With Obama in White House, hard times ahead for Israel (OneNewsNow.com)

With Obama in White House, hard times ahead for Israel

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 5/19/2009 7:45:00 AM

US and Israeli flags A pro-Israel author believes the Jewish state is in for a tough two years with another liberal in the White House. His comment comes in the wake of a meeting yesterday in Washington between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met for four hours at the White House on Monday. According to news reports, Obama told the Israeli leader to stop expanding Jewish settlements and grasp the "historical opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians. To accomplish that, said the president, Israel must move quickly to resume peace talks -- and Obama insisted that negotiations start from an existing agreement to establish an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Jim Fletcher, author of It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine), tells OneNewsNow that Monday's meeting was really between Netanyahu and "Clinton #2" because when Netanyahu is in office he tends to have a liberal American president to deal with. Negotiations between the two Middle East forces have not born fruit in the past, and Fletcher believes the Palestinians will not be serious about peace until they are totally defeated.

Jim Fletcher "History shows us that the modern state of Israel is always strongest when the Arabs understand that they can be defeated militarily," notes Fletcher. "It's interesting that that seems to be the only thing they understand."

The author, who heads up the apologetics ministry ProphecyMatters.com, believes Israel is in for a rough time for at least the next few years, with increasing pressure to hold talks with the Palestinians -- and that, says Fletcher, is a mistake.

"[The perception is that] the more you throw Israel to the wolves, ...the wolves will leave you alone -- and I think that's really what's going on here," he laments.

Gary Bauer of American Values has similar concerns. He feels the end result of yesterday's meeting is that President Obama is tilting American foreign policy away from supporting Israel and toward the Muslim world. Obama obviously wants Israel back to the bargaining table, but Bauer -- like Fletcher -- points out there has been no genuine fruit from previous talks. (Listen to audio report)

Gary Bauer 1 "If peace talks brought peace, the Middle East would be one of the most peaceful areas of the world," Bauer observes. "And as we all know, it's one of the most warlike areas of the world. And the reason for that is simple: major countries in the Middle East, led by Islamic fascist leaders, refuse even to recognize the right of Israel to exist."

Those leaders, according to Bauer, do not want a Palestinian state living next to Israel, but instead want an end to the only Jewish state in the world -- modern-day Israel.

Bauer believes there will be tough times ahead because of steps Barack Obama has taken that will harm the U.S. alliance with Israel.