TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Raphael Ahren
August 6, 2015

In speech on Iran nukes, president uses a tactic that US Jewish opponents of the deal will find hard to combat: insinuating misplaced loyalty

In March 2013, US President Barack Obama addressed the Israeli people in Jerusalem, reassuring them that the world’s sole superpower would have their back in the face of threats from Iran and other Middle Eastern states seeking their annihilation. “Those who adhere to the ideology of rejecting Israel’s right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them or the sky above, because Israel is not going anywhere,” he said to raucous applause. “ And today, I want to tell you — particularly the young people — so that there’s no mistake here, so long as there is a United States of America — Atem lo levad. You are not alone.” On Wednesday, in a speech at American University in Washington, Obama sent the opposite message to Jerusalem: You are indeed alone…Obama is worried that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incessant attacks on the deal have started making inroads among the American public and — more importantly — among US legislators who can still kill the deal. Therefore he unsubtly asserted that with its vocal opposition, Israel stands against the rest of the world. READ MORE