MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Josh Rogin – “One day before the AIPAC conference kicks off in Washington, an anti-Obama pro-Israel group is widening its criticism of President Barack Obama’s record on Israel — while the White House defends its treatment of the relationship.

The trailer for a new 30-minute video, entitled ‘Daylight: The Story of Obama and Israel,’ cuts together clips of Obama quotes and outside commentary to put forth the narrative that Obama has made statements and taken actions as president that have put him out of step with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters.

‘We believe that that the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines,’ Obama is shown saying, a reference to his May, 2011 speech, where he for the first time explicitly defined U.S. policy as supporting the 1967 borders with agreed swaps as the basis for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

‘He didn’t quite have a full grasp of what the full region looks like,’ conservative journalist Lee Smith is shown saying in the video. ‘This is not how you treat an ally.’

The ad goes beyond the Israeli issue to suggest that the president is too solicitous of Muslim concerns. The end of the trailer shows Obama saying, ‘I want to make sure we end before the call to prayer,’ a clip from his town hall meeting with Turkish students in Istanbul in April 2009.” Read more.

Flashback: Israeli Prime Minister Slams Obama: The Arab World Is Moving Backward, Not Forward – “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday blasted Israeli and world politicians who support the Arab Spring revolutions and accused the Arab world of ‘moving not forward, but backward.’… Netanyahu also slammed Western leaders, and especially U.S. President Barak Obama, who had pushed Mubarak to resign from power. At the time this was happening Netanyahu said in closed talks that the American administration and many European leaders don’t understand reality.” Read more.

Flashback: Netanyahu associate: Obama detached from regional realities – “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates expressed their disappointment with Barack Obama’s speech Thursday, with one aide saying that the US president is detached from regional realities… Referring to the US president’s Mideast policy speech, a Netanyahu associate said: ‘He (Obama) didn’t deliver the goods…Obama apparently does not understand the reality in the Mideast.’” Read more.