On December 2, Congressmember Michele Bachmann was the keynote speaker at a dinner sponsored by Bet El Institutions in New York City. Bachmann stated that "every president since Harry Truman has unequivocally submitted and affirmed...support for Israel", but United States commitment to Israel is now "anything but certain." Bachmann blamed President Barack Obama directly for the change in policy:
BACHMANN: Four years ago, beginning with his speech in Cairo, June 9th, 2009, the president sent numerous signals that the United States commitment for Israel is anything but certain.
(I can't help it, I'm a little distracted by this whole "Sen. Jim DeMint resigns, just two years into his six year term" thing. DeMint was a
key Teavangelical ally of Bachmann, and US senators just don't resign from the Senate two years into their terms, unless someone threatens to leak photos of them in bed with a dead--
--Anyway, back to Bachmann claiming Obama's selling out Israel. Here's a list of what Bachmann says President Obama must do now, to restore the US' broken commitment to Israel. I count five demands on her list:)
Number one:
BACHMANN: I call on President Obama to share a true solidarity with Israel, to declare Jerusalem the undivided eternal capital city of Israel.
And when he makes that announcement, we should already have the final brick in place of the building that will be the United States Embassy, so there's no question--the building will be built, the boxes will be in, the personnel will be inside, and then we'll make the announcement that we're in business.
("The boxes will be in?" WTF is she talking about? I understand the part about demanding that the President declare Jerusalem the undivided eternal capital of the nation of Israel. The push-the-envelope Zionists at the Bet El dinner love that idea.)
(But why is it important to her that a US embassy already be in place there, at the time the announcement is made? Why does she insist that embassy personnel already be "inside" at the time? She expects trouble on the streets, I guess--and she's right. But what's this stuff about "the boxes" being inside, too? Boxes of what? Ammunition? Stuff from Ikea? Anyway, back to her list of demands:)
Number two:
(CONTINUED)
BACHMANN: After Thursday's (UN vote to elevate the status of Palestine to a non-member observer state,) the United Nations motto might as well be: "The only anti-Israel pro-terrorists need apply" (sic.) Our only option at the UN now is to vote with our feet. And with our wallets. Exit this house of mirrors. Stop sending this organization United States money that we borrow from China.
("Vote with our feet," and get the United States out of the United Nations; an old John Birch Society position of record. But...)
(That DeMint thing. I don't care how much money DeMint can make, ditching his Senate seat to take a position at the Heritage Foundation. Politicians just don't give up a seat in the US Senate before their terms are up. Even McCarthy didn't do that, after the Senate censured him.)
(It's just too much power. A US congressman once asked President Lyndon Johnson if he ought to risk his seat in the House to run for a Senate seat. LBJ told him that the difference between being a US senator and a US congressman was the difference between "chicken salad and chicken shit." Ambitious politicians like DeMint just don't throw that away, to--)
Sorry. Back to Bachmann's list of demands:)
Number three:
BACHMANN: The PLO's unilateral actions must have consequences. But sadly, if you read the papers this morning, President Obama said he will not initiate consequences for the PLO. Only that he may not veto congressional actions. Well, my my, what a profile in courage that is. That's a profile certainly not in having Israel's back, with all due respect (sic.)
Therefore, the PLO should now lose all of United States aid, because of their misguided UN initiatives.
(I mean: Michele Bachmann would
kill, to get a seat in the Senate in a safe Republican constituency like DeMint's. What's he thinking? Yesterday I suggest that DeMint's doing it because he's a rat leaving a sinking conservative ship, running away from tough votes he'd have to cast in losing Republican budget battle with the President. He doesn't want "a cave to Obama" on his conservative resume. But--)
Number four:
BACHMANN: I also believe the United States must demand that this week's UN vote will not now, nor will it ever lead to elevating the status of the PLO in any other international body or agency of the United Nations.
(--But DeMint could survive "a cave to Obama," as a Teavangelical with four years to go before election time. Why would he--)
Number five:
BACHMANN: President Obama should also recognize Israel's 1980 annexation of the Golan Heights, and any settlements which Israel as a sovereign state chooses to annex.
(In the video of her speech (link below) Bachmann says that last part very quickly, almost as if she's hoping no one will notice she said it: "President Obama should also recognize the legitimacy of Israel's annexation of "any settlements which Israel as a sovereign state chooses to annex.")
(Benjamin Netanyahu--licensed to conquer. That's a biggie. Anyone who says you can't be considered a supporter of Israel unless you recognize their right to "annex": has given up on the hope of peace in the Middle East. And that is exactly Bachmann's position.)
(Another thing about the DeMint resignation--)
BACHMANN: And as a believer in God's promise to Abraham and Isaac in Genesis, I strongly believe that God truly blesses those, and those nations who bless Israel.
(This is another reference to the "God's promise to curse those who curse Israel" promise in Genesis. The passage in Genesis has God promising Abraham that He will bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel.)
(Bachmann and millions of other American conservative evangelicals firmly believe that this is the case. (Bachmann's said so publicly.) And in their interpretation, America doesn't have to actually curse Israel (or formally abandon it) to trigger God's curse on America. According to them, failing to back Israeli policy towards Palestinians and other enemies of Zionism, to the hilt--can trigger God's curse on America.)
(This "supernatural factor" is (and has been) the basis of conservative evangelical thinking about US policy in the Middle East.)
(Hey--maybe the real reason Senator DeMint resigned was God's curse...)
LINK: to Bachmann's speech, and video
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/...