A popular speculative rhetorical question bandied about over the years by various Israel-bashers on both the left and the right is just how peachy things would be in the Middle East had the modern State of Israel not emerged in 1948.  Specifically with respect to America, the usual rationale for this conclusion is that Israel destabilized the region and made effective American alliance with local Arab/Islamic nations difficult, if not impossible.  Ironically, we have President Obama and his successive secretaries of state (Clinton and Kerry) to thank for decisively proving how dumb this theory is. Since Obama took office, his Middle East policy has focused on minimizing and downgrading America’s relationship with Israel.  This has taken the form of picking fights with and gratuitously insulting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders. The most recent event in this effort is the now notorious slur against Netanyahu, in which a...(Read Full Article)