No Holds Barred: When Bill Clinton blurbed Beinart’s boycott

Concerning is the fact that Hillary Clinton has portrayed herself as Obama’s successor – someone who will continue this administration’s policies.

By SHMULEY BOTEACH
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks with supporters during a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire (photo credit: REUTERS)
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks with supporters during a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Imagine for a moment that after the United States had won WWII the Germans had not instantly become our friends but instead a significant segment of their population had proclaimed that they were still Nazi devotees and would never change. Imagine if they threatened to continue their struggle against the US and inculcated their children for decades with racism and hatred of America and its values. Imagine if over the decades they launched mass-casualty terrorist attacks against our nation and promised to never stop until the US and its allies were completely destroyed.
Had that actually happened, would the US leadership at some point have said, “Even though the German leadership has promised to rebuild the Third Reich and someday wipe us from the face of the earth, we are going to withdraw all US forces from Germany, and hope that somehow this new German nation, with its next generation of the Nazi Party, will somehow choose to make peace with us?” Or would US forces still be in Germany to this very day? This is an imperfect metaphor for the circumstances Israel finds itself in today.
The leadership of the attacking Arab armies promised a genocide of the Jews in both the 1948 and 1967 wars. And even after losing these wars and being offered countless overtures for peace from Israel, the Palestinian leadership and most Arab governments have still made it very clear that their goal is the destruction of Israel. For Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran this also involves killing the Jews within it.
Even the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan are more like cease-fire agreements given the rampant anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel found in poll after poll of their publics. Recent surveys have shown the majority of Egypt’s population would like the peace agreement with Israel ripped up. And just recently Egyptian member of Parliament Tawfiq Okasha was literally ejected from Parliament and had his membership canceled by a majority vote for crime of meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Egypt. That’s some serious hatred. One parliamentarian even attacked him with his shoe.
After years of this inculcated hatred, with religious indoctrination and promise of heavenly rewards for murdering Jews, we arrive at the current situation we find in Israel, with daily stabbings, vehicle rammings and shootings of Jewish men, women and children.
The nations of the Western world have never faced or properly understood the circumstances that Israel faces. What is bizarre is that there seems to be a common concern in the West that since Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his government are so weak and viewed so poorly among the Palestinians, the Israelis should make a “peace” deal with him soon and give him large amounts of territory or else Hamas might topple him. What these nations refuse to at least publicly acknowledge is the inevitability of a genocidal Hamas (or Islamic State) state in the West Bank if Israel were to ever withdraw, just as happened in the Gaza Strip, which would lead to never-ending war.
NOW, AFTER exerting strenuous effort to force an agreement on Israel, US President Barack Obama has finally conceded that a two-state solution will not be happening during his presidency. “It’s been 60 years, it’s not going to happen in the next nine months,” he recently said. Unfortunately, Obama felt the need to place the blame on Israel, stating, “Because Israeli society has been so successful economically, it has, I think, from a position of strength, been less willing to make concessions.”
President Obama blames Israel’s economic success for the lack of peace. No mention of the PA’s terrorism incitement and Hamas’ genocidal aspirations.
No, Israel is making too much money. Is there an implication that perhaps weakening Israel through boycotts may finally bring about that ever-elusive peace? Unfortunately the Obama administration has already made it clear that it believes economic boycotting of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is not a true form of BDS (the Boycott, Divesment and Sanctions movement) and therefore sees no need to condemn such actions. Peter Beinart’s 2012 book The Crisis of Zionism first attempted to make popular this idea of boycotting Israeli settlements in what Beinart referred to as a “Zionist BDS.” When the book was released, Beinart’s ideas were condemned by the vast majority of pro-Israel Jews. However the Obama administration has now made it clear that it feels some boycotts are an acceptable policy toward the Jewish state.
Even more concerning is the fact that Hillary Clinton has portrayed herself as Obama’s successor – someone who will continue this administration’s policies.
In her released emails it was revealed that she was a big fan of Beinart and versed in his writings against Israel. In one of her emails, Sid Blumenthal sent her an anti-Israel article from Beinart called “Obama Betrayed Ideals on Israel” with the subject line: “FYI, article from book, which Bill blurbed. Sid.”
Hillary forwarded the article to her aide Jake Sullivan, writing, “Pls read so we can discuss.” “Fascinating,” Sullivan responded after reading the article.
Of course, the blurb Sid was referring to was the fact that Bill Clinton gave significant praise to Beinart’s Crisis of Zionism book. In the blurb Bill wrote: “Peter Beinart has written a deeply important book for anyone who cares about Israel, its security, its democracy, and its prospects for a just and lasting peace. Beinart explains the roots of the current political and religious debates within Israel, raises the tough questions that can’t be avoided, and offers a new way forward to achieve Zionism’s founding ideals, both in Israel and among the diaspora Jews in the United States and elsewhere.”
It is deeply concerning that former president Bill Clinton would call Beinart’s ideas “a new way forward” and so strongly praise a book that calls for boycotting Israel in any way. And it is equally concerning that Hillary would also hold Beinart’s writing in such high esteem.
The author, “America’s rabbi,” is the international bestselling author of 30 books. He is the only rabbi ever to win the London Times Preacher of the Year Competition. A noted global advocate for Israel, he will shortly publish The Israel Warriors Handbook.
Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.


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