Obama's Betrayal of Israel (Encounter Broadsides) [Paperback]

Michael Ledeen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Encounter Broadsides | Publication Date: November 24, 2009

Yasser Arafat's incremental conquest of Israel was learned at the feet of the North Vietnamese in 1970. The Vietnamese told the Arab leadership that they accepted the fact that victory in Vietnam would take many years, during which it would be necessary to temporarily accept the division of the country into two states, while they worked for a shift in the balance of power. In this, the Vietnamese were smart enough to permit the Americans to save face. They had no intention of respecting the agreements they signed with the United States; the point was to provide political cover for the American retreat.

Today, Barack Obama is giving the Arabs the same opportunity as Nixon gave the Vietnamese. Obama told a Muslim audience in Cairo in the first months of his administration that America's support for Israel was "unbreakable," even as he moved to compel Jerusalem to cede even more territory to its enemies. In, this new broadside, Michael Ledeen asks why the Obama administration has chosen this course, and examines what this betrayal means for Israel and the world at large.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is a contributing editor at National Review Online and a blogger on Pajams Media. Previously, he served as a consultant to the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Defense Department. His new book, "Accomplice to Evil; Iran and the War Against the West," will be published in October by St Martins Press.'

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Encounter Books (November 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594034621
• ISBN-13: 978-1594034626
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Middle East > Israel

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read" for Understanding America's Middle East Policy, March 14, 2010

By 

Stephen R. Gottesman (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Obama's Betrayal of Israel (Encounter Broadsides) (Paperback)

Michael A. Ledeen has written a thought provoking, cogent essay that underscores a fundamental problem in US Middle East policy: President Obama's inability or unwillingness to fully comprehend the aggressive nature of Iran and its proxy regimes. Using the Vietnam War as an historical example of how lack of understanding and historical context can lead to an intermediate "two-state" solution that inevitably results in the elimination of a sovereign state, he also shows how Iran's unrelenting pursuit of nuclear weapons not only threatens the existence of Israel but is also a serious threat to the security of the United States. Ledeen is worried that the Obama Administration's fixation on negotiating with Iran, a policy until now lacking tangible results, is providing Iran additional time to achieve its nuclear goals. Quoting from the Cairo speech Barack Obama delivered to the Muslim world in July of 2009, Ledeen argues that Obama lacks sufficient understanding of Muslim history, the Koran, and Arab-Palestinian aspirations needed to recognize their decades old goal of suppressing the Jewish state or eliminating Israel from the Middle East altogether. Given the fact that President Obama's Middle East policy will exasperate the Middle East crisis rather than mitigate regional tensions, this book is an important read. The book is convincing and well organized, but does have a serious flaw in not providing external references to support the author's claims, something he should rectify in an updated and perhaps expanded edition. If not for this defect I would rate it more than the four out of five stars I have given it in this review.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Obama's betrayal of Israel, May 1, 2010

By 

Hula Girl "hula girl" (Honolulu) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Obama's Betrayal of Israel (Encounter Broadsides) (Paperback)

A must read for anybody wanting to understand the administration's naive policy in the Middle East and its consequences.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Factual and informed, July 28, 2011

By 

Kash (CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Obama's Betrayal of Israel (Encounter Broadsides) (Paperback)

Dr. Ledeen exposes the policies set by Obama in order to underline the state of Israel and (unknowingly) strengthening the hand of US/Israel adversaries such as Iran or Syria. A very informed writer, Dr. Ledeen argues for democratic change in the region to tip the balance in favor of Israel and ultimately winning the broader struggle against forces of Jihad. An important essay on current state of affairs....