Snap Fact #262 - President Obama Signs New Enhanced Israel Security Bill on July 27, 2012!

Does that mean that if a President Romney were to do the exact opposite of President Obama, that a Romney Administration would deny Israel the same or increased level of economic and military assistance it current receives. And could receive in the future in a 2nd term Obama Administration? Does that mean that a Romney Administration would no longer veto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN? Romney has relied on advice from Neocons from the Bush and Reagan Administrations like Dan Senor, Tevi Troy, Mary Beth Long, and John Lehman. 

Does that mean that Romney would steer Israel policy in the same direction, denying Israel access to bunker busting bombs for use against Iran’s nuclear weapons program? One of Romney's top foreign policy advisers, former Rep. Vin Weber, (R-MN) has lobbied for businesses that did business with Iran. 

How committed can Romney be to stopping Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons if one of his top foreign policy advisers actually lobbied for companies that did business with Iran? Maybe this is what Romney means when he says he’s going to do the “opposite” of President Barack Obama on Israel? Romney has even said that he would consult lawyers before considering an attack on Iran. All Presidents consult their National Security teams, the Secretary of State and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and would advise Congress before making such a crucial decision as to attack another country. Not Lawyers. The Presidency does not operate like a business!

Romney has pledged himself to be the new Ronald Reagan, who arguably had an abysmal record of support for Israel. To protest Israeli actions of which he didn’t approve, Reagan suspended a U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation agreement. The Reagan Administration sold AWACs to Saudi Arabia, while reneging on delivery of F-16's to Israel because of its settlement policy, voted in the UN to sanction Israel for its attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor, and strongly condemned Israel's invasion of Lebanon, only to station US troops in Beirut himself.

History is a fickle mistress. Too often its memory is twisted or ignored. How many remember that in December 1989, President Reagan authorized the State Department to officially recognize Yasser Arafat's PLO, after the latter claimed that it accepted United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, recognized Israel's right to exist and renounced terrorism. This ended Israel’s hope of marginalizing the PLO and stimulating the development of an alternative leadership with whom Israel could forge a permanent peace. In the short-run, this made the 1993 Oslo Accords possible, but, today, Israel and the United States are stuck with the longer-term damage caused by that decision. Do we really want “a new Ronald Reagan at the helm?

The record is clear: President Obama has consistently supported Israel since the day he took office and will continue to do so if re-elected. 

President Obama signed the $70 million Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 on Friday, July 27, 2012. This bill will strengthen security cooperation between the United States and Israel even beyond the record levels that are in effect before the signing. The bill, passed last week with broad support from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, would expand defense and intelligence cooperation, joint exercises and expand the joint anti-missile defense systems known as the “Iron Dome”, as well as add congressional oversight to ensure that Israel maintains a qualitative military edge in the Middle East. It also would direct additional U.S. advanced weapons materiel for storage in Israel; such materiel is available to Israel in case of a war.

Obama will seek to stress his commitment to Israel's security for American Jewish voters at a White House signing ceremony that will be timed to coincide and with GOP hopeful Presidential candidate Willard Mitt Romney's arrival in Israel for a state visit and GOP fundraising. 

Mr. Romney has claimed throughout his campaign that Obama has been too tough on Israel and not strong enough against Iran. He has claimed that Obama has not been supportive enough of Israel, and that Obama has undermined U.S. Israel ties, effectively "throwing Israel under the bus". Ultimately, Romney says that he would do the exact opposite of President Obama. 

Romney's assertions are overwhelmingly False: Israel received the highest amount of foreign aid in its 64 year history from the Obama Administration. In fact, in President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request, includes a $25 million overall year-to-year increase in foreign aid to Israel above Fiscal Year 2012. The Obama Administration secured millions of dollars for missile defense systems to restore Israel's military qualitative military edge. It was President Obama who initiated the building of the Iron Dome missile defense shield over Israel which protects the lives of thousands of Israelis on a daily basis today. The Obama Administration sold bunker busting bombs to Israel that were first denied, then promised to Israel, but never delivered by the Bush administration. The Obama Administration has repeatedly defended Israel at the UN, vetoing anti-Israel resolutions. Additionally, President Obama has also denounced the biased Goldstone Report on the Israel's Cast Lead operation against Gaza's Hamas terrorists.

During Obama's UN General Assembly Speech on Sept. 21,2011, President Obama made it very clear that the United States — specifically, his administration — did not support the Palestinian effort to achieve recognition as a sovereign state thru a United Nations vote. President Obama pledged to veto any such resolution, and asked the General Assembly to not even bring it to a vote. Instead, the president emphasized that direct Israeli–Palestinian negotiations are the only way forward to achieving long lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.