According to the rumor mill, Hollande tried to dissuade Benjamin Netanyahu from participating in the rally, but Bibi stuck to his guns determined to show the world that Israel, under constant threat from terrorism, is defiantly linked, in fact leads, the war against terror.
For Israel, it was the right thing to do.
Hollande not accustomed to snubs, responded. There was a price to pay for Israel’s Prime Minister defying the French President. Hollande invited to this anti-terror event Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of a Palestinian less-than-state regime with decades of bloody terror atrocities on its hands and united in a unity government with Hamas, an officially designated terrorist organization.
For Israel, that was the morally wrong to do.
Hollande did join Netanyahu in attending the synagogue ceremony in memory of the murdered French Jews. But he beat a hasty retreat before Bibi told the Jewish audience to get the hell out of there.
In face of the rising European anti-Semitism, it was morally the right thing for Israel’s leader to do.
Switch to Washington. Benjamin Netanyahu received the invitation to address Congress from House Speaker, John Boehner, shortly after President Obama had warned Congress in his State of Union Address that he would veto any move they may make to strengthen sanctions against Iran in pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
Israel had released a video purporting to show an undisclosed Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile site, and Netanyahu was concerned that the Obama Administration was on its way to signing an agreement with Iran while Israel was embroiled in elections. So he accepted Boehner’s invitation.
Once again, it was the right thing for the Israeli leader to do.
But a furious Obama White House threatened “there would be a price” to pay for Bibi’s visit to Washington.
Now we discover what that price is.
The Obama presidential election team has set up camp in Tel Aviv with the mission to defeat Netanyahu in our upcoming election.
The “Anyone but Bibi” mission is headed by Jeremy Bird, Obama’s National Field Director in his successful presidential campaigns.
Under Bird, a group called “Victory 15” has been set up. It has recruited the young activists from Israel’s 2013 social protest movement and will man a massive social network and personal contact campaign to defeat Bibi. V15 is financed by an NGO called “One Voice” whose motto is to be “the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians.” Research finds that One Voice is funded by John Kerry’s State Department.
In its press release, V15 calls itself “non partisan” which is clearly a lie. Its aim is solely to defeat Bibi,
Can we really call that “non partisan”?
In its 2014 annual report is describes its actions as “promoting popular resistance, state-building, and the Arab Peace Initiative, while advocating for an end to the conflict and a two-state solution along the 1967 borders.”
Does Israel really need this outsider that advocates “popular resistance” to impose the Arab Peace Initiative on to Israel? There is grave danger in the intent of this American interference into our political system.
It is no coincidence that the headquarters of the V15 campaign is right next door to the Tel Aviv offices of One Voice.
One Voice was formed in 2003, its inaugural board of advisers included Gary Gladstein who used to be the chief operations officer of Soros Fund Management. As in George Soros.
The major consulting firm working on the Israeli elections is “270 Strategies” which is also headed by Bird. This company operates in elections on the principle of grassroots community organization, dividing the countries into local zones and working them incessantly and efficiently. It was the tactics that drove Obama into the White House in 2008 and kept him there in 2012.
According to World Net Daily, 270 Strategies has a team of 45 in Israel; sixteen of them are former Obama staffers who have been parachuted into Tel Aviv to lead the local workers with their experience.
One of the top men is Mitch Steward, a 270 Strategies founding partner who helped the Obama campaign build what the U.K. Guardian newspaper called “a historic ground operation that will provide the model for political campaigns in America and around the world for years to come.”
Obama’s excuse for not meeting with Netanyahu in Washington was that he couldn't be seen interfering in the Israeli election process. But the White House and the State Department is now exposed as seriously interfering in Israeli politics with the Obama team, financed by the Obama Administration, working to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu and his party in Israel’s upcoming election.
In Congress, Netanyahu will receive more standing ovations than Obama received when he addressed Congress. In Israel, the big question is will he receive more votes in our election than any other party. Or will he pay the political price for defying Obama?
Whatever the result, this is a major attack by America on our electoral system and a further deterioration in America’s attachment to Israel.
If Obama’s efforts help defeat Netanyahu another question to be asked is, can Israel survive the damage of an Obama presidency?
Barry Shaw is the author of the book “Israel Reclaiming the Narrative.” www.israelnarrative.com