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Sen. Levin: What I Know About Barack Obama and Israel

Senator Carl Levin — October 31, 2012 – 7:51 am | Barack Obama | Israel | Stop the Smears Comments (7) Add a comment

Dear Friend,

This is the first letter I’ve ever written in the hope that the “social media” winds take it not just to people I know, but also to people I’ve never met and to places I’ll never see

I do so because I’m deeply troubled by how the Jewish community is being flooded with inaccurate and sometimes inflammatory attacks on President Obama, claiming that he is not a strong supporter of Israel.

I do so because as a Jewish senator and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I feel a responsibility to share what I have personally seen and what I know about Barack Obama and Israel.

As I write this, U.S. and Israeli forces are engaged in a large joint military exercise. We hold these exercises regularly. But this is the largest joint exercise we have held with Israel, involving over 3,500 U.S. troops, about 1/3 of them deployed to Israel for 3 weeks.

This exercise comes at a critical moment for putting massive pressure on Iran to end any quest for a nuclear weapon.

The joint exercise will dramatize our joint military capability to defend against an Iranian missile attack. The exercise combines U.S. Patriot batteries and Aegis ship radar with Israel’s Arrow, Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defenses. These Israeli missile defenses received significant funding by the U.S. and have been strongly supported by President Obama.

As Iran decides whether to try to build a nuclear weapon, Iranian leaders will now have to factor in more than ever that they will not be able to deter a strike against a nuclear weapon facility by threatening to retaliate with their missiles. Iran’s leaders can’t do so because a retaliatory threat by them or by their allies Hezbollah or Hamas has been degraded by Israel’s and our combined missile defenses, as demonstrated by the current joint exercise.

I have seen up close how President Obama has acted in many other ways to strengthen Israel’s military capability.

Ehud Barak, Israel’s current Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, recently put it this way:

“I should tell you honestly that this Administration, under President Obama, is doing in regard to our security more than anything I can remember in the past.” (July 11, 2012)

Prime Minister Netanyahu himself told the AIPAC Conference in May of this year:

“Our security cooperation is unprecedented. And President Obama has backed his words with deeds.”

President Obama has also made clear that he will not permit Iran to get a nuclear weapon. For instance:

“It’s my firm belief that an Iran with a nuclear weapon would pose a security threat not only to the region but also to the United States.” (November 14, 2011)

“My policy here is not going to be one of containment. My policy is prevention of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. And as I indicated yesterday in my speech, when I say all options are at the table, I mean it.” (March 5, 2012)

Iran must know from the record of President Obama, including his use of force in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, that he doesn’t bluff or bluster.

He is a serious man.

He speaks carefully.

He doesn’t flip flop around.

He doesn’t throw words around carelessly.

Iran has seen him act—his warnings aren’t idle threats.

President Obama has succeeded in unifying the world against Iran with biting sanctions. Those sanctions have done major damage to Iran’s oil revenues (they are down by 60% over the last year) and to its currency (the value of which is down by 80% over the last year).

In part because of the respect in which he is held around the world, he has also succeeded in the challenging environment at the UN in preventing unfair damage to Israel at a number of crucial moments, including stopping a UN condemnation of Israel when it prevented a flotilla of ships from forcing itself through its blockade of Gaza.

President Reagan is rightly remembered as a strong friend of Israel, although he led the world’s condemnation of Israel at the UN when Israel knocked out Iraq’s threatening nuclear facility. I’m amazed how some in our community judge President Obama, who has prevented unfair condemnation of Israel at the UN, by a different standard.

I have seen President Obama act forcefully to protect Israeli citizens at Israel’s embassy in Cairo when a violent mob recently came within minutes of reaching and attacking them. Here is what Prime Minister Netanyahu said about President Obama’s actions:

“I requested President Obama’s assistance at a decisive—I would even say fateful—moment. He said he would do everything possible, and this is what he did. He activated all of United States’ means and influence—which are certainly considerable. I believe we owe him a special debt of gratitude.”

By any standard, fairly and consistently applied, President Obama has been a proven friend of Israel.

Support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship has been bipartisan, and it is essential it remain so for our security and for Israel’s security. It is harmful to that relationship and to Israel for some in our community to attempt to drive a wedge between the Obama administration and Israel.

I won’t comment here on the many other reasons I support President Obama. My goal is to simply express my abhorrence at blatantly unfair, inaccurate and sometimes inflammatory claims that President Obama is not a strong supporter of the U.S.—Israel relationship, when that relationship is important to U.S. security and to the goal of Middle East peace.

I hope that this effort will succeed in utilizing the internet’s ability to have one’s thoughts shared broadly. If you believe they are worthy or interesting, please share them with your friends.

Thanks.

Carl Levin

Comments

Helen Flood | October 31, 2012 – 6:36 pm

Thank you for this letter. I am a Jewish Obama supporter who is often asked “Why would you vote for someone who doesn’t support Israel? ” This is very helpful and informative.

Marcel Brysk | November 1, 2012 – 8:07 pm

This article should be distributed to the Jewish community in Florida, where it could have significant impact on a tenuous situation. Especially now, our tradition extols the truth as a path to justice.

