Obama’s Policies And Israel (I)
Readers Chaim Berkowitz and Aaron Fried (Letters, Feb. 27) cite a number of policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations that were unfriendly to Israel. All true. But it is absurd and illogical for Berkowitz and Fried to conclude that therefore President Obama’s policies toward Israel are acceptable.
The issues at stake now are far too important to get caught up in a game of “who was better.” Israel at this moment faces the dangerous reality of an Obama administration that wants to push the Jewish state back to the vulnerable 1967 lines, enable Iran to continue its nuclear development efforts, and intimidate supporters of Israel into silent acquiescence.
That is what every friend of Israel needs to focus on, regardless of what Reagan or Bush did many years ago.
Moshe Phillips, President
Benyamin Korn, Chairman
Religious Zionists of America
Philadelphia
Obama’s Policies And Israel (II)
Reader Chaim Berkowitz’s indignation over the less than complimentary
views of President Obama held by many Americans is unduly focused on Orthodox Jews.
According to Gallop, Obama had a 67 percent job approval rating in January 2009. By February 2015, his approval rating had dropped to 46 percent.
A staggering 21-point drop obviously must include many disenchanted Americans outside the Orthodox Jewish community and likely has not much to do with U.S. policy toward Israel.
Although other presidents may have made a few irresponsible moves here and there, what stands out about Obama is his ideology and serious disregard for law and stately decorum.
No other president that I’m aware of ever made a dignitary wait, as Obama did with Netanyahu in 2010, for more than an hour while he ate dinner. This goes beyond rude. This is a president whose ego and emotions are out of control.
Can any person honestly claim he or she spent two decades listening to hate-filled sermons, as Obama did in Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church, and not been affected? The average person can’t sit through a two-hour speech that doesn’t agree with his or her sensibilities.
Obama’s executive orders, which never include a referendum to see what the people want, makes it obvious he has contempt even for his fellow citizens.
As an aside, is this the president whom Netanyahu, or anyone else for that matter, is supposed to trust when it comes to making a deal with Iran?
It’s amazing this president has an approval rating at all.
Josh Greenberger
Brooklyn, NY