The Patriot Post® · Focus, Please

Focus, Please

In recent weeks across the nation of Israel, fanatical Palestinian Muslim youths have attacked and killed Israeli Jews. Using knives, axes, and ice picks, they have murdered grandmothers, women and children. The United Nations has collectively yawned.

For the most part, the Obama Administration has condemned the “cycle of violence” — a phrase which suggests both sides are at fault, as if Israelis were also killing Palestinians. In fact, this is a cycle of Jew killing by Palestinian terrorists and Israeli police are stopping the murderers before they kill again. (Click here to watch my interview on Newsmax TV regarding the administration’s moral blindness toward Israel.)

Media coverage has been similarly obscenely “even handed.” Boiled down to its core, the media tone can be summed up as, “It is terrible that an 80 year-old Israeli Jew was hacked to death, but what do you expect a poor Palestinian boy to do when he sees ‘dirty Jewish feet’ on their holy ground?”

Today, U.S. and European media are suddenly filled with moral indignation about what is happening in Israel. Unfortunately, their indignation is not aimed at the murderous ax-wielding Palestinians.

Their outrage is directed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asserted in a speech that Palestinian hatred of Jews goes back to World War II (and earlier still) when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, encouraged Hitler and worked with him to kill Jews escaping from Europe.

The critics say this is “incitement” against Palestinians, and somehow distracts from Hitler’s responsibility for the Holocaust. I don’t think the prime minister of Israel needs a history lecture from anyone about Hitler’s evil acts.

The reality is too many of Israel’s critics are in denial about the fact that for many Palestinians, groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the rulers of Iran, Hitler’s work is not done.

Second Thoughts?

Earlier this month, Iran test fired a new ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The test was a blatant violation of U.N. resolutions and underscored the utter futility of President Obama’s nuclear deal with the Islamic regime.

This is not an insignificant issue. As national security expert Dr. Michael Makovsky explains:

“Ballistic missiles are not some minor offshoot of a nuclear weapons program. They are an integral part of any such program, providing the delivery vehicles necessary for getting a nuclear device on target. What need has Iran of such lethal projectiles if it has no nuclear weapons aspirations?”

[Wednesday], eleven senators, including nine who supported Obama’s nuclear deal, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry protesting the Iranian missile launch and demanding to know what, if anything, the Obama administration plans to do about it.

“There must be no ambiguity in our willingness to enforce Iran’s obligations under UN resolutions and the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” the senators wrote.

I agree completely. But what are they suggesting … new sanctions? That’s unacceptable to Ayatollah Khamenei and the deal surrendered virtually all leverage we had.

I warned that the politicians who supported the terrible nuclear deal would become the ayatollah’s hostages. It seems a few senators may be having second thoughts. Too bad they didn’t think a little harder before now.

Some politicians still think it’s a great deal. While a handful of senators are starting to sweat over Iran’s bad behavior, Nancy Pelosi threw a party [Wednesday], literally celebrating the deal on the same day the ayatollah endorsed it.

Hillary To The Hill

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [testified] on Capitol Hill [Thursday] about the 2012 terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. […]

Left-wing members of Congress have repeatedly claimed that continued investigations are meaningless because there is nothing new to learn. After all, seven other committees have already looked into what happened on the night of September 11, 2012.

But the State Department only began turning over emails from the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens this month. That is extraordinary! Just two days ago, the department turned over another 1,300 pages of emails.

As Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Benghazi Select Committee, said in his opening statement [Thursday]:

“This committee is the first committee to demand access to the emails to and from Ambassador Chris Stevens. How could an investigation possibly be considered credible without reviewing the emails of the person most knowledgeable about Libya?”

Obama Vetoes Defense Budget

For all the talk about how conservatives are refusing to compromise, President Obama vetoed the defense budget [Thursday[ afternoon. It marks the first time in 50 years that any president has vetoed the defense budget.

The bill funding the Pentagon passed 270-to-156 in the House and 70-to-27 in the Senate. Thirty-seven House Democrats voted for it, as did 20 Senate Democrats.

Among Obama’s objections are popular provisions preventing him from closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Only 29% of Americans support Obama’s position.

Obama is also insisting on more domestic spending. He is holding the defense budget hostage, demanding Congress bust the budget caps on programs that have nothing to do with our national defense.