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September, 2011
Fact vs. Fiction Concerning President Obama and Israel:
An Update Courtesy of Steve Sheffey
Opponents of President Obama are playing a dangerous and dishonest game when they discredit him as not being pro-Israel. The message the country and the world hear is the support for Israel is not bipartisan and not widespread, when, in fact, it is both. Steve Sheffey is a Chicago blogger who has done excellent research on the subject, as follows:
MYTH: Martin Peretz, in the New Republic, said President Obama failed to mention Israel in a list of victims of terrorim and failed to acknowledge Israel's role in rescue efforts in Haiti.
FACT: President Obama did not omit Israel from any official list of countries that have been victims of terrorism. President Obama did list some cities throughout the world that were victims of terrorism to make the point that terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon.
Is alliteration now considered anti-Israel? "New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manilla, Lahore or London." This very short list of cities was obviously not meant to represent policy. Does anyone really believe that President Obama thinks that the only victims of terrorism are in those eight cities?
There were many, many countries and cities he did not mention. The Obama administration has repeatedly condemned terrorism against Israel in the strongest possible terms. Should the Obama administration have listed every country that was victimized by terrorism every time it condemned terrorism against Israel? Of course not.
President Obama told the Palestinians when he spoke to the Arab world in Cairo that "It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered."
President Obama has forcefully condemned individual terrorist attacks against Israel throughout his presidency. Anyone who is paying attention knows that this Administration is very sensitive to, and acknowledges, Israeli victims of terrorism.
One of many examples was just last month, when White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the U.S. government condemns "the brutal terrorist attacks in southern Israel today in the strongest terms... our deepest condolences go to the victims, their families and loved ones, and we wish those injured a speedy recovery. The U.S. and Israel stand united against terror, and we hope that those behind this attack will be brought to justice swiftly."
The Obama administration specifically requested additional funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system, which has already saved many Israeli lives from terrorist rockets fired from Gaza. That's what matters.
Re: omitting Israel when discussing countrie that aided rescue after the earthquake in Haiti. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Israeli aid team landed in Haiti on the evening of Jan. 15th, around the same time -- or perhaps a couple hours after -- Obama actually gave the speech to which Peretz refers. So that means that all the truly great work that Israelis did in Haiti -- the work in the field hospital, the rescue of someone trapped in the rubble more than a week after the quake -- all occurred AFTER the Obama speech which Peretz cites. Sure, Israel had announced that they were sending a field hospital and rescue personnel, but they hadn't actually done anything yet.
MYTH: President Ibama snubbed PM Netanyahu last March at the White House
FACT: President Obama treated PM Netanyahu with dignity and respect.
This myth continues to be recycled and has appeared so often in the press, even the press believes it. The myth that President Obama snubbed PM Netanyahu was manufactured by those seeking to create a rift between the two leaders. It just never happened. That's why no one has gone on record saying he or she actually witnessed the snub; it never happened. That's why Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, has repeatedly said on the record that it never happened:
Specifically, Oren explained his consistent "frustration" over the vicious "snub" rumor that has been circulating since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States in March. Supposedly, President Obama was less than diplomatic with Netanyahu and even refused to have dinner with him -- even forcing him to enter the White House through some back door. But this is absolutely not true. According to Ambassador Oren, who was present the entire time, the meeting followed the protocol of a non-state visit; no pomp, no media, and no photos. President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu worked "closely and positively" during the meeting until late at night, with the prime minister and his team being granted the unusual privilege of staying on in the White House to work after the president retired. Later, when Netanyahu asked if the president could return to hear new ideas, he gladly did; and the two parted on good terms. It was not until the following morning that Israeli officials read that the visit was described as a "snub," and they were shocked.
MYTH: President Obama just doesn't "get it" where Israel is concerned and he has changed US policy to reflect his bias against Israel
FACT: President Obama's record on Israel is outstanding. His support for the US-Israel relationship is strong and heartfelt.
To repeat what we have written before:
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President Obama has called for the removal of Syrian President Assad,
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ordered the successful assassination of Osama bin-Laden,
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done more than any other president to stop Iran's illicit nuclear program,
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restored Israel's qualitative military edge after years of erosion under the previous administration,
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taken US-Israel military and intelligence cooperation to unprecedented levels,
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cast his only veto in the UN against the one-sided anti-Israel Security Council resolution,
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opposed the Goldstone Report,
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and is mounting a diplomatic crusade against the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.
