On August 4, President Obama met with a group of Jewish representatives to warn them of the negative ramifications for Israel should congress reject what Charles Krauthammer described as the worst agreement in United States diplomatic history.  Among those in attendance was Jeremy Ben-Ami of the George Soros-funded, anti-Israel advocacy group J-Street. J-Street has already pumped $2 million into shoring up support for the accord and its presence at the meeting was mystifying given the group’s consistently anti-Israel, pro-Obama positions. Perhaps Obama was utilizing Ben-Ami, whose group was rejected by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, as his court Jew.

At the meeting, Obama warned that if Congress issued a resolution of disapproval, Iran would increase its support for terrorism, increase its support for its regional proxies, and Hezbollah rockets would fall on Tel-Aviv. Obama’s ominous threats come as more Democratic lawmakers are publicly coming out against the deal. The latest lawmaker to do so was congressional representative Steve Israel, who is the most senior Jewish lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

Representative Israel cited a number of factors that led him to oppose the deal including Iran’s propensity to cheat, its continued support of terrorism and a weak mechanism for re-imposing sanctions. The number of Democrats who have publicly come out against the deal is rapidly reaching double digits while other Democrats, who are normally supportive of Obama, are remaining mum.

Clearly, these developments are making the normally arrogant and smug Obama nervous. After the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed, nearly all pundits predicted that Obama would be able to muster the requisite votes needed to survive a veto but the recent defection of Rep. Israel, an influential lawmaker, has thrown a monkey wrench into the mix.

Given the new reality, Obama is resorting to his Plan B, which involves threatening Israel. But Obama’s logic is badly flawed and demonstrates the depths of his misguided and faulty thought process. His claim that Iran would increase support for terror is near comical given that Iran is already the world’s premier state-sponsor of international terrorism and is the region’s chief destabilizing influence. On the contrary; it is the influx of $150 billion facilitated by the JCPOA that would instantly transform Iran from a chief state-sponsor of terror to a state sponsor of terror on a cocktail of steroids and testosterone.

Moreover, Israel is already under rocket threat from Hezbollah. Iran’s terror proxy currently maintains a stockpile of an estimated 100,000 rockets of all shapes and sizes, all aimed at Israel. Israeli military planners are well prepared for a war with Hezbollah and given the choice between a nuclear-armed Iran and conflict with Hezbollah, Israelis would readily choose the latter option.

Obama’s feigned angst for Israel’s well-being is disingenuous at best. During last summer’s Gaza war, while Hamas rockets were being fired at Israeli cities, including Tel-Aviv, Obama withheld shipments of Hellfire missiles to Israel. Then he forced Israel to accept a ceasefire which was duly violated by Hamas and resulted in the deaths of three Israelis. The president should spare us his crocodile tears because his past actions belie the views he expressed at the meeting.

Clearly, Obama is attempting to drive a wedge between Israel and the United States and undermine a mutually beneficial, ironclad alliance that has endured since 1967. He’s been diligently working on that goal since assuming office, hence, his partnering with the hard left J-Street, a pernicious organization that shares his nefarious vision. The overt issuance of threats against Israel also serves this purpose. It is meant to expose a supposed divergence of interests between the United States and Israel and represents a veiled warning to Israel that, should war break out, there will be no one to blame but the Jewish State. Essentially, Obama is turning logic on its head by transforming a rational ally into an irrational enemy and an uncompromising enemy into a conciliatory friend.

The reality, however, is quite different. Not a day goes by without the mullahs of the Islamic Republic calling for “death to Israel or “death to America.” Indeed as the accord was being signed in Geneva, President Hassan Rouhani, the charmer of a man with that affable smile and the blood of thousands on his hands, was attending a “death to America” event featuring fiery anti-Semitic screeds and burning effigies of Western leaders with all the radical Islamic trimmings. And already, Iranian leaders are flaunting the JCPOA by challenging one of its central provisions regarding an 8-year ban on ballistic missile testing.

The sad reality is that Obama’s foreign policies have been marked by abject failure. Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya have unraveled. ISIS and Iran continue to exercise their malign influence in the region. Russia is stomping all over Ukraine, and China, through creeping annexation and buildup of naval power, is replacing the U.S. hegemony over the Pacific. In South America, Hezbollah and Iran have firmly anchored themselves and partnered with thuggish, anti-Western autocrats like Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro. All this has occurred on Obama’s watch and he’s desperate to notch at least one foreign policy “success” at the expense of everything else.

Whether or not Congress approves of the JCPOA, one thing remains clear. Obama’s fecklessness and betrayal has done irreparable harm to American honor and prestige abroad. Our allies no longer trust us and our foes no longer fear us. The cynic in me would say that that’s precisely what Obama wanted to accomplish all along.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/259707/obamas-veiled-threat-against-israel-ari-lieberman