President Obama is adept at using a “straw man” to shift an argument, from the real issue to one he can easily refute. It is a form of sleight of hand. He has made an international incident over the invitation for Israel’s Prime Minister to address a joint session of Congress on March 3.
A straw man is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of an opponent’s argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument. The so-called typical “attacking a straw man” argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent’s proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., “stand up a straw man”) and then to refute or defeat that false argument (“knock down a straw man”) instead of the original proposition. Wikipedia
Perhaps my thoughts will inspire someone to produce an analysis of the President’s use of the straw man. Today I want to use the example of PM Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Speaker Boehner is accused of some horrific “breach of protocol” for inviting the PM without informing the White House. Even if conceding a breach occurred, it certainly did not rise to the level of an international incident (which the President has created). Leaving aside the contentious relationship the President has developed with our closest Middle East ally, there is a simple answer to why he chose this battle at this time.
It is not about protocol. It’s about Iran. The US is forcing a bad agreement that will allow Iran to still end up with nuclear weapons. This threatens the very existence of Israel. Netanyahu will make the case to Congress. Given their recent advances in ICBM technology, now the US is in range.
Congress wants to vote more sanctions against Iran. The Democrats want to postpone the vote till after the negotiations on March 24. The President does not want Congress or the American people to hear the Israeli objections till after the deal is done.
A second straw man was also used. The President says the speech is too close too Israel’s elections. Yet, the National Field Director of the President’s 2012 re-election campaign is now working for the Israeli opposition, in an effort to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Top Obama Aid Working to Defeat Israeli Right
President Obama, VP Biden and Secretary Kerry all refuse to even meet with the Prime Minister while he is in Washington. Now, Vice President Biden will not even attend the speech, because “The Vice President’s office expects that the vice president will be traveling abroad during the joint session of Congress,” a US official said.
UPDATE! Biden Meets Herzog in Munich A day after announcing he would boycott PM Netanyahu’s speech, Vice President Joe Biden met Israeli opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog in Munich. Not influencing the election???
Finally, there is a growing boycott of the speech by Democrats. What in the world is going on with this Administration? Is the Democratic Party turning against Israel?
Dems confront Israel, raising Netanyahu speech stakes
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. In that day,” says Yehovah, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yehovah of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire-pan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.” Zechariah 12:2-6
Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “fiery torch”?
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists (READ MORE)
(I have taken the liberty to change the word “LORD” to Yehovah. Every single time you see LORD or GOD in all capital letters in the Old Testament, the actual Hebrew word is Yehovah. This name occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text, yet remains untranslated in most Bibles. His name, obscured for 2,500 years, is now being revealed. It is TIME to restore the name of Yehovah! (for deeper study click here.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was a grand-slam home run yesterday at the Joint Session of the US Congress. Many observers compared it to Winston Churchill. They are right in the sense of the historic timing of this warning of world-wide catastrophe if Iran gets the bomb.
Iran Means Aryan
10 03 2015Following Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, we are only a couple of weeks away from a decision on the negotiations about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It is fitting to consider a deeper view of Iran/Persia’s roots.
When did Persia become Iran? The Bible refers to the second great world empire, after Babylon, as the Persian Empire. The Western countries who followed the Bible still used Persia until Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s. “That Western tradition continued into the last century until the reign of Iranian king, Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. In 1935 CE, Reza Shah asked those countries with whom Iran had diplomatic relations, to stop using the name Persia and to formally refer to his country as Iran.” Heritage Institute
“Germany was our age-old and natural ally, Love of Germany was synonymous with love for Iran. The sound of German officers’ footsteps was heard on the shores of the Nile. Swastika flags were flying from the outskirts of Moscow to the peaks of the Caucasus Mts. Iranian patriots eagerly awaited the arrival of their old allies. My friend and I would spin tales about the grandeur of the superior race. We considered Germany the chosen representative of this race in Europe and Iran its representative in Asia. The right to life and role was ours. Others had no choice but submission and slavery. We discarded the old maps and remade Iran into a country larger than what it was in Achaemenian times.” Reza Shah
In 1933, the year Hitler came to power, the Third Reich began to publish a racist magazine titled lran-e Bastan (The Ancient Iran). The journal was financed by Siemens-Schukken and pro-Nazi Iranian intellectuals. It referred to Hitler as “one of the greatest men in the world.” It depicted him as the man who ended the alleged 200 year old plot by Jews against the nationalities of the world, especially the Aryans. The journal also claimed that the swastika was a symbol of Iranians from 2000 years before Christ and they rejoiced over its use as a symbol of German pride and of unity between the Iranian and German peoples. Iran’s Unholy Alliance
Our prayers are based on Biblical and historic understanding. Generic prayers are too generalized. We need to be specific. Iran/Persia today is an avowed enemy of Israel and the West. Prophetically, we know that this will continue until the great war of Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38 & 39.
“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;” Ezekiel 38:5
As I have explained before, the next war is the Psalm 83 War which lists the specific countries attacking Israel (using their ancient names). But Ezekiel 38 & 39 has a totally different list of countries which confirms it is a separate and distinct war. Also, the passage clearly states that Israel is living in peace at that time with un-walled villages. This is certainly not true now.
So, we will line up our theology and prayers with Scripture. Yehovah God is in control. We do not fear, but stand with His purpose for Israel and all those who put their trust in Him and His beloved Son, Jesus. His Hebrew name is Meshiach Yeshua ben Yehovah, Messiah Jesus, Son of God!
Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists (READ MORE)
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Categories : Israel Commentary