Israel, Iran and Samantha Power
The Obama administration's foreign policy team is now in place for the president's second term and it does not bode well for Israel.
Already, we've seen U.S. pressure on Israel to release 1,000 Palestinians from prison and Secretary of State John Kerry imposing a 9-month deadline on Israel to reach a peace agreement with a people who still want to destroy her.
The Palestinians have no intention of recognizing Israel's right to exist soley as a Jewish state; they want a Palestinian nation that is exclusively Arab, yet they insist Israel must be a mix of Arabs and Jews.
And what does our newly appointed U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power think should be done? She likely supports the Obama/Kerry approach which is to push Israel to give most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians in exchange for peace.
We've seen how well land for peace has worked in the past, haven't we? Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel while bedouin gangs and terrorists run amuck in the Egyptian Sinai. Despite Egypt's recent tunnel closures, guns and other arms are presumably still being smuggled--via undetected tunnels--into Gaza.
Israel's greatest threat may come from a nuclear armed Iran.
Iran's newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani (a so-called moderate) has described Israel as "a sore sitting on the body of the Islamic world for many years."
Outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly inferred that Israel should be wiped from the Middle East map.
UN Watch says such inflammatory and offensive statements are a "gross breach of the UN's charter and core human rights conventions." The group wants Iran removed from its position as chair of the 120 nation Non-Aligned Movement.
No reaction yet from America's new U.N. ambassador.
A strong Israel is perhaps the best deterrent to Iranian and Palestinian efforts to destroy her. But 11-years ago, Samantha Power said Israel should send the billions they are spending on their military to the Palestinians.
You can watch the clip from her 2002 interview here:
Power is known as a human rights advocate. One of her first tests will be how she'll address the treatment of Christians and Jews in the Middle East. Will she be a strong advocate for religious freedom (not just the freedom of worship) and use U.S. leverage against countries and regimes who oppress them?
Some of the world's worst human rights abusers are running this year for seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Among them? China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. And how forcefully will Power work to prevent these persecutors of Christians from being seated on the HR Council?
Will Power use her U.N. bully pulpit to pressure America's allies and others to protect religious minorities and other victims of abuse?
We'll be watching.