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What countries does Israel join on the US State Department’s “travel warning” list? Other nations on the current list include Yemen, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Libya, Iran, Mali, Chad, South Sudan and Ukraine. My gosh, not even Iraq is on the 2015 list, despite the fact that dozens if not hundreds of Christians have been murdered there. In fact, when they published the Israel announcement on February 18, the State Department had not made any reference to Islamic State in a travel warning since before Thanksgiving of last year.The Americans with me neither felt nor saw any reason to be afraid in Israel – other than a couple of people who slipped and fell on the mud at the Dead Sea. Most expressed a deep sense of security as they traveled throughout Israel and a deeper amazement at the order and wonder of the region. No one begged to hurry home because of fear. Not only did they feel safe due to the remarkable measures Israel takes to protect those within its boundaries, but they were further assured that if they got into trouble, even Jerusalem’s mayor was ready to spring into action to stop the criminal! I haven’t heard of Mayor Rahm Emmanuel performing similar tasks in Chicago! When the Obama administration failed to show up for the solidarity march in Paris following the terrorist attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, John Kerry trotted over later and took with him balladeer James Taylor to sing “You’ve Got A Friend.” This may have been the most cringe-worthy moment of failed statecraft and stagecraft in my lifetime.It rang hollow to sing, “Just call out my name and we’ll come running.” After all, when France called out our name, we went running – the other way – and failed to show up! In light of the disastrous policy this administration has put forward in the Middle East, I’m certain that not even James Taylor could soothe things over.What the world needs to hope is that Congress will listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu when he warns of the dangers of trusting Iran with nuclear weapons. If not, James Taylor might be singing about the “Fire and Rain” that will threaten civilization.The author is a former Arkansas governor and the New York Times bestselling author of God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy.