TORONTO — U.S. President Barack Obama has sought to weaken Israel’s resolve in his quest to achieve peace in the Middle East, former New York City mayor Ed Koch charged in an interview last week.
Ed Koch
Obama has emboldened the Arabs to make greater demands of Israel by suggesting that the United States no longer has a special relationship with the Jewish state, claimed Koch, who was here to address a UJA Federation of Greater Toronto dinner.
“What he has tried to do is to weaken Israel by conveying to the Arab states the message that there is no longer such a special relationship,” said Koch, who was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989 and has since worked as a political commentator.
“The Democratic party is more supportive of Israel than Obama,” he added.
Koch, a U.S. congressman before becoming mayor, said Obama is trying to force Israel to bend on vital security matters, and that Obama treated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insultingly when he visited the White House last March.
As a result, Obama’s support in the U.S. Jewish community has dropped by a substantial margin, said Koch, a Democratic party supporter who has withdrawn his support of Obama.
Koch, who has frequently endorsed Republican party candidates for office, said Obama has softened his position toward Israel in recent months.
“He has drawn in his horns and decided to retreat. But once trust has been broken, it’s near impossible to put it back again,” he said, adding that Obama has jeopardized the United States’ special bond with Israel.
Describing himself as a “liberal with sanity,” Koch said that while Obama is not anti-Israel, he wants to forge a new relationship with the Arab world.
Declaring that the United States shouldn’t adopt a neutral policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Koch said Israel’s security needs should be treated with paramount importance and Israel’s qualitative military edge over the Arabs must be maintained.
Koch, who says he’s in favour of a two-state solution and territorial concessions from Israel to make peace with the Palestinians possible, portrayed himself as a supporter of Israel’s Labor party rather than Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Turning to current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Koch said that if Israel extends its partial moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements, the Palestinians should reciprocate by recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
Jews in the West Bank should be able to stay in their homes, either as citizens or non-citizens of a Palestinian state, he said.
Before Israel and the Palestinians sign a final agreement, he added, one Palestinian government should be in control of both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.
He said that the Hamas regime should be “removed” so that Fatah can take over.
Arguing that diplomatic and economic measures won’t deter Iran from pursuing its goal of assembling a nuclear arsenal, Koch said the problem can only be resolved by military means.
He said he’d prefer a joint U.S.-Israeli effort, backed by Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia.
“The only thing worse than a U.S. attack on Iran would be Iran coming into possession of a nuclear bomb,” he said, paraphrasing John McCain, a former U.S. presidential candidate.
Koch believes Iran will attack Israel once it acquires a nuclear capability.
Weighing in on the controversy over whether an Islamic community centre and mosque should be erected near the site of the twin towers, destroyed by Arab terrorists in September 2001, Koch said that while Muslims have every right to build there, they should be sensitive to criticism and choose a site elsewhere in New York City.
He expects homegrown terrorism in the United States, carried out by American citizens of the Muslim faith, to grow in the future.
“But we are not at war with Islam. The vast majority of Muslims are decent people who mean us no harm. But we should not be afraid to call Islamic terrorists and all other terrorists by their rightful name.”
Koch, who backed the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2003, called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from these countries.
