American Presidential Wannabes, Israel Next Stop?

Obama in Sderot, AP

Barack Hussein Obama did it, so I do expect most of the United States Presidential hopefuls to be flying to Israel soon for symbolic photo-ops and memorable soundbites to galvanize their Jewish and pro-Israel supporters.

The Israel visit has been a rite of passage in the campaign for quite a few years or even decades. The usual formula/itinerary includes a pledge to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's Capital City and move the American Embassy to there. But we all know that it's a lie, a joke, just something they say to get applause and votes.

The persistent repeat presidential wannabe, Mike Huckabee has already been here. Actually, he one-upped the usual pro-Israel line by having headline grabbing fundraiser in Shiloh.

“I would happily go to Shiloh anytime,” he said. “I think it is very important that as Americans we show support for Israelis in their capacity to build their neighborhoods in their own country.”
Huckabee, who stressed he did not view Judea and Samaria as occupied territory, said Israel – with a 3,500-year historic tie to Shiloh – has a much stronger link there than Americans have to Manhattan, a connection dating back only four centuries. (Jerusalem Post)

Actually, Huckabee, unlike most other presidential hopefuls actually has a consistent record of being pro-Israel and Israeli rights in the Land of Israel.

From my observations, here in Shiloh, Jews and Israel will have a smaller role in and value in the 2016 presidential election campaign than for decades. As I've written before, there's an internal revolution going on in the United States. And if the American public was more knowledgeable they'd be campaigning for the immediate abolishment of the Electoral College so that the USA President would be elected by popular vote and not the convoluted way he/she is now, which can create a situation in which the winner received fewer actual votes of the citizens than the loser.

But we shouldn't forget about tradition, so no doubt campaign managers are reserving suites and rooms in Israel's fanciest hotels for the presidential hopefuls and their staffs. I wonder if any other wannabe will put Shiloh on his/her itinerary.

Huckabee - Read His Words Carefully, Please

Mike Huckabee, U.S. President wannabe, has been saying some interesting things. Instead of spoon-feeding you my take on his words, I'm going to copy/paste an article from the Jerusalem Post. It's full of Huckabee's own words. I'll just highlight the ones you should think about. Please "comment" your interpretations.

Thank you!

Aug 18, 2009 16:33 Updated Aug 18, 2009 23:56
Huckabee: 2-state solution 'unrealistic'

Palestinians have a right to a homeland, but not within the boundaries of Israel, former governor of Arkansas and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee suggested at a meeting with reporters in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning.

Huckabee advocated for a one-state solution, thereby challenging the policies of both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama.

Huckabee, who many consider the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, is here on a four-day visit sponsored by Ateret Cohanim, the organization spearheading efforts to buy property for Jewish homes in east Jerusalem.

In an exchange with The Jerusalem Post, he said that while both Israelis and Palestinians have a right to a self-governed homeland, it would be impossible for the countries to live side-by-side.

"The point is that if you try to layer two governments on top of each other, there is going to be nothing but conflict," Huckabee said when asked if the Palestinians had a right to a homeland within territories currently controlled by Israel. "I don't know how that would work. That comes back to the question of how you designate two owners of the same car."

"Historically, the international community has already said Israel has a right to be here, that this is going to be their homeland," Huckabee said.

The same international community* that granted Palestine to Jews ought to decide where Palestinians should establish their homeland, he said.

"The question is, should the Palestinians have a place to call their own?" he asked. "Yes, I have no problem with that. Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That's what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic."

However, Huckabee backed away from a suggestion he made in 2007 that the Palestinian state could be formed in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.

"It wasn't so much of a plan, I think, as it was a speculation," he said. "I was speculating. My question was, why does it [the Palestinian state] have to be here?"

It was unreasonable for the world to expect Israel give up any of its land for a Palestinian state, he said.

"They [the Jews] have been given a tiny minuscule strip of land to upon which to call home," he said. "To ask them to further give increasing amounts acreage away for what is hoped to be a peaceful arrangement - it has not resulted in creating any level of peace."

Huckabee's one-state solution is politically to the right of the prime minister, who recently came out in favor of a two-state solution as long as the Palestinian state is demilitarized and does not pose a threat, and as long as Jerusalem remains Israel's undivided capital.

"In my vision of peace, two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect," Netanyahu in an address delivered at Bar-Ilan University in June. "Each will have its own flag, its own national anthem, and its own government."

"And how is that two-state solution working out for them?" Huckabee asked reporters on Tuesday morning.

But he said that despite his preference for a one-state solution, if he were president, he would defer to Israel's leadership on the issue.

"I would pursue allowing Israelis to self-govern. If that's what they decided, then that's their prerogative," he said in reference to a two-state solution. "The Israeli government, not another government, should decide where Jews live inside the boundary of Israel."

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister on his 11th trip to Israel, said he has not yet decided whether will run for the White House in 2012.

After meeting with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Tuesday, Huckabee took a tour of the West Bank, starting in Ma'aleh Adumim, where Mayor Benny Kashriel explained how American policy was preventing the building of the E-1 neighborhood that would link his city to Jerusalem.

From there he went to Bet El and received an explanation of the area's historic centrality to the Jewish people from Sarah Netanyahu's brother, Hagi Ben-Artzi, and then to Har Bracha, and one of the first settlement outposts - Givot Olam near Itamar and Nablus.

The trip affirmed for him that "this is a very, very special land. It has been an amazing place to watch over the years, from the first time I saw it in 1973, through the various times until today. I continue to be amazed at places that I remember desolate at one time, now producing food, commerce and families. The dry bones have come alive," he said, in reference to the prophecy in the book of Ezekiel.

Huckabee said Israelis have the right to live wherever they want.

"It was very telling" that when his tour bus got to the outskirts of Nablus, "we couldn't go in, because Jewish people couldn't go there. Arab people can go to the Jewish parts of Jerusalem, and to Jewish parts of Israel, but the Jewish people could not go there. It was sad. I don't think a lot of Americans understand there are very seriously restricted zones," he said.

*The British Mandate no longer exists. The November, 1947 vote was just a later confirmation of previous international decisions. None of those bodies exist today. Anyway, those decisions were based on the facts on the ground that modern Zionism had reestablished Jewish Life in the HolyLand. All this is based on the Bible, recognized by both Christians and Jews.

Nu, what do you think?

Straight Talk From Huckabee

Huckabee: Israel shouldn't swap land
Says such a solution for two-state "irrational;" and Palestinian state shouldn't be on top of Israeli land...

Is he running for President of the United States, 2012? Nowadays American politicians have to get early starts. For the presidency they usually start in the previous elections, sort of for practice. Obama was probably planning to be post-Hillary, but then surprised themselves (plural, since obviously his packagers are in charge--question-who are they?) and everyone else by pulling ahead.

American Congress, a two year position, is a constant campaign.

So, if American politicians are constantly campaigning, who's steering the ship? The staff, of course. So, if you want to know who's really in charge, check out who works for them.