New York – Monday night at Israel Policy Forum’s symposium in New York on “Security and the New Middle East,” former Director of the Mossad Efraim Halevy spoke directly about President Obama’s efforts to “extricate” the six Israelis trapped inside the Israeli embassy in Cairo last Friday night:
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“We’ve been talking these days about Turkey and about Egypt. And I would like to say something about the event which took place last Friday evening or through the night in Cairo, which I think to a large extent was a seminal event, not only in the history of the Middle East but also in the history of the relations between Israel and Egypt, and between Israel and the United States of America.
During that night, as you know, our embassy was surrounded and was on the verge of being stormed. And the Prime Minister went to the special command center in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from there he actually ran and commanded this operation of trying to extricate our staff from the embassy. And, at the end, there were six people left, six people of the security detail of the embassy. They were there inside the last room, which had been the ultimate room in the embassy. And, they had one steel door, which was between them and the mob.
And the Prime Minister took many very, very important decisions that night. Successful decisions, very responsible decisions. And for that he has been lauded, and rightly so I think by the public in Israel and by the population at large for his cool and his measured way of handling this crisis.
But one of the decisions he had to take in the end, he wanted to take, was to find ways of extricating his people, our people, out of that embassy. And he turned to one man, to the President of the United States, and he spoke to him. And the President of the United States, without having much time to consult with Congress, and with the media, and with the analysts and with all of the other people who have to be consulted on major and grave decisions. He took a decision to take up the telephone and get on the line with the powers that be in Egypt, and get them to order the release of these six people, and the detail of the Egyptian commando forces entered and saved them.
I think that this decision by President Obama was a unique decision in many ways. Because I don’t have to tell you, and this was just said time and time and over again this afternoon/this evening, that the United States is not in a position the way it was many years ago in the Middle East, it has its problems, it has its considerations, and rightly so. But I believe the leadership that the President of the United States showed on that night was a leadership of historic dimensions. It was he who took the ultimate decision that night which prevented what could have been a sad outcome—instead of six men coming home, the arrival in Israel of six body bags.
And I want to say to you very openly and very clearly that had there been six body bags, there would have been a much different Israel today than we have been used to seeing over recent years. This would not have been one more incident, one more operation, one event. And the man who brought this about was one man, and that was President Barack Hussein Obama.
And I believe it is our duty as Israelis, as citizens of the free world, to say, not simply thank you President Obama, but also we respect you for the way and the manner in which you took this decision.”
Thank you, Mr. President.
Now what were the name of your cronies you telephoned in Egypt?
Yes, we know, the same cronies you met there months before the uprising that overthrew Mubarak.
Sorry but this will not save his reelection efforts! He’s bound to be a one term-er
!
4 more years!
Thank you for helping out that night, but i really think another president would of done a better job to keep these two countries untied after Hosni Mubarak’s fall.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Now what were the name of your cronies you telephoned in Egypt?
Yes, we know, the same cronies you met there months before the uprising that overthrew Mubarak.
All he did was make a phone call. That is called “Leadership Of Historic Dimensions?” When small men cast long shadows, it’s a sure sign the sun is setting.
Very well said. Let’s give credit where its due.
here is someone that wants to be makeer tov and also as a liberal supports the liberal views of obama….unfortunately the real version as to what transpired is obama asking what do you think would give us the most successful outcome …? he was told exactly what to do and what to say…?
I’m not generally a friend or supporter of the President, but all civilized people must thank him for his actions last shabbat
I agree that every now and then, BHA flashes grit and leadership. By all accounts, the decision to get OBL was another principled and courageous decision. Unfortunately, these moments are the exception to the rule and the president is far more likely to be hyper-partisian, angry, and the root cause of an anemic economy
Ok..sometimes you have to give credit when it’s due. Score one for Obama, but more important no Jewish blood was spilled.
He did the right thing, and for this I give him my thanks.
But isn’t this something ANY person in his position should have and would have done? He had the power to stop the massacre of 6 innocent people, and he picked up the phone and did so.
But you can be sure, it was not the six people he was thinking about: he knew that if the mob got their way, it would have caused a much bigger schism between Egypt and Israel and, and ABOVE ALL it would have shown that the revolution that Obama supported has led to wild animals taking over Egypt. People would have said “so much for the ‘Arab Spring’ Obama was pushing”.
