Barack Obama: Muslims Can Build Mosque, but Jews Can't Build Homes

Last summer, my President defended the right of Muslims to erect a highly controversial mosque two blocks from Ground Zero.

Apparently, however, the right of a people to build what they please, where they please, does not extend to Jews. For nearly two years, the Obama administration has been pressuring Israel to halt the construction of homes in East Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria. Double standards, anyone?

(For a historical perspective, check out this piece from the Free Republic.)

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "won" in the contested 2009 Iranian elections (by which I mean that he stole the election), my President declared that he did not want to be seen as "meddling" in Iranian affairs. Oh, no, it's OK when the president of a sovereign country openly and repeatedly denies the Holocaust. It's OK when he expresses his intention to wipe the State of Israel off the face of the earth. We wouldn't want to interfere or "meddle" with that.

But when Jews decide to build homes in East Jerusalem, my President denounces it as illegal. In order for something to be illegal, there has to be a law prohibiting it - and, in this case, there simply isn't. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to stomach when the leader of the free world tells people that they are not allowed to build homes for their families in their own country.

That, I do not understand. What I do know and understand is that 77% of American Jews voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election. What I do know is that he travelled to Israel and gave a wonderful speech in which he promised to defend the Jewish State against its enemies. But what kind of message does my President send to HAMAS when he openly declares that it is illegal for Jews to build homes on their own land, in their own country, in a nation the size of New Jersey?

The "settlements" are not the obstacle to peace. That is a myth, and a lie. Fatah and HAMAS want Israel destroyed; therefore, there will be peace only when they are destroyed.

Appeasement does not lead to peace. It does not placate the enemy, but only emboldens him. Just ask Neville Chamberlain. The Obama administration's policy towards Israel is well-intentioned but misguided, and historically ignorant. It amounts to the betrayal of an American ally resulting from a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.

In the words of Golda Meir, there will be peace in the Middle East when the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate the Jews.  Let them put down their weapons first, and show that they are committed to peace.