Topic category:  Government/Politics

President Obama and his shills at NBC and MSNBC regularly urge us to "lean forward."

That's because they don't want us to appreciate what's really going on.

We need to look back to appreciate that.

Obama's suddenly announced new policy toward resolving the Israeli/Palestian conflict is ample cause to look back on the history of the Jews AND to scrutinize Obama instead of take him at his word.

Last Friday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Obama in the White House and told him that" history will not give the Jews another chance," so Israel would not be returning to indefensible borders and taking the pre-1967 war borders as the starting point for negotiations.

A conservative Jewish friend told me that later that day that "we can't trust [Obama]."

She was right!

Obama had demonstrated that before, as my regular readers know, but this time even the liberal media establishment was covering the story and thus many more people may be enlightened.

For that, we have Netanyahu to thank.

Netanyahu, in front of Obama and the media, explicitly rejected Obama's call for a Palestinian state based on the borders before the 1967 war.

Sitting beside Obama following a private Oval Office meeting, Netanyahu diplomatically said that he values Obama's efforts to advance the peace process and intends to work with him, but emphatically stated, "We can't go back to those indefensible lines. ... I discussed this with the president."

That was broadcast--and rebroadcast--to the world.

Obama's subsequent efforts to downplay the significance of the event were predictable.

Will they work?

Not if people look back and learn.

In 2008 two groups known for strongly supporting Israel reacted differently to then presidential candidate Obama: American Jews overwhelmingly supported him, while Evangelical Christians strongly opposed him.

Last week it became apparent that the Evangelical Christians were right, as Obama called for a return to 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps to settle the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.

In doing so, Obama flip flopped big time from his campaign address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 2008.

The morning after securing the Democratic nomination, Obama appeared before AIPAC and declared that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

That politically popular declaration got Obama thunderous applause from his audience.

Before the 1967 war, Jerusalem was divided and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan.

Obama's unequivocal proclamation went well beyond the generally pro-Israel positions of the Bush and Clinton administrations.

But, within hours of his AIPAC speech, Obama began to waffle, albeit very carefully.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promptly "totally rejected" the reference to “undivided Jerusalem.” Abbas insisted: “We will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as its capital.” Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qeri was more succcinct: “No Jerusalem, no agreement,” he said.

On CNN the day after his AIPAC address, Obama retreated in the face of questions about the angry reaction from the Arab world to his assertion that Palestinians had no claim to Jerusalem. “Well, obviously it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues,” Obama said. He added that he still supported a unified Israeli Jerusalem, but suddenly acknowledged that this might prove an unattainable goal: “My belief is that, as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute.”

Last Thursday Obama tried to make it even more "difficult to execute."

He urged Israel to return to the pre-1967 war borders with "mutually agreed" swaps.

So, in the absence of mutual agreement, Israel would have to return to its pre-1967 war borders.

Who thinks the Palestinians would agree that israel should keep East Jerusalem?

Obama says he's a Christian, and Obama shill Chris Matthews says we should take his word for it.

Taking Obama's word is foolhardy, as his Middle East "peace plan" illustrates.

I don't think that Obama's a Moslem, but I'm sure he's not a Catholic, an Evangelical Christian, or a Jew.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.