Those are all verifiable facts. If you want more details, click on the White House fact sheet, the NJDC Fact Sheet, and my summary of the President's record at the two-year mark. Feel free to print any of them out and share them with family and friends
The "snub" claims are an invention of the media and they are being used by partisans, along with other rumors and outright lies, to damage President Obama without any regard for the truth. As Ambassador Oren said to us and has said before, those who use support for Israel as a partisan weapon or seek to inject partisanship into the issue of support for Israel threaten the critical U.S.-Israel relationship, by threatening the essential need for bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship.
President Obama restated Israel's position on UN Resolution 242 when he called for negotiations based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps. Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of AICE and the Jewish Virtual Library. His "Myths & Facts" are indispensable. Bard's work is relied upon by pro-Israel activists across the political spectrum. On June 27, Bard wrote that President Obama "actually restated Israel's longstanding policy on [UN Resolution] 242." Bard also said that Obama did not make any new demands on Israel; in fact, his previous insistence on a settlement freeze is conspicuously absent from the speech. He mentioned that settlement building continued, implicitly criticizing the policy, but that is dramatically different from his earlier position.
While Israel's acts of self-defense have been internationally criticized, Obama made clear "Israel must be able to defend itself - by itself - against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security." Furthermore, he sided with Israel's position that a future Palestinian state must be "non-militarized."
Even more telling, Obama was very tough on the Palestinians. While conceding their right to statehood, he criticized their efforts to avoid negotiations through unilateral measures at the United Nations, he reprimanded them for their failed efforts to delegitimize Israel, and he condemned Hamas for its policy of "terror and rejection."
Obama also explicitly attacked the Fatah/Hamas reconciliation. Echoing the Israeli position, he said, "How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist." The president added that the "Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist."
Former Prime Minister and former Mayor of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert said this on May 27:
President Obama changed nothing and said nothing new in his speeches last week. He expressed the simple truth that has no alternative. The whole world, and certainly Western countries, ranging from Australia through Canada, Europe and all US administrations in the last generation - with no exceptions - unequivocally support the resolution of our conflict with the Palestinians on the basis of the 1967 borders with territorial swaps.
President Obama's comments were very similar to what President George W. Bush said in 2008. Here's what Bush said: "I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous."
Bush did not utter the magic words "1967 lines," but the 1949 armistice lines are the 1967 lines. Bush did not utter the magic words "land swaps," but that's what "mutually agreed adjustments are." The only real difference is that Bush's political opponents did not jump down his throat for stating the obvious.
The Washington Post reported on May 22 that Israeli commentators pointed out Sunday that the 1967 lines have for years been considered the basis for any future border between Israel and a Palestinian state, noting that Obama had mentioned land swaps that could leave large settlements inside Israel, as Netanyahu has demanded.
"What did Obama say?" wrote Ofer Shelah, a columnist in the Maariv newspaper. "That any agreement with the Palestinians, if and when it is signed, must be based on the 1967 lines with border adjustments. Is there any Israeli or Palestinian who doesn't know that this is what will happen? It's the only game in town.
Dov Weisglas, who was chief of staff to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in a radio interview that "anyone here deluding himself...that the drawing of the new map will be based on any reference point other than the 1967 boundaries is simply disconnected from reality."
Weisglass is right. What other lines could be the reference point? The US-Canadian border? The Palestinian state will not be on the moon. It will be on
most of the West Bank, which is defined by the 1967 lines; hence the need to negotiate a border different from the 1967 lines to reflect demographic realities and security considerations.
Remember this: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the military genius behind Israel's victory in the Six Day War, envisioned a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps. Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the most decorated soldier in Israel's history, offered the Palestinians a state based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former mayor of Jerusalem, offered the Palestinians a state based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps. If the Palestinians had accepted these offers, there would today be a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps. But maybe President Obama's Republican critics understand Israel's security needs better than Rabin, Barak, and Olmert.
A word about President Obama's critics. To paraphrase Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley, people who wouldn't have voted for President Obama under any circumstances have declared that under no circumstances would they now vote for President Obama. Benjamin Netanyahu favors a two-state solution, but those opposed to any territorial compromise are terrified that President Obama just might succeed in helping Israel realize the dream of the vast majority of its citizens: two states living in peace and security side by side.
