I am Congressman Waxman’s opponent in the Nov 2nd election, a former Marine and engineer/owner/CEO of a successful small aerospace engineering consulting corporation based in California.

I’ve long been a supporter of and, especially, an admirer of the resilience of the citizens and soldiers of Israel in their 62-year fight for survival among hostile neighboring Arab states. While U.S. policy toward Israel in the past has traditionally been an openly friendly and supportive one for the most part, the current administration does not appear to be so inclined.

Christian or Muslim?

Mr. Waxman notes in the beginning of the subject piece that “Attacks on Barrack Obama’s sincerity toward Israel date back to his candidacy for president. They were fueled by often-anonymous e-mail traffic rife with speculation the he was Muslim or that he was beholden to radical anti-Israel voices in the African American community.”

One man’s “speculation” is another man’s “evidence”. I personally received dozens, if not hundreds of emails on the subjects both of President Obama’s country of birth and his religious faith. To my recollection, none of them were “anonymous” and few, if any, were devoid of what could reasonably pass as evidence.

I will note two well known incidents related to the question, the first of which I witnessed personally, and then move on. The infamous “slip of the lip” was in the fall of 2008 prior to the election wherein Obama, being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, was heard to say “… my Muslim faith …” only to be quickly corrected by the host who interjected “… You mean your Christian faith” – to which Obama replied “Oh, Uh, Yes. My Christian faith”. We’ll let the psychoanalysts and body language experts work on that one.

The second, of course, is President Obama’s deep bow to the Saudi King. Would a Christian exhibit such a display of servility? As for the “Christian” aspect of President Obama’s religious faith, he sat for twenty years listening to a “reverend” who preached something other than love of country and of one’s fellow man.

As hard a “pill” of fact as these items may be to swallow, they are nevertheless true.

Obama and Israel

One thing which we absolutely do not need to speculate on is President Obama’s change of policy with respect to Israel. It’s been on display virtually from the time he took office. The administration no longer supports Israel as a strong and trusted ally, as has been the case for virtually all previous administrations.

In addressing this issue, Mr. Waxman continues in the subject OpEd noting Obama’s “series of missteps” regarding doubts consequently raised in the American Jewish community. He notes that “These actions not only unsettled many in our community, they overshadowed the very positive actions this administration has taken on issues most important to Israel’s security and survival”.

As for “very positive actions”, the appointment of Samantha Power as Multilateral Affairs Director for the National Security Council and the attempted nomination of Charles Freeman to the National Intelligence Committee belie this claim. Power is on record as actually recommending that the U.S. send troops to Israel to protect the so-called Palestinians from the IDF! Charles Freeman is a noted Israel basher.

These “missteps” cited by Mr. Waxman were characterized by Elliot Abrams, current member of the Council on Foreign Relations, in an article called “Joining the Jackals” as “exposing Israel to a virtual U.N. ‘lynch mob’”. In that article Abrams further states “The White House did not wish to stand with Israel against this mob because it does not have a policy of solidarity with Israel. Rather, its policy is one of distancing and pressure.”

Regardless of which version one may believe, Mr. Waxman’s or Mr. Abrams’, one fact is unquestionably clear: Israel’s survival is tied to two fundamental issues:

1) The recognition by Muslim states of the state of Israel and its right to exist, and

2) Physical guarantees of that right.

Israel is a small country geographically and under dire threat of annihilation from a nuclear attack should the current regime in Iran finally achieve a nuclear weapon and delivery capability. Even in the absence of a nuclear threat, Israel is menaced by Hamas and Hezbollah by way of conventional rockets and suicide bombers.

Item (2) above, the essential guarantee of the first item, can only be provided by granting to Israel a border which will mitigate against a conventional armed attack. This would necessarily include the Jordan River and the Golan Heights.

The Obama administration’s criticism of Israel’s use of its own territory and its renewed emphasis on the creation of a Palestinian state have only encouraged Israel’s historical adversaries to become more emboldened in their political and military pressure on Israel. While Mr. Waxman may believe that Obama is a friend of Israel the polling in Israel indicates that only 6% of Israelis agree with him and while 78% of Jewish voters cast their vote for Obama in 2008 it appears that over 35% of that number will cast him aside in November. Israel's genocidal enemies, whose undiminished goal is her extinction, have come to realize that they need not go to so much trouble after all when the President of the United States is willing to do their work for them. This is unquestionably a reversal of what was once solid U.S. support for the only true and historically unwavering democratic rule-of-law state in the entire Middle East.

This is reality. What Mr. Waxman has given us in his spirited, but badly misguided, defense of Obama’s Israel policy is a far cry from this reality, and shameful.

Charles “Chuck” Wilkerson

www.ChuckWilkerson4Congress.com
Chuck Wilkerson for Congress Committee
PO Box 881810
Los Angeles, CA 90009-1810