Who Is Not So Happy About Obama’s Win?

Many are excited today about President Obama’s reelection. But not everybody. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ain’t so happy, according to Haaretz: “The prime minister won’t soon forget the night of November 6. It started with the election of his ex-bureau chief and current bitter rival as head of Habayit Hayehudi, and continued with the defeat of his friend Mitt Romney.”

The chilly and murky relationship between the current and next president [Obama] and the current prime minister [Netanyahu] – who is also very likely to be the next prime minister – is well-known. Netanyahu gambled on Romney. Netanyahu’s bet did not come in. Netanyahu will pay the price. How high will the cost be? How painful will it be? Obama will decide, at the time and place of his choosing. If he decides to meddle in our election campaign in some fashion, no one could blame him. Bibi started it.

But this doesn’t exactly mean Bibi’s right-wing, expansionist agenda aiming to deny Palestinians their rights is at all threatened. Indeed, there are some other people the day after Obama’s victory who are not so happy. From the +972 blog:

As America celebrated the re-election of Barack Obama, it was business as usual in Israeli-controlled Area C of the West Bank. At least two Palestinian homes were demolished today. The residents’ ‘crime?’ They didn’t have building permits, which are issued by Israel and are next to impossible for Palestinians to obtain.

Palestinian women and children watch the demolition of a home in Ad Deirat, which is located in the south Hebron Hills (photo: Operation Dove)

Whatever the disagreements between Obama and Netanyahu on when to bomb Iran or what constitutes a settlement freeze, the fact is that while US support for Israel has continued and even increased under Obama, the illegal settler population has ballooned under Netanyahu and the systematic abuse of Palestinian rights has persisted – with the help of and because of US support. Palestinians rightly don’t have lots of confidence in Obama’s second term.

As of October 25, Israel had destroyed 138 Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2012 alone, according to the United Nations’ Displacement Working Group. Up to 690 Palestinians were displaced due to the demolitions; more than half of them are children. In 2011, that number reached 1,094.

One thought on “Who Is Not So Happy About Obama’s Win?”

  1. If the past is any indication Bibi will just act more belligerent. The apartheid state rolls on

  2. The Republicans lost for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that they completely underestimated Obama’s intelligence and political skills. Another reason was the sharp right turn in the Republican party that forced their candidate to embrace a social agenda far out of the mainstream. A third reason is that in spite of conservative attempts to portray Obama as a foreign-born socialist, he has governed as a moderate. In fact, 50 years ago he probably would be pegged as a Rockefeller Republican, rather than as a Democrat. In addition, the Republicans have refused to acknowledge that the face of America has changed. We are more diverse than at any time in the past. The failure of the Republican Party to cope with the changing electorate has left them vulnerable.

  3. There really needs to be a reliable, consistent counter-news source who has the confidence and trust of US victim nations to get the straight scoop from their point of view.

  4. You were supposed to stop reading at this point (assuming that a) some of you can actually read and b) you read that far into this waste of time blog post): "There was no way of being certain if the strike was indeed American, or for that matter if it was a drone strike at all, although it had all the markings of one." thANKS

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