"Obama Campaign Team Arrives in Israel to Defeat Netanyahu in March Elections"

[PeteWaldo]

This is old news, but important to consider as Russia is vilified for trying to influence elections, while the U.S. has a record of having done so around much of the world. I'll eventually move this thread to the Zionism forum section.

The American people have such short memories as well as considerable blindness to double standards. Of all people, Barak Obama accuses Putin based on speculation without confirmation, that Putin attempted to interfere in U.S. elections (if indeed Russia was at all involved in the simple phishing expedition that Podesta foolishly fell for), while we don't have to look that far back to remember Obama personally sending his own campaign operatives to Israel in his overt anti-Israel pro-Muslim intensive effort to influence Israel's election in order to defeat the Israeli people's choice, Benjamin Netanyahu. And is it really like this was the first time that the U.S. government tried to influence the election outcome of a foreign power? Seems more of a conspicuous case of the pot calling the kettle black.

"Rubio: Obama tried to prevent Netanyahu win by ordering operatives to Israel

President Obama sent top political advisers to Israel to influence the election's outcome and prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's win, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

"He can't say he has a business-like relationship or that it isn't personal when his entire political machine, virtually, some of the top people in his political operation, were in Israel on the ground trying to defeat Netanyahu, which is unprecedented," Rubio told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt in a radio interview Tuesday. "You know, he didn't send anyone in any other country to try to influence the outcome of those elections."

Rubio, who is weighing a 2016 White House bid, criticized the president's involvement in Israel's tight elections, adding that tensions have grown personal between Obama and Netanyahu.

The president has recently dismissed reporting of his strained connections with the newly re-elected Israeli leader, instead characterizing their relationship as "very businesslike."

"The issue is not a matter of relations between leaders. The issue is a very clear, substantive challenge," Mr. Obama told reporters Tuesday in a press conference held with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. "We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel's security, for Palestinian aspirations and for regional stability. That's our view and that continues to be our view. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has a different approach."

But Rubio had a different interpretation of the situation, opining to Hewitt that the friction between the two heads of state "sounds pretty personal."

"[F]rom Jeremy Bird down to others that were deeply and intricately involved in his campaigns in the past, he sent them down there to start the equivalent of a superPAC to try to oust Netanyahu," the presidential hopeful said. "That sounds pretty personal to me."

Bird is a Democratic political consultant who was the national field director for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. He was working with a group in Israel, V15, an Israeli voter mobilization group, whose goal was to elect a center-left coaltion that would negotiate a two-state solution.

The Florida senator echoed sentiments of others in the Republican party who have condemned President Obama for giving Netanyahu the cold shoulder after his re-election. Arizona Sen. John McCain even mentioned Sunday that the president needed to "get over [his] temper tantrum" over Israel.

Rubio also addressed the possibility of a two-state solution -- which the U.S. supports.

"As far as the two-state solution, I would say what many Israelis say, which is yeah, that's the ideal outcome," Rubio said. "It's also the least likely. And here's why, because you don't have the conditions today for that to happen."

In the days before the Israeli election, Prime Minister Netanyahu said there would never be a two-state solution, although he has publicly softened his stance in the days since his victory."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rubio-obama-tried-to-prevent-netanyahu-win-by-ordering-operatives-to-israel/

"Obama Campaign Team Arrives in Israel to Defeat Netanyahu in March Elections

Just days after the Obama White House accused House Speaker John Boehner of “breaking protocol” by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, a team of up to five Obama campaign operatives has reportedly arrived in Israel to lead a campaign to defeat the Israeli Prime Minister in upcoming national elections scheduled for March 17.

The anti-Netanyahu, left wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports a group called “One Voice,” reportedly funded by American donors, is paying for the Obama campaign team. That group is reportedly being led by Obama’s 2012 field director Jeremy Bird.

As Jerusalem Post columnist and putative Knesset candidate Caroline Glick reported on her Facebook page, “Obama won’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington when he addresses the Joint Houses of Congress in March because of Netanyahu’s visit’s proximity to the Israeli elections. And Obama, of course believes in protocol and propriety which is why he won’t get involved.” And yet, Glick adds, “He’s just sending his 2012 field campaign manager to Israel to run a campaign to defeat Netanyahu.”

For all the harsh accusations of foreign interference currently being leveled against GOP Speaker John Boehner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, reports of Obama operatives actively working to unseat a democratically elected leader of a strong U.S. ally is hardly the news it might appear to be.

The Obama White House has aggressively worked to defeat allied leaders it has not liked and to elect or re-elect foreign leaders it does like. As the Times of Israel recently reported, the list of Obama Administration meddling in foreign elections is a long one.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Merkel, an Obama Administration ally, was hosted at the White House prior to recent German elections. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the left wing Labor Party visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, not once, but twice prior to British elections. Those were won by Conservative party leader David Cameron, who himself visited Washington last week at Obama’s invitation to lobby the U.S. Congress against adopting a new sanctions measure to help confront Iran’s burgeoning nuclear program. Oddly, that’s the very issue Obama and the mainstream media now roundly condemn John Boehner for involving himself in.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/26/obama-campaign-team-arrives-in-israel-to-defeat-netanyahu-in-march-elections/

"Israelis Unsurprised by Probe of Obama Elections Interference

The US Senate last week reportedly opened an investigation into charges that the Obama Administration had indirectly, but knowingly funded an Israeli campaign dedicated to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Most Israelis were unsurprised.

An unnamed source told Fox News on Saturday that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had accepted a bipartisan request to look into accusations that the State Department had provided government grants to the OneVoice organization, which in turn established and funded the Israeli grassroots movement V15, whose sole purpose is to encourage Israelis to vote against Netanyahu.

In an interview with Voice of Israel Radio last week, Netanyahu also claimed that “Scandinavian governments have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to remove me from power.”

The Obama Administration had previously adamantly rejected assertions that it had deliberately contributed to electoral campaigns targeting Netanyahu for removal.

But a poll conducted last month for The Jerusalem Post showed that Israelis are unconvinced, and that a firm 62 percent majority believe Obama has interfered in Israel’s electoral process.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26238/Default.aspx

"Obama's shocking interference into Israel's election process
http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/The-View-from-Israel/Obamas-shocking-interference-into-Israels-election-process-389858

"I can recall at least three occasions when Republican and Democratic administrations willfully picked Israeli favorites and tried to shape election outcomes."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/04/the-inside-story-of-us-meddling-in-israel-s-elections.html