the issue?

Time and again, Obama has mobilized the diplomatic might of the United States to protect Israel, even when doing so generated substantial criticism abroad. Obama has consistently defended Israel at the United Nations, rejecting the unbalanced Goldstone report, defending Israel over the Gaza flotilla incident with Turkey, and blocking Palestinian attempts to circumvent direct negotiations with Israel and impose an outcome through early recognition of statehood. In doing so, Obama has repeatedly shown his willingness to shield Israelis from international efforts aimed at isolating and delegitimizing the Jewish state.

Obama has also taken aggressive action to counter the threat Israeli leaders describe as their No. 1 national security concern: Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Obama has repeatedly stated that an Iranian nuclear weapon is ‘unacceptable,’ and he has committed to using all instruments of U.S. power—economic, diplomatic, intelligence, and military—to prevent, not contain, this outcome… These sanctions—which have cut Iranian oil exports in half, have cost the Iranians billions of dollars in revenue every month, have increased inflation, and have caused the value of Iran’s currency to plummet—have finally pushed the regime back to the negotiating table…

Obama clearly prefers a diplomatic outcome to the crisis, seeing it as the most sustainable solution. But he has also made clear that all options, including military force, remain on the table to prevent Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold should diplomacy fail. Both the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have stated that the United States possesses a viable military plan in the event of a conflict with Iran. And the president has authorized additional military deployments to the Persian Gulf to ensure the option is credible…

Although Romney clearly wants to insert Israel into this year’s campaign, his overall critique of Obama’s Israel policy is basically groundless. But it is worse than that—it is also potentially dangerous. The attempt by Romney and his allies to turn the U.S.-Israel partnership—a relationship that is rooted in both strategic interests and shared values—into an election-year wedge issue is both cynical and reckless. As Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have repeatedly observed, Israel has long enjoyed deep and wide support from both sides of the aisle. Yet, by playing politics with Israel, Romney risks transforming the bipartisan backing for Israel that Obama has worked so hard to preserve into just another partisan food fight. Dragging Israel into America’s political muck is bad for America and bad for Israel.

Click here to read the full op-ed.

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