Tel-Chai Nation

Caroline Glick (via Power Line) points out the trend of a lot of American presidents to favor leftist candidates for prime minister in Israel, such as when George Bush Sr. refused to provide Yitzhak Shamir with loan garuntees to help Jewish immigrants from Russia come to Israel in 1992, and Bill Clinton sent some of his own election advisers to help Ehud Barak with his own campaign in 1999. And now, with the George Bush Jr. administration, we're seeing yet more of this ludicrous violation of US policy by trying to interfere in a foreign country's elections.

REFRESHINGLY, in the 2001 and 2003 elections, the current Bush administration refrained by and large from siding with any party. This non-interference in the democratic processes of the Israeli electorate was perhaps the clearest indication of its friendly intentions and respect for the Jewish state. Today that fine tradition of stepping back and allowing the democratic chips to fall where they may seems to have ended. Since Ariel Sharon broke off from the Likud and formed Kadima at the end of November, the administration has made it self-evident that it wants a Kadima victory and is willing to do a great deal to ensure that such a victory comes about. Since Sharon's second stroke two weeks ago, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have made it clear that in Sharon's absence they want Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to form the next government.

[...]

The current president entered office three months after the Palestinians launched their terror war against Israel. That war was instigated in direct response to Barak's peace offer to Yasser Arafat at Camp David in July 2000 to create a Palestinian state on nearly all of the disputed territories Israel has controlled since 1967. The rejection by the Palestinians of this offer sounded the death knell for the Bush-Clinton appeasement policy willingly advanced by the leftist Israeli governments the US was largely responsible for bringing to power. Sadly, although reality bore out the failure of appeasement and the truth that the establishment of a Palestinian state was not the end goal of the PLO, the State Department refused to let the facts disabuse it of its institutional belief that appeasement works. Since the current Bush administration adopted the Quartet's road map plan for Middle East peace and then rammed it down Israel's throat in May 2003, the Americans have officially readopted Israeli appeasement of the Palestinians as the centerpiece of their policy toward the Jewish state. In the weak, dependent Sharon, the White House found a willing Israeli partner in the advancement of its renewed agenda.

[...]

In pushing for Israeli appeasement of the Palestinians, then, the US is aggressively pursuing the establishment of new bases of international terrorism, supported and, indeed, funded by the US. That is, the US policy of supporting Israeli appeasement and pressuring for further Israeli land handovers to the Palestinians stands in complete contradiction to President Bush's policy for waging the US-led war on international terrorism, which - in every place except Israel - works to deny bases to terrorists and undermine regimes that sponsor and support terrorism.

Glick makes some very good points here, but even before this, let us remember, Dubya wanted to provide amnesty to illegal aliens who'd broken the law by crossing the border illegally into the United States, and his proposal could also very easily have enabled terrorists to infiltrate America's borders as well. That proposal has since been rightfully rejected by Congress, and instead, more secure steps have been approved for guarding the borders. Either way, that's pretty much showing that, even within the US, the president's own committment to national security is questionable.

It should also be noted that Bush recently made a recess appointment of the unqualified Julie Myers to head the ICE. As Debbie Schlussel says:

Now, thanks to this recess appointment, Myers' appointment will be valid only until the end of this session of Congress, at the end of 2006. This makes her a lame duck for an entire year--in "leading" this rudderless agency without a clear mission (or leader). Myers has never held a job longer than 11 months, and we hope this new one is no exception. Although, we predict that lazy, gutless politicians will clear the way for this inexperienced Martha Stewart wannabe, when the time comes in 2007 to renew her "contract."

Exactly why the public must lobby their Congressmen to see if they can make sure that Myers will not continue with her undeserved appointment. Until then, this is exactly why Americans too must ask if Dubya is truly devoted to protecting the American homefront.

Because of this lack of genuine committment to homefront security, this is why legislators from individual states ranging from places like Arizona to Massachusettes are now taking steps to crack down on illegal immigration and the costs that can accompany it (Hat tip: La Shawn Barber). Which is a good thing, but not the only thing that warrants concern. It's also important to start lobbying Congress to try and stop the funding of terrorist entities, which is exactly what the administration is doing if it gives money to the PLO, as it does, and even the Hamas, if they're elected.

Labels: Europe, White House