As Israelis head to the polls tomorrow, news reports indicate that President Obama has funneled $350,000 of federal funds to anti-Likud groups such as the One Voice Movement and its subsidiary, the Victory 15 campaign, in hopes of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Obama also has dispatched several of his top political operatives to Israel to help send Bibi packing. 2012 national campaign director Jeremy Bird has been directing V15 since January, and according to FoxNews.com’s Steven Edwards, “Bird took with him additional former Obama campaign operatives to help V15 achieve its goal of knocking on one million doors to make the case for a change in Israel’s leadership.”
These moves are unlikely to survive heightened legal scrutiny. As Edwards explains, “One Voice is barred from directly targeting Netanyahu by U.S. law regulating its tax-exempt status, and doing so would threaten that status.” A bipartisan U.S. Senate investigation already is getting to the bottom of this outrage.
This development is especially maddening given Obama’s refusal to meet Netanyahu during his visit to Washington a fortnight ago. Obama claimed that he didn’t want to meddle in Israeli politics by publicly embracing America’s closest ally in the Middle East so close to tomorrow’s election. Instead, he kept his interference quiet and, as per his style, well-financed with the hard-earned cash of American taxpayers.
My friend Quin Hillyer’s article sets forth some of these details and calls on Israelis to reelect Netanyahu, both to assure their own freedom, security, and prosperity and to show Obama that Israel is not his toy with which to play and, lately, abuse at his whim.
Please send this piece to your friends and loved ones in Israel and ask them to forward it to their friends and contacts. The hour is late, but armed with the right facts, the Holy Land’s voters should deliver a clear and simple message to Obama:
Don’t mess with Israel!