When you combine the radical right that opposes territorial compromise with those who use concern for Israel as a fig leaf to hide their real concern, their pocketbooks (and their fear of higher taxes for millionaires and billionaires), you wind up with most of the 20-25% of Jews who vote Republican and try to increase their numbers by using Israel as a partisan wedge issue with which to persuade others who genuinely care about Israel to join them. I am not suggesting that this vocal minority does not genuinely care about Israel. I am suggesting that in some cases, their agenda is not as pure as they'd like us to believe.
There are myths and there are facts. Our Republican friends are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. President Obama is firmly pro-Israel, in word and deed. He's proven it again and again. We only strengthen Israel's enemies when we perpetuate the myth that there is a meaningful difference between Democrats and Republicans on Israel, or when we distort President Obama's support for Israel for partisan gain.
Former Congressman Ron Klein, one of Israel's best friends in either party, put it this way on June 29:
Those of us who support Israel with every fiber of our being are seeing a blatant political misinformation campaign which exaggerates or blatantly misstates the president's position for the sake of winning the next election. Supporters of Israel should recognize that support of our leaders, while it should not be blind, cannot and should not be used as a political pawn or chip used recklessly for the sake of raw partisan politics.
President Obama is supported by the vast majority of American Jewry for all the right reasons. The pro-Israel community does not have to compromise on Israel. President Obama is strong on Israel AND the other issues we care about. As David Harris wrote
President Obama will receive strong and deep support from American Jews, just like he did in 2008, for the right reason: he's on the right side of the issues that the vast majority of American Jews care deeply about - protecting our environment, ensuring reproductive rights, preserving Medicare, respecting and acting upon a belief in real science, and - yes - demonstrating unprecedented support for Israel.
February, 2009
FICTION: An email hoax has been circulating in the Jewish community. It claims that President Obama has issued an executive order that provides $20,300,000 in funding for migration of Palestinian terrorists from Gaza to the United States.
FACT: Although he issued an executive order, it is for humanitarian relief in Gaza, not for emigration of Gazans to the US. It is not uncommon for a President to issue such an order. President George W. Bush determined that funds be sent to the West Bank, Gaza, and Sudan more than once during his terms in office.
Rep. Nita Lowey's (D-NY) office had this to say about the email:
"I can tell you unequivocally that the conclusions drawn by the author [of the email] are wrong. The $20.3 million is for humanitarian assistance inside of Gaza. Additionally, we have mechanisms in place to ensure that the funding is not going to foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas and are vetted through organizations like the ICRC that provide only humanitarian relief. To reiterate, there is no funding for resettling Palestinians in the US."
The State Department described the relief effort as follows:
Of the $20.3 million in new emergency funds, $13.5 million will go to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), $6 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross and $800,000 to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. These agencies will distribute emergency food assistance, provide medical assistance and temporary shelter,create temporary employment, and restore access to electricity and drinkable water for people living in the Gaza Strip, the department said. About 1.4 million Palestinians live in Gaza. “Today's contribution to UNRWA augments the $85 million the United States contributed in December 2008 toward UNRWA's 2009 appeals,” the department said.
http://www.america.gov/st/foraid-english/2009/January/20090130104608dmslahrellek0.2651483.html
ADL:
There is no truth to this rumor. This Memorandum does not deal with the status of Palestinian refugees nor "open the floodgates to Hamas" to enter the United States.
http://www.adl.org/Internet_Rumors/Obama_Palestinian_Emigration.htm
UrbanLegends.About.com:
This message promotes the false impression that ... President Obama in 2009 allocated taxpayer funds to resettle Hamas refugees in the United States. [He] did not.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/hr_1388_hamas_resettlement.htm
June, 2010
FICTION: Princess Cruises No Longer Makes Stops in Israel
FACT: After the flotilla incident on May 31st, emails began circulating claiming that Princess cruises had bowed to pressure from anti-Israel groups and would no longer be stopping at ports in Israel. The truth is Princess Cruise line made a decision to redirect the cruise ship because of the crisis and continue on to a scheduled stop in Haifa. According to a statement by Princess Cruise Lines, the next cruise to stop at Ashdod is scheduled for the end of June 2010 and, security permitting, they expect to keep to the published itinerary.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/14/2739600/princess-cruise-boycott-tale-debunked
June, 2010
FICTION: Military Weapons Hidden Behind Humanitarian Goods on Mavi Marmara
FACT: A much-circulated video claims to show Israeli soldiers unloading military weaponry that was "hidden" behind humanitarian goods on the Mavi Marmara, the flotilla ship that attempted to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. and whose passengers attacked Israel Defense Forces naval commandos. This is a misrepresentation of the video footage. According to Israeli officials, no heavy weapons were smuggled in any of the ships. Israel's Foreign Ministry has issued a full list of goods carried on the six ships in the flotilla. The only heavy cargo carried aboard the Mavi Marmara was the passengers' personal belongings and luggage.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2010/Equipment_aid_Gaza_flotilla_7-Jun-2010.htm
PRESIDENT OBAMA and THE US-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP
FICTION: President Obama is selling Israel and American Jews down the river with unprecedented changes in US policy toward Israel. The Jewish Community is willingly allowing itself to be marched to the gas chambers.