Jan Polinsky | November 1, 2012 – 8:10 pm

Thank you for dispelling the negative rumors. I shared this on Facebook and I am a Barack Obama supporter!
This country can not afford the division that the Republican Party has to offer.

Professor Reid Friedson | November 1, 2012 – 10:32 pm

President Obama is a strong, wise, staunch defender of Israel. Mitt Romney is a weak, dishonest fake.

Barbara Gribin | November 3, 2012 – 11:56 pm

Please distribute this to the Jewish community in Florida. They need to read this before they vote.

David Cohen | November 4, 2012 – 9:20 am

Israel will be fine. However, do you want to continue down the path of a welfare state or do you want to be strong, proud, and independent?

Jeff Siegel | November 5, 2012 – 6:56 pm

Why I’m for Obama

George W. Bush was the worst president since Herbert Hoover. Clinton left him with a budget surplus that he turned into a deficit. He permitted tax breaks for the rich in lieu of average Americans; sort of a reverse Robin Hood taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Republicans tried to tie Saddam Hussein and Iraq to the tragedy of September 11th. There has never been any evidence that Hussein had anything to do with it. In spite of the lack of evidence, Bush declared War against Iraq. Although Bush publically declared “Mission Accomplished” no evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction was ever found. Is it any wonder that we don’t hear much from George W. any more?

When Pres. Obama declared that he was bringing the troops home from Iraq, Republicans criticized him evidencing the deep partisanship between the Democratic and Republican parties. I can’t think of any other time in our nation’s history when a president was criticized for taking troops out of harm’s way. I can’t think of any other time in our nation’s history when the partisanship has been so blatantly obstructionist.

Although Obama started his presidency with two wars (thanks George W.) and the worst depression since the Great Depression (thanks again George), under his watch we have ended the Iraq War, eliminated the leaders of both of our enemies - Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden – and have begun to improve our economy.

It took FDR 12 years and World War II to end the Great Depression. Anyone who thinks Obama or anyone else could turn the economy around in 4 years after this nation was living “high on the hog” for decades is a dreamer or an idiot. Much of the industrialized world is facing difficult economic issues. It not just an American problem - it’s a world-wide problem. That said, the U.S. economy is doing better than most other economies of the industrialized world.

Obama saved the auto industry and thousands of Midwest businesses and jobs. Overall the auto industry has had the highest profits in years. Interestingly, George Romney, Mitt’s Dad, was chairman and president of American Motors from 1954 to 1962. Wonder what he would have thought regarding Obama’s saving of the auto industry especially when his son said the auto industry should have gone into bankruptcy?

These are just a few of the reasons, off the top of my head, that I support Obama. As for Mitt Romney I believe that all candidates make promises, but it is a person’s character that is one of the most important traits to be considered in a presidential candidate. Mitt Romney was born with a golden spoon in his mouth while Obama was raised by a single mother. Obama earned his way through life while Mitt simply glided over the cream cheese.

Actually, if Mitt is elected my personal stock portfolio will probably increase – initially -because Mitt’s idea of stimulating the economy will be to deregulate everything and let big business do whatever the heck it wants to – which will initially increase profits, including my stock portfolio. But wait a minute; how did we get into the current economic turndown? Oh yeah, we deregulated the mortgage market, allowed “no doc” loans without any verification of income, collateral or funding and then permitted banks to package these loans and sell them to Wall Street investors who were handling our pensions. Maybe we should have kept these mortgages on Main Street instead of Wall Street. If Mitt gets in we may find ourselves on the same road to oblivion Obama was trying to get off of and it may be just be a question of time before we find our economy in the same hole we were in before. As Clinton said, electing Romney would be a return to the failed policies of George W.

The American Experience, began in 1776, was and has been an experiment testing whether people can be self-governed. Prior to 1776, just over 200 years ago, the world was ruled by kings, monarchs and czars and even today many countries still have royalty. As Lincoln said at Gettysburg, our democracy has been built on the will of the people, for the people and by the people; not the rich, not the barons and dukes but the common everyday people – like Lincoln himself was.

Can you trust someone who has no idea of what it is like to struggle, what it’s like to wonder if you’re going to have a job to go to tomorrow? What empathy do they have for “the people” and who will they represent in our representative government? Romney changed his policies in the recent debates from what he stated in his prior policies to win the election. He said he was for the middle class when in fact, as he himself was caught in stating, he doesn’t care about the 47% who represent the middle class who won’t vote for him.

When I was 18 Nixon was running against Humphrey and there were signs all over the college dorms that read “Would you buy a used car from this man?” indicating that you could not trust Nixon. As it turned out Nixon was responsible for Watergate and he was one of the foulest and dirtiest politicians of the last century. I think Mitt is walking down the same road; he will say whatever it takes to get elected. I don’t trust Mitt.

It took us decades to get into the current economic situation we are in and quick fixes usually don’t solve the underlying problems. Obama’s continuing recovery policies will take longer, but in the long run will do more to address the causes of the current economic problem. For all the above reasons, I support Obama.

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