Withholding Recognition

There they go again, refusing to acknowledge that Israel is a/the Jewish state.

No, not the Palestinians. The Obami. Writes Caroline Glick (in JWR):

On Tuesday State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley was asked, "Do you [i.e. the administration] recognize Israel as a Jewish state and will you try to convince the Palestinians to recognize it?

As Rick Richman at Commentary's blog noted, Crowley repeatedly tried to evade answering the question. Reporters were forced to repeat the question six separate times before Crowley managed to say, "We recognize that Israel is a --- as it says itself, is a Jewish state, yes."

As for whether or not the administration will try to convince the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish state, Crowley could not bring himself to give a simple affirmative answer. Crowley's refusal to give straight answers to straight questions about US recognition of Israel as a Jewish state shows that Israel has never faced a more unfriendly US administration. After all, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state means recognizing that the Jewish people are a nation and as a nation, the Jews have a right to self-determination in our national homeland. So recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is recognizing Israel's right to exist.

Crowley's unwillingness to state flat out that the US recognizes Israel as a Jewish state and expects Israel's supposed Palestinian peace partners to do so as well means that the Obama administration's basic hostility to Israel is so salient that no amount of appeasing on any specific issue will alter its position.

"So salient"--and so palpable.