I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail hysterically accusing the Obama administration of deliberately and dangerously undermining Israel’s security.
It comes from friends, family, and people I barely know, and from around the globe.
The original source is usually missing, identifying only those sending the messages under their own names without having any clue as to the accuracy, much less meaning, of what they’re sending.
Here’s how many begin: “I don’t know if this is completely true.” “I don’t care if it is not quite accurate but it’s what I believe.”
One of the latest revealed that President Obama personally dispatched the Central Intelligence Agency to Dubai to film the assassination of a Hamas leader so he could wage a public relations campaign “to discredit Israel.”
What these mailings lack in accuracy they more than compensate for with hyperbole, ignorance, fear, and loathing for the President of the United States.
At the risk of disappointing the legion of Obama haters, the U.S.-Israel security relationship is doing very well and getting better. The two military and intelligence establishments have been working closely and productively, despite recent political and diplomatic blips.
The two leaders are “develop[ing] a constructive working relationship sensitive to the legitimate concerns of the other,” he said.
Anthony Cordesman, a respected defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, and a colleague, Aram Nerguizian, published a report on the Arab-Israeli Military Balance recently.
This report finds “Israeli political claims that the Obama Administration has somehow distanced itself from a concern with Israel’s security have not been reflected in arms transfers and security cooperation.”
Israel’s qualitative military edge is decisive and improving, they conclude.
Israel benefits from a steady decline in “Syria’s conventional military capabilities,” the weakness of Lebanese forces, “Egyptian and Jordanian adherence to their peace treaties,” and the disappearance of any Iraqi threat. The improved quality of Palestinian security forces is “reducing the threat of terrorism on the West Bank,” the authors said.
“Israel retains a major advantage in long-range missiles, long- range air strike capabilities, nuclear weapons and missile/land-based air defenses,” they noted, as well as in armor and other areas.
They attribute Israel’s overall superiority to the training and motivation of its forces, its leadership, and the quality of its weapons, tactics, maintenance, and readiness.
The authors say much of that is because “Israel has access to the latest U.S. weapons and technologies and can develop advanced weapons systems of its own.”
Congress recently approved the administration’s request for $205 million for Israel’s Iron Dome short-range antimissile batteries in addition to $200 million for joint missile defense systems such as the medium range David’s Sling and the long-range Arrow.
All that is in addition to $3 billion in grant military aid, about a quarter of which can be spent in Israel on defense procurement, an arrangement no other country enjoys.
Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a member of the House appropriations subcommittees responsible for funding all aid to Israel, said the US-Israeli military and intelligence alliance is “the strongest … in recent history.”
The military-to-military relationship has long been mutually beneficial. Israel has consistently shared with the U.S. the lessons learned — and equipment captured — in confronting Soviet-trained-and-equipped Arab armies, as well as sharing Israeli innovations such as reactive tank armor, first generation drone aircraft, enhancements to F-15 and F-16 aircraft and more.
Overall, it’s hard to deny that the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship is stronger than ever under President Obama — hardly the action of a president who wants to destroy the Jewish state.
Hatred of Obama and the rightist ideology that equates all criticism of Israeli policy with hatred of Israel itself, not “facts” most Israeli experts say are bunk, are what’s driving the drivel littering my e-mail box.
Douglas M. Bloomfield is the president of Bloomfield Associates Inc., a Washington lobbying and consulting firm. He spent nine years as the legislative director and chief lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
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