FACT: This level of inflammatory rhetoric illustrates an irrational hostility toward President Obama, America’s first black President. Email messages that compare Obama to Hitler trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and dishonor the memories of those who perished. You may disagree with President Obama, but there is nothing in his background or his conduct that warrants his being labeled a Nazi.
Historically, whenever there has been lack of progress in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, American Administrations fill the vacuum with plans of their own. This President is no different from his last three predecessors, e.g.:
George W. Bush and the Roadmap
Bill Clinton and the Wye River Accords
George Bush I and the Madrid Process
There was plenty of disagreement about the wisdom or efficacy of those plans, but no one called those Presidents Nazis and no one suggested that Jews who supported the President were headed for the gas chambers. Sadly, emails that are being circulated are using this language.
March, 2010
FICTION: There is a serious rift between the US and Israel. President Obama personally snubbed Prime Minister Netanyahu when the Israeli PM was in Washington.
FACT: The rift between President Obama and PM Netanyahu is wholly an invention of the media -- which thrive on controversy and when they cannot honestly report it, will invent it. President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu had a private working meeting -- one on one, no aides present, no photo ops, no ceremony -- at the White House. Originally, the President was scheduled to be out of the country in Asia when Mr. Netanyahu was in the US. Due to a change in President Obama's plans, a meeting was scheduled for one hour at the White House. When the one-hour meeting was over, Obama went to the private residence and Netanyahu asked if he could stay and continue to discuss the issues with his staff. When Netanyahu's meeting was over, he asked Obama's staff if he could speak to the President again about some new ideas. The President came right downstairs and they spoke for another 30 minutes. Obama and Netanyahu have had more face time than Obama has had with virtually any other head of state. Netanyahu has said that “friends can disagree” and that there is no rift in US-Israel relations. Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the US, has made repeated public statements that the "snub" story is not true. JAC called the Israeli Consul General to the Midwest and received confirmation that there was no snub or any mistreatment of PM Netanyahu by President Obama. Netanyahu himself said that this story was false.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/06/2394708/oren-obama-did-not-snub-netanyahu
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/03/28/1011391/netanyahu-stop-unacceptable-media-reports-on-obama
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2010/05/06/2394704/oren-obama-did-not-snub-netanyahu
Both President Obama and PM Netanyahu have made it clear that friends can have disagreements over particular policies and still remain friends. The Obama administration policy on settlements is no different from that of Presidents Bush, Clinton, or Bush I. President Obama has clearly, emphatically and repeatedly established that the US and Israel have an unbreakable bond. The Obama administration allocated $205 million to the Iron Dome program that is vital to protecting Israel from Hamas and Hezbollah rockets, as well as far-reaching support for other systems — Arrow III, Arrow II and David’s Sling — designed to intercept longer range missiles from Iran. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor General Jim Jones delivered widely publicized speeches reiterating the administration’s dedication to Israel’s well-being. And President Obama, in a letter to Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, pledged, “our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable and that no wedge will be driven between us.”
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/106623-us-israel-united-in-common-cause-peace-and-security-in-the-middle-east
June, 2009
FICTION: President Obama, in his June, 2009 speech in Cairo, was weak on US support for Israel.
FACT: Even after a year, emails are circulating that refer to this speech in their attacks on the President. Here is what some pro-Israel stalwarts had to say about the speech:
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), a staunch supporter of Israel, said in an interview that it was no small thing for a U.S. president to offer an extended defense of Israel before a Muslim audience. 'If you're delivering a speech in Cairo directed to the Arab world and you mention in the speech that Israel has a right to exist and right to exist in security, that it grew from the ashes of the Holocaust and that America has an unbreakable bond, that demonstrates extraordinary courage,' said Engel.” -- Politco.com, June 4, 2009
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the speech as a “signal achievement” and dismissed criticism by Republican colleagues that the speech was too apologetic…. Obama's language on Iran was tough enough and was meant to reassure Arab countries, which also are concerned about Iran's quest to acquire nuclear weapons, Lugar said. -- Bloomberg.com, June 5, 2009
“What useful purpose does it serve to demonize so popular a president, or claim his policies are motivated by animus, when it's hard to discern where they differ substantively from those of his predecessors?”-- Jerusalem Post editorial, June 2, 2009
JAC official statement: President Obama told the Arab and Muslim world that America's bond with Israel is “unbreakable.” He told the Arab and Muslim world, a world rife with Holocaust denial, that to deny the Holocaust is “baseless, ignorant, and hateful.” He told them that threatening Israel with destruction is “deeply wrong.” He said that “Palestinians must abandon violence” and that “it is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus.” And he said that “Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist.”
