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Gingrich Accuses Obama Of Being “Dangerous” For Israel

Newt Gingrich made another move to position himself as the leading face of the opposition to Obama on national security, accusing him of endangering Israel, claiming he wants to appeal to “the Arab world,” and comparing him to Jimmy Carter, the ultimate insult among right-leaning Jews.

Gingrich made the comments yesterday in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, going much farther in criticizing Obama than he did in his speech to AIPAC yesterday:

“They are systematically setting up the most decisive confrontation that we’ve ever seen,” the leading Republican politician told The Jerusalem Post, referring to news reports about the administration’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“There’s almost an eagerness to take on the Israeli government to make a point with the Arab world,” he said, speaking to the Post ahead of his speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference.

He called US President Barack Obama’s program of engagement on Iran a “fantasy,” and his Middle East policies “very dangerous for Israel.” He summed up Obama’s approach as “the clearest adoption of weakness since Jimmy Carter.”

Gingrich, recall, also accused Obama of betraying weakness in negotiating with the Somali pirates holding an American hostage, a charge that didn’t appear especially wise in retrospect, after the pirates were killed and the hostage rescued.

Comments like these from Gingrich, and the high profile of other Ghosts of GOP Past like Sarah Palin, don’t make it any easier for the GOP to relaunch itself as constructive and forward-looking, as it’s striving to do now.

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Posted by Greg Sargent | 05/04/2009, 10:21 AM EST | Categories: Middle East, President Obama, Republican Party, national security

14 Responses

  1. joe | May 4th, 2009 at 10:27 am

    ehh…nobody is really worried about this guy. he just wants to make noise bc the gop has a vacuum.

    maybe he should work on his, what is it, fourth marriage?

  2. mike from Arlington | May 4th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Yeah. The second Obama made his appointment of Rahm, who was in the IDF, shortly after clenching the Presidency, you knew Obama was bad for Israel.
    .
    Newt is a bozo if he thinks he’s going to erode Jewish support of Obama.

  3. sgwhiteinfla | May 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am

    Lets just let Newt keep talking so he can keep defining the GOP. I love it.

  4. LeAnn | May 4th, 2009 at 10:36 am

    SGW- AMEN! lol

  5. Chris | May 4th, 2009 at 10:45 am

    Until the right demands that people like Gingrich quit getting press to represent their views, the GOP will not move forward. We’re years away from seeing a forward looking GOP.

  6. Tena | May 4th, 2009 at 10:54 am

    I wish Sarah Palin was a ghost. I tried to leave a comment at HuffPo on the ethics story, telling HuffPo that they were giving this egregiously boring woman entirely too much free publicity. I’d like to not hear about her anymore – she’s not important. She’s going nowhere.

    Just like Gingrich.

  7. Tena | May 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am

    P.S. They didn’t post my comment at HuffPo and looks like they aren’t going to – there are 0 comments pending and mine never posted.

    Had no idea Arianna was so thin-skinned.

  8. along | May 4th, 2009 at 11:36 am

    “leading Republican politician”?? Not leading in any respect, except with his mouth, and a FORMER politician.

  9. RedMolly23 | May 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    Newt and AIPAC are perfect for each other: neither has anything to offer besides failed policies and glances backward, and they’re about equally irrelevant.

  10. DWIGHTBAKER | May 4th, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    NEWT THE SPOOK WHO GIVES A HOOT?

    The GOP is just dead, and to prove it to everyone they are trying to resurrect their dead. My comment will not be long for when someone or a group have proved conclusively that their political aspirations are long gone that is enough for me. But all this free airtime sure proves to me that our free press is not free so I have refused to watch TV.

    Maybe you might just do the same.

  11. Simon J | May 4th, 2009 at 01:18 pm

    Newt is a hoot. There is nothing new about his indignation. Ever since Bill made him use the rear door on Air Force 1 and refused to have him up for a chat in the President’s Wardroom Newt has held a grudge against Democrats. This is yet another outburst designed to keep the checks coming for one of his thoughtfree tanks. Must be looking for funds among AIPAC members.

  12. Chris A | May 4th, 2009 at 01:54 pm

    Gingrich wants to be relevant. Unfortunately for him, all he’s doing with these petulant outbursts is reminding people that he nearly SHUT DOWN the federal government because he couldn’t sit in the front of the plane. If that’s not childish, I don’t know what is.

  13. Crust | May 4th, 2009 at 03:47 pm

    Let’s see. Under Carter’s aegis, Israel signed a peace accord with their largest neighbor, Egypt. Israel had been attacked by Egypt just a few years earlier, yet since then they have had peaceful relations for three decades and counting. (And as a side note, the accords also led to Egypt leaving the Soviet sphere of influence.)
    .
    Wow, what a terrible legacy for Israel. Won’t it be terrible for Israel if something like that happens while Obama is president.

  14. The Original Mary | May 4th, 2009 at 07:03 pm

    As for the AIPAC reaction to Gingrich, Ron Kampeas also reports:

    Gingrich likened negotiations with the current Iranian regime to negotiating with Adolf Hitler, and called for “enforcing the disruption of gasoline supplies until the Iranian economy broke, the ayatollahs were ousted and a new regime was in place without a single shot fired.” That earned thunderous applause.

    http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/05/04/1004877/gingrich-talking-to-iran-is-like-talking-to-hitler-obama-looking-to-confront-israel

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