That’s the truth of it.
Had the news been publicized 2 days ago, david weprin might have made the election. Ed kotch said that jews should send a message to Obama about his mid east policies, but this story would have changed the whole picture.
If Obama would have backed Mubarak this would never have happened.
What he said is correct and menschlach and made me proud. Showing hakaras hatov is the ikar shebikarim of yiddishkeit.
We know that the NYT, the house organ of the obama regime, is going to release tomorrow a lead story in a desperate attempt to salvage support amongst Jews after the disastrous dem defeat in the election last night. We can expect a blizzard of PR from dhimmicrat party friends around the world, and this statement represents one of the first salvos. Can we take this exaggerated praise seriously? B. Hussein’s phone call represents “leadership of historic dimensions”?
Nixon, during the Yom Kippur war in 1973, put ALL US FORCES AROUND THE WORLD on DEFCON ALPHA, the highest state of alert, risking war with the Soviets, and airlifted massive amounts of supplies to Israel, thus saving Israel from defeat. THAT was historic leadership.
And Hussein’s phone call? Other news sources have reported that the Egyptian military wouldn’t even take his phone call for hours. Besides, the call would never have been necessary (a) had the B. Hussein regime not so terribly mishandled the entire “Arab Spring” to the point that US support throughout the region is now crumbling into nothingness, and (b) had fear of a US response not almost disappeared, as most foreign leaders regard obama to be a child.
You know how I can tell the difference between people who have legitimate policy beef w\the President vs those who have baseless hatred for the man all together?
When he does something amazing & not hardly ONE SOUL on the right can just say “Thank You” w\out adding a snide remark! (lol)
I’m a Liberal, but on Sept 11th (10th anniversary, that is), I agreed w\a conservative’s opinion on a news show, that George W. Bush basically *had* kept us safe (at least *since* 9\11\01), despite what anyone thought of his policies & etc. And the newscaster made the point that on a day like the 10th Anniversary… JUST SAYING “THANK YOU” is probably in order!
And I agreed! I was furious when a Liberal journalist from the New York Times (a man who’s brain I respect, but who’s mouth I now do not), wrote a HORRIBLE piece on the anniversary bashing Bush once again, basically calling him a war criminal & a “fake hero” & etc, and I was LIVID that he couldn’t have just kept his mouth shut for even ONE DAY about it & just give credit where credit is due!
But who on the Right is willing to think even 1\2 as rationally as this?! (lol) Who on the Right is willing to JUST SAY “THANK YOU” 2 Obama – EVER?
If you think of this more carefully, yes, we should be grateful. But the applause does not need to go to the extreme. Just picture, if Israel asked this of Obama and he either refused or failed to make a simple phone call. His career would have ended right there. An ally asks for a single telephone call, and the answer is no? Obama was stuck. He was compelled by the situation to stick up for Israel. Might he have done so had the circumstances been different? We might never know. I still have zero trust in his Israel policy.
Fine, you want to give him credit, go ahead and give him credit. HOWEVER, keep in mind that ANY president would have done the same exact thing. Unfortunately, we have become a society where super rewards are bestowed upon people who do what they are supposed to do.
I respect the ex mossad chief but would venture to suggest that the consequences of six body bags returning to Israel would have caused Obama greater problems then picking up the tel and threatening the Egyptians to stop sending the 2 billion dollars per year that they get for the peace with Israel.
So in the end it wasnt the ‘love’ for Israel which motivated Obama at all.
We thank him the same way we thank the bagger at the checkout counter. He just did what he had to do, and it was the bare minimum to get by.
And no, chanifa to reshoim in the guise of hakaras hatov is not the ikar of Judaism. Last time I checked, there were 13 ikkarei haemunah and three yehareg veal yaavor. That is not on the list.
“historic proportion”? Did he offer to echange himself for the six trapped Israelis? How pathetic of Ephraim Halevy. If someone beats and tortures you, and then allows you a break to go to the bathroom does he become your best friend? I think that Israel is beginning to suffer from the Stockholm Syndrome.