Israel and the United States need to get ready to thwart a terrible surprise.
At the moment there no such thing as an Obama Doctrine for foreign policy – but one may be coming and it could prove catastrophic.
I worry about bringing it up. It might give the President an idea he may have skipped, so it might be best to leave it unspoken.
What does Israel do when it is not Israel but Iran that has America’s back?
But we must approach the subject, like it or not, because the possibilities are staggering. In fact, I’d be surprised if it were not already the central part of the deal being manufactured between Obama and the ayatollahs toward an agreement that is entirely favorable to Iran regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
Favorable is one thing, but the cherry on the cake could be a feature, devastating to Israel, similar to the Doctrine imposed by President James Monroe in 1823, in which Europe was warned to keep hands off the Western Hemisphere. Otherwise, at any further encroachment, the United States would be bound to retaliate.
The Kennedy Doctrine was equally explicit as part of the agreement with the Kremlin that settled the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
It warned that an attack by Cuba against any Latin American country would be viewed as an attack upon the United States.
Could this be something in the works between Obama’s Administration and Tehran? The deal would read that an attack upon Iran, by any country, would be viewed as an attack upon the United States. Farfetched? Let us hope so. But nearly every part of Obama’s foreign policy is farfetched but happening.
Except for the clairvoyant (read this!) no one saw it getting this far – an American President abandoning Israel while embracing Iran, favoring a terrorist theocracy over an egalitarian democracy, and selling out Sunni partners for the Shiite monolith that is Iran.
So if that’s possible, anything is possible, including a mandate that forbids a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and if such a measure failed to come from Obama’s negotiators, Iran’s ministers surely insisted, if I read the down cards correctly – cards to be out in the open any day now.
This Doctrine would be addressed against any country pondering deterrent action against Iran, but the message would be specific to Israel.
Israel is Mr. Obama’s pastime.
If you say an Obama Doctrine to exclusively protect Iran would need Congressional approval, trust Obama to find a way around Congress. He always does.
He has “a pen and a phone” and he has nearly two more years. He has all the tools and he has used these tools to putrefy the Jewish State.
The attempt to condition the general public has not worked. Americans support Israel. But for Obama, demonizing Israel is a work in progress. Nothing has stopped him yet, whether it’s getting even with America or settling scores with Israel. His remaining months in office are his for mopping up.
No doubt Israel has plans on the chalkboard to take out Iran’s nuclear encampments and has had these plans for years, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
But facing an imminent threat from Iranian missiles -- now what does Israel do when it is not Israel but Iran that has America’s back?
It is terrifying to consider such a doomsday scenario, and it is out of the question that we would ever face a head-on collision like this.
But Barack Obama is President of the United States and the unwelcome surprises keep coming one after another.
This one would be earth shattering. Israel’s finest minds need to think fast, just in case.
Or maybe it is simply this man’s nightmare. In that case forget everything I said and go back to sleep.
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. The new thriller from the New York-based novelist, The Bathsheba Deadline, a heroic editor’s singlehanded war on terror and against media bias. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. Website: www.jackengelhard.com