Gary Johnson on Israel – Part II

By DAVID PFEFFER
Updated: AUGUST 17, 2016 01:42
(Continued.)
In November 2011 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbF0vOAqdP4):
BLUMENTHAL: The Tea Party is for ending foreign aid to every country except for Israel. Would you end aid to Israel?
JOHNSON: Yes, we’d have to include – and I’ve been to Israel… met with Netanyahu, and the takeaway: Israel doesn’t want anything from us. Other than not for us to intervene and tell them what they should or shouldn’t do…
BLUMENTHAL: But what about the Palestinians, Palestine?
JOHNSON: All right, you understand it as well as anyone. I mean, enlighten me. What would your solution be?
BLUMENTHAL: I support the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) which encourages Israel to abide by three conditions of international law, which they have refused to abide by: Resolution 194 allowing the Palestinians the right of return; ending the occupation; and providing equal rights for Palestinians – which they have refused to abide by.
JOHNSON: It’s hard to understand. I could not – I could not converse on that issue intelligently.
Trump and Johnson share many views but Johnson identifies with and represents a Libertarian Party that is so isolationist and anti-Israel that it makes Trump’s “America First” look like rampant interventionism.
If some of Trump’s best friends are Jews, some of Israel’s best enemies are Jews too. We had Sanders and now we have Stein (http://2016.presidential-candidates.org/JStein/?on=israel):
“I don’t think we need to single out Israel, although Israel is certainly a huge problem. And we are sponsoring the war crimes of Israel to the tune of eight million dollars a day. Eight million dollars a day. We are an enabler here… What we would say to Israel is… to end the human rights abuses and the boycotting of Gaza and the apartheid policies inside of Israel. We would say this to Israel in the same way we’d say this to other countries in the Middle East. That means that we would not provide, I think it’s like four million (sic) dollars now of largely military aid. That’s a lot of money we’re providing and it needs to be contingent on compliance with international law.”
Translation: I’m a self-flagellating Jew. Elect me – Israel will be dead in minutes.
Stein sees America the same way – a huge problem.
The I-don’t-like-the-choices dilemma poses the wrong question – one should seek alternatives not to Trump, but to Clinton. Which candidate can stop her from destroying what Obama missed?
Consider Clinton’s stock ultimate-political-insider’s Israel answer (http://2016.presidential-candidates.org/Clinton/?on=israel):
“Let me just spend a minute speaking about the serious concerns that Israel’s leaders have about this (Iran) deal. Israel has every reason to be alarmed by a regime that both denies its existence and seeks its destruction. I would not support this agreement for one second if I thought it put Israel in greater danger. I believe in my core that Israel and America must stand side by side... (blah blah blah) ...”
Translation: Blah blah blah.
As always, America – the world, including you, is in your hands. So pick one.
Johnson on illegal immigration: “Practical Reform. No Walls. Incentivize Assimilation… The only thing a big wall will do is increase the size of the ladders, the depth of the tunnels, and the width of the divisions between us” (https://www.johnsonweld.com/immigration).
Translation: There’s nothing we can do. Yet America is that government Johnson would limit; borders define and protect her. The government’s duty is to protect the citizenry. If defeatism satisfies your definition of protection, Johnson is your man.
On abortion, “Johnson recognizes that the right of a woman to choose is the law of the land, and has been for several decades” (https://www.johnsonweld.com/abortion). The Supreme Court did that, not Congress. If in your view the Supreme Court makes law, Johnson is your man.
Johnson on foreign policy: No Nation Building. No Policing the World. More Security Here at Home (https://www.johnsonweld.com/foreign_policy_and_national_defense). Obama’s similar position has reduced America to “leading from behind” while civilization crumbles.
Johnson misunderstands the phrase “world’s policeman”. It does not mean fighting everybody else’s war. It means embodying how the world, to survive, must behave, underpinning civilization, providing existential hope (the only significant hope the world has) to those not lucky enough to have been born in the United States. Only America qualifies.
Netanyahu tries to fill the Obama void; countries in the Middle East, eastern Europe, Africa and Asia are lining up. But Israel is miniscule and cannot confront civilization's collapse. Only America can.
Don't vote? Sure. Leave civilization to its fate. But you’ll pay – because you wouldn’t build that wall.