Many In Middle East Worried A Biden Presidency Will Mirror Obama's Policies

U.S. President Donald Trump was spot on when he recently told reporters at the White House, "I enjoyed my previous life very much. But they (Obama and Joe Biden) did such a bad job that I stand before you as president. President Obama did not do a good job. And the reason I'm here is because of President Barack Obama and Joe Biden; because if they did a good job I wouldn't be here. And probably, if they did a good job, I wouldn't have even run."

Obama gave his first major speech as president in Cairo. His choice of location foreshadowed what was to happen during the course of the following eight years. It was turmoil. It jump-started the so-called "Arab Spring" of 2011, which more aptly should have been called the "Arab Winter."

The "Arab Spring" led to the downfall of pro-Western Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, both in Egypt and in America. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, took over between 2012 and 2013. The anti-Israel Morsi was supported by Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood almost destroyed Egypt.

The Obama administration propped up and boosted the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. It created one of the most dangerous situations for Israel and the Middle East. General Abdul Fatah el-Sisi launched a coup d'etat and saved Egypt and the Middle East from a total conflagration. 

El-Sisi also strengthened America's standing in the Middle East and continues to do so to this day. He also honored Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, signed between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1979. Morsi had rejected the peace agreement.

Syria did not fare so well under Obama either. The "Arab Spring" caused a revolution in Syria. The Obama administration allowed one red line after another to be crossed. In the end, more than 500,000 Syrians were killed.

Although the attack on two U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens by Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Shari, gets more press coverage than the Syrian genocide, the latter was a far greater disaster for the Obama administration.

Additionally, the greatest growth spurt of ISIS occurred during the Obama years, gaining control over 17,000 square miles of Iraq and Syria. The Obama odyssey was the single most important accelerant to ISIS in the Middle East. The Trump administration can indeed lay claim to the defeat of ISIS.

The Obama administration's attitude towards Israel was confrontational and very uncomfortable. Although not part of the administration, former National Security Advisor under President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, said in an interview in 2010 that if Israel were to attempt an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities by flying over Iraqi airspace during U.S.occupation, American forces should shoot down the Israeli planes. 

Although there is no proof that Obama gave an order to do so, this was the type of attitude Israel faced every day for eight years.

In distinct contrast, it has been reported that the Trump administration has given a green light to Israel to strike Iranian targets.

This all ties together with the horrible deal that the Obama administration made with Iran in 2015. Former Secretary of State John Kerry's statement on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, claiming that the deal had "eliminated the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon" is a flagrant lie. Kerry knew full well that the sunset provisions in the deal gave Iran a pathway to developing nuclear weapons.

Why else would Iran be allowed to build enough centrifuges for a nuclear bomb, but not enough for nuclear power?

President Trump put a stop to the deal before it was too late. The Obama administration refused to hear any of the concerns by Israel over the deal. Both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren refused to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress warning of the dangers of the deal that Obama was about to make.

After the deal was made, Israel recovered a huge cache of documents in Iran, which proved the regime's true intentions. Kerry never has admitted to being wrong. He continued to meet with Iranian officials even after he was out of government, despite the compelling evidence that Iran was building a nuclear arsenal and ballistic missiles.

Where was Biden? He was part and parcel of the mayhem that the Obama policies caused.

I was reminded this week of what the Begin told then-Senator Biden in 1982, when he threatened to cut off aid to Israel. Begin said, "Don't threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. 

Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And when necessary, we will die for them again with or without your aid."

Originally published at JNS.org - reposted with permission.