FICTION: President Obama is soft on terrorists, extending them Miranda rights and other benefits of the American justice system.
FACT: As a presidential adviser on anti-terrorism once said, “Terrorists are criminals. They commit criminal actions like murder, kidnapping, and arson, and countries have laws to punish criminals. So a major element of our strategy has been to delegitimize terrorists, to get society to see them for what they are - criminals - and to use democracy's most potent tool, the rule of law against them.” That anti-terrorism expert was not an adviser to Barack Obama, but rather to Ronald Reagan.
In this country, criminals -- foreigners or citizens -- are tried in our courts. We do not have a separate system for foreigners or for criminals we especially dislike. Terrorists are criminals, not soldiers fighting in a war. As such, they should be tried in our courts and that is where the majority of convictions of terrorists have taken place. America does not need torture chambers or Kangaroo Courts or lesser forms of justice for the most heinous criminals. Our strength is our democracy and public trials show the world who we are and what we stand for.
Under the Constitutional separation of powers, it is NOT the President who determines procedures such as Miranda. The Supreme Court ruled in 1966 that defendants must be informed of the right to consult with an attorney and of the right against self-incrimination in order for their testimony to be admissible in court. The high Court upheld that ruling in 2000. President Obama does not dole out (as if by Presidential fiat) constitutional rights as favors -- to foreign terrorists or anyone else.
April. 2010
FICTION: President Obama announced that the U.S. will not retaliate with nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear country-even if that country hits us with a devastating biological or chemical weapons attack.
FACT: That statement is incomplete and implies the President will not go to great lengths to defend America from attack. White House officials ALSO said “the new strategy would include the option of reconsidering the use of nuclear retaliation against a biological attack, if the development of such weapons reached a level that made the United States vulnerable to a devastating strike.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/06arms.html
April, 2010
FICTION: President Obama bans characterizations such as “jihad” and “Islamic extremism” from our national security strategy.
FACT: National Security Council staffer Pradeep Ramamurthy runs the administration's Global Engagement Directorate, a four-person National Security Council team that Obama launched last May with little fanfare and a vague mission to use diplomacy and outreach ‘in pursuit of a host of national security objectives.’
Since then, the division has not only helped change the vocabulary of fighting terror but also has shaped the way the country invests in Muslim businesses, studies global warming, supports scientific research and combats polio.
Before diplomats go abroad, they hear from the Ramamurthy or his deputy, Jenny Urizar. When officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration returned from Indonesia, the NSC got a rundown about research opportunities on global warming.
‘Do you want to think about the U.S. as the nation that fights terrorism or the nation you want to do business with?’ Ramamurthy said.
To deliver that message, Obama's speechwriters have taken inspiration from an unlikely source: former President Ronald Reagan. Visiting communist China in 1984, Reagan spoke to Fudan University in Shanghai about education, space exploration and scientific research.
He discussed freedom and liberty. He never mentioned communism or democracy.
Like Reagan in China, Obama in Cairo made only passing references to terrorism. Instead he focused on cooperation. He announced the United States would team up to fight polio with the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, a multinational body based in Saudi Arabia.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/07/obama-bans-islam-jihad-national-security-strategy-document/
Claims and Forecasts by Juval Aviv
April 7, 2010
An email has been circulating about a meeting in California with security consultant Juval Aviv and a group who gathered to listen to his forecasts. They are very alarming and appear to show that the United States has "abandoned" Israel. Two reputable internet hoax websites say Aviv has greatly exaggerated his resume and did not make correct predictions of terrorist attacks. This email is more than 3 years old and the attacks he predicted did not occur.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/soapbox/juvalaviv.asp
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/errata/a/juval_aviv.htm
According to www.truthorfiction.com, "Juval Aviv is a noted author and speaker on terrorism and security matters who immigrated to the United States from Israel. Aviv investigated the 1988 Lockerbie crash of flight 103 for PanAm airlines and is the founder of the New York based security consulting company, Interfor. "
Juval Aviv has a security business in the US and is on the speaking circuit. He did NOT, as he claims, lead Golda Meir's security team and or serve in the Mossad. He also claims to have led the attack on the terrorists who murdered the Israeli Olymic athletes in Munich in 1972. The Mossad does not know of him. It is not even clear whether he was a major in the IDF as he claims. According to a 2006 article by the Guardian, Mr. Aviv never served in the Mossad or any Israeli intelligence organization. They were able to verify he worked as a gate guard for El Al Airlines in the early 1970s.
