Israel Update

Something (or someone) is going to explode soon:

Lebanon is now a serious danger to Israel. What's Teh Wun supposed to do, though? He's too busy threatening Canada with military action. Considering Labatt Blue, I don't blame him.

Syria has supplied Lebanon's Hizballah terrorist militia with an unspecified number of SCUD ballistic missiles, US officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The new arsenal of SCUDs gives Hizballah the ability to hit any target in Israel should hostilities resume. The SCUDs also carry a far heavier payload than the thousands of smaller missiles Hizballah rained down on northern Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Senior US officials familiar with the incident told The Wall Street Journal that the SCUD missiles given to Hizballah were built using either North Korean or Russian technology.

The source of the technology doesn't mean they were the last point of sale. There seems to be someone with much more vested interest in keeping Israel's attention occupied right now. Here's the big question: how long until Obama tries talking with Hezbollah? Seriously. He shunned Georgian President Saakashvili in favor of rubbing elbows with Medvedev over the START treaty. He's completely thrown Israel under the bus. He's bowing to everyone under the sun(or red flag), but sends England a set of DVDs they can't even watch. How long before he calls a beer summit between North and South Korea? He can force Canada to supply the beer.

I suspect we'll be reading more about this in the next couple years, probably along the lines of 'oh yeah, those missiles that just blew up in [insert Israeli city name] were the same ones that Lebanon gave to terrorists...huh, how about that? we never would have guessed that might happen...'

In the meantime, Gateway Pundit continues to document Obama's shift away from our long-time ally:

Do you remember when Jesse Jackson said that under Obama Jews would lose all of their clout?

He was right.

(Top left clockwise) Barack and Michelle Obama and radical Leftist anti-Israel Professor Edward Said at a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Edward Said gave the keynote speech. (Bill Baar's West Side), Former PLO operative and close friend of the Obama's Rashid Khalidi, Barack Obama and his racist minister Jeremiah Wright, and close terrorist friend William Ayers.

In an unprecedented move, the Obama administration said today that support of Israel will be "balanced against other US interests."

The New York Times

reported:

It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama's news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.

When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a "vital national security interest of the United States," he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.

This shift, described by administration officials who did not want to be quoted by name when discussing internal discussions, is driving the White House's urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal. It increases the likelihood that Mr. Obama, frustrated by the inability of the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to terms, will offer his own proposed parameters for an eventual Palestinian state.

Mr. Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up "costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure" — drawing an explicit link between the Israeli-Palestinian strife and the safety of American soldiers as they battle Islamic extremism and terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Mr. Obama's words reverberated through diplomatic circles in large part because they echoed those of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the military commander overseeing America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent Congressional testimony, the general said that the lack of progress in the Middle East created a hostile environment for the United States. He has denied reports that he was suggesting that soldiers were being put in harm's way by American support for Israel.

Previously on Obama & Israel:

**Obama Refuses to Dine With Jewish Leader

**Obama Won't Allow Any Photos of Him With PM Netanyahu

**Stunner. Obama Has Refused All Israeli Military Requests Since Entering Office in 2009

**Obama Administration Denies Visas to Israeli Nuclear Scientists

The good news is that -- as with so many things right now -- the Obama administration isn't at all in sync with the American people.  In fact, his actions on Israel are scoring broad disapproval:

 

35 percent of the public gives the president a thumbs up on how he's dealing with the situation between Israel and the Palestinians, with 44 percent saying they disapprove...

Just days ago, thousands of Americans rallied in New York in support of our ally.  Let's hope the American people win the day rather than the American president.  Recall God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3:

...go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.

Whether you put stock in the Biblical perspective or simply believe it's the right thing to do to support one of your ALLIES, it's clear that the American people are on Israel's side.  Unfortunately, America's political leadership is not -- on this and many other issues -- and that's a profoundly disturbing scenario.

There's my two cents.