Foot in mouth
What should be made of Joe Biden’s criticism of Trump?
Joe Biden took on the US president and the Republican Party last week. He delivered a scorching criticism, telling guests at a Lantos Foundation event that the nation’s current leadership is “giving license” to the largest increase in antisemitic incidents on record in the United States.
The former vice president’s comments were based on the announcement by the Anti-Defamation League that antisemitic incidents had increased by 60% in 2017. Biden pontificated that it was due to “our leadership giving license… to prejudice.” He followed that speech with the revelation that he was the “most qualified” individual to be president of the United States and teased with the information that he would make his plans known within the next eight weeks.
In April 2016, Biden joined forces with former president Barack Obama in being harshly disparaging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government. His diatribe followed a terrorist attack on a Jerusalem city bus, injuring 21 people. It was the culmination of several months of knife attacks by Palestinian terrorists.
After a meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Biden spoke at length of Israel’s failures, citing relatively minor Palestinian Authority infractions. He then reiterated that it was not known if the bus attack was actually an act of terrorism. Perhaps he should have read the Facebook page of the Palestinian terrorist organization Fatah, where it was posted that a victory had been realized in the “occupied city” and that numerous “Zionists” had been injured.
I find it laughable that the most disliked president in Israel was Obama. The mostliked president is Donald Trump. Do you think passing the Taylor Force Act, standing up to Jew-hating nations at the UN, standing up to Jew-murderers in Iran, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and building up Sunni ally support of Israel in the Gulf counts for nothing? Perhaps Biden should take his absurd act on Saturday Night Live, should he decide to run for president. It would be the best Christmas gift ever for Trump.
It is well known that Biden had an unrivaled role model when it came to relations with Israel – none other than his former superior, Obama. In 2005, several years before his bid for the White House, Obama met with the vitriolic and antisemitic Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz revealed that he would not have crusaded for Obama’s election had he known of the photo of the meeting between Obama and Farrakhan that surfaced later.
Then, there was the Obamas’ pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He was, from all accounts, as rabidly antisemitic as was Farrakhan – to whom he presented the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeteer Award. According to the pastor, the Nation of Islam leader truly exemplified greatness.
It was Wright’s church that the former first family chose as their place of worship before moving to take his Senate seat in Washington, DC. In Chicago in 1992, Wright had officiated at the wedding of the Obamas, and it was there in 2003 that they heard his infamous statement: “Not ‘God Bless America’; God damn America! That’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America as long as she keeps trying to act like she is God and she is supreme!” After retiring, Wright spoke at a Chapel Hill, North Carolina event where he intoned that “Israel is a racist endeavor” and an “illegal state.”
Before leaving office, Obama and his minions presented the Israelis with one last gift – UN Resolution 2334 – a decree that gave the Palestinians a boon in their anti-Israel war. As to US policy, the resolution was a complete about-face and all but obliterated any direct negotiations between Israel and the PA. It declares that the most holy place to Jews globally, the Western Wall, is inside Palestinian territory, as is the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. Obama’s stance on this heinous attempt to further discredit Israel’s indigenous claims to her ancestral land is scarcely surprising. He was contemptuous of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, going so far as to endeavor to interfere with Israel’s elections. Obama’s demeanor toward Israel and her leader shows more antagonism than was ever shown for Syria’s carnage against its own citizens.
The Obama presidency chose to stand with the antisemitic United Nations rather than with its most valuable ally in the Middle East – Israel. How dare anyone associated with that former administration call Trump antisemitic, and especially since his beloved daughter and son-in-law Jared and Ivanka Kushner are Jewish.
Trump has stood up to Jew-haters in the UN since taking office through his UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. She said of a resolution to condemn Israel for trying to halt Hamas’ rocket launches into Israel: “Hamas hopes to cause death to as many civilians and as much destruction as possible. It is Hamas that has used Palestinian civilians as human shields at the boundary fence. Their goal is to incite violence and overrun the border. It is Hamas that refuses to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority to unite in the pursuit of peace. It is Hamas that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel within any borders. And yet the resolution before us not only fails to blame Hamas for these actions – it fails to even mention Hamas. This is the dangerous, counter-productive decision the General Assembly is about to take.”
Iran was also in the crosshairs of Trump when he reversed the decision made by the Obama administration to remove sanctions against that terrorism-sponsoring state. Trump effectively stopped funding terrorism attacks by Ayatollah Khamenei and his henchmen.
The president has made two trips to Israel and was responsible for the one step that other presidents have refused to take: To recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. How anyone could label Trump antisemitic is beyond absurd.
On behalf of the 52 million Evangelicals whom I represent, I can say without a doubt that the most pro-Israel president ever is Donald Trump, and the most anti-Israel president ever was Joe Biden’s former boss, Barak Obama.
The writer is a #1 New York Times bestselling author with 89 published books, including The New Hitler. He is the founder of Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem of which the late President Shimon Peres, Israel’s ninth president, was the chair. He also serves on the Trump Evangelical Faith Initiative.