The following are some of the other items contained in this email:
FICTION: Obama has withdrawn Israel's landing rights in Turkey and Iraq. Israel now has nowhere to refuel in the middle east.
FACT: How could the US suspend landing rights for one sovereign nation in another sovereign nation? The US does not have that authority. Israel never had landing rights in Iraq, so they could not be taken away. Turkey refused Israel permission to fly in Turkish airspace during long-range training missions for its fighter jets. Turkey has seen an increase in right-wing leadership in its government in recent years, turning it from a predominantly secular government to one increasingly influenced by Muslim rule, including the Muslim Brotherhood. This has led to a damaged relationship with Israel, especially following Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and culminating in a break in diplomatic relations over the flotilla incident in which Turkish citizens tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and were killed in a melee with the IDF.
http://www.obamasmearbusters.com/smears/obama-waging-campaign-to-weaken-israel's-security-that's-a-lie
This is another variation on the "Obama-snubbed Netanyahu" hoax:
FICTION: PM Netanyahu was instructed to come to the White House for a meeting. He was brought in through a servants entrance – the only head of state ever in US history to be given that disgraceful treatment. He was not offered even a cup of tea – but was lectured to by Obama who told him that he is not permitted to attack Iran and that he has to withdraw all forces from the West bank and may not build any more settlements (neighborhoods) in East Jerusalem.
FACT: President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu had a private working meeting -- one on one, no aides present, no photo ops, no ceremony -- at the White House. Originally, the President was scheduled to be out of the country in Asia when Mr. Netanyahu was in the US. Due to a change in President Obama's plans, a meeting was scheduled for one hour at the White House. When the one-hour meeting was over, Obama went to the private residence and Netanyahu asked if he could stay and continue to discuss the issues with his staff. When Netanyahu's meeting was over, he asked Obama's staff if he could speak to the President again about some new ideas. The President came right downstairs and they spoke for another 30 minutes. Obama and Netanyahu have had more face time than Obama has had with virtually any other head of state. Netanyahu has said that “friends can disagree” and that there is no rift in US-Israel relations. Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the US, has made repeated public statements that the "snub" story is not true. JAC called the Israeli Consul General to the Midwest and received confirmation that there was no snub or any mistreatment of PM Netanyahu by President Obama. Netanyahu himself said that this story was false.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/06/2394708/oren-obama-did-not-snub-netanyahu
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/03/28/1011391/netanyahu-stop-unacceptable-media-reports-on-obama
FICTION: Obama has refused to oppose Syria’s re-arming of Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel now sits in imminent danger from the amounts of missiles that can be sent into her territory.
FACT: The United States, and President Obama, have reissued the sanctions (they had not lapsed) against Syria for supporting terrorism, accusing Damascus of supporting terrorist groups and pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/world/middleeast/04syria.html?emc=eta1
FICTION: Israel will never tell the US again of its plans – since they cannot trust us.
FACT: Many members of the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ambassador Oren have stressed that relations between the White House and Israel remain strong.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/06/2394708/oren-obama-did-not-snub-netanyahu
http://www.obamasmearbusters.com/smears/obama-waging-campaign-to-weaken-israel's-security-that's-a-lie
FICTION: Israel intends to attack Iran –there are over 30 installations of which 4 have underground bunkers that contain nuclear weapons. Israel cannot wait any longer. The US is no longer supporting Israel’s self defense.
FACT: Israel received an increase in military aid from the US. In FY 2010, aid to Israel is $2.7 billion, with a significant portion of that identified as military aid, including the US-Israeli Missile Defense Shield, called “Arrow” estimated at $202.4 million.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html
http://www.obamasmearbusters.com/smears/obama-waging-campaign-to-weaken-israel's-security-that's-a-lie
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