Red carpet for Romney

Red carpet for Romney


Boaz Bismuth


Despite the image well-versed commentators and doom sayers have portrayed over the past several months, Israel has not lost the support of the United States. The exact opposite is true: Just like George W. Bush visited Israel as a Republican presidential hopeful in 2000 and then Senator Barack Obama visited Israel four years ago when he was still the presumptive Democratic nominee, the GOP's standard-bearer is now here.


The road to the White House passes through Israel, among other must-see destinations, regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. The current administration knows this full well. Do you think Obama would be that naive as to not grasp this truism?


The former Massachusetts governor considers Israel a historical ally and views Iran as a destabilizing force on the world stage. Romney will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, and the regime in Tehran cannot be trusted to act rationally. Israel's prime minister could not have said it better.


Tisha B'Av was the most appropriate time to sound the alarm on the dangers posed by the ayatollahs' regime, as far as Romney was concerned. At his meeting with the prime minister on Sunday, he explained that "the tragedies of wanton killing are not only things of the past." Over in Washington President Obama would find it difficult not to accept our assessment that the world today — the Middle East included — has not become a better place since his visit almost four years ago. Spring is over, as we have all noticed; the almond tree whose blossom signifies the end of winter no longer produces flowers.


Four years ago Israel bade farewell to Bush, a very friendly Republican president, when he visited Israel. But this did not stop leaders in Jerusalem from, shortly thereafter, welcoming the Democrats' Obama, an Illinois Senator at the time, with all the necessary pomp and circumstance. And rightly so. They did not consider the two things mutually exclusive. The unstated rule is that relations between the two countries should not depend on the American president's party affiliation.


Romney's visit has caused some our colleagues to feel embarrassed because of the new parameters that are in play this time around. What do you do when the prime minister and a Republican candidate are old buddies who also share similar views on some issues? What do you do when the visitor, who may be elected to the highest office on the world stage in 100 days, considers Iran an existential threat and Hamas a terrorist organization that should be left out of the two-state solution, and also regards Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish state? You roll out the red carpet, not because Republican states are usually marked in red on the electoral map, but because this is the right thing to do.

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2320