If there’s one nation on Earth that knows what it is to be a victim of terrorism — and how best to combat it — it’d be Israel.
So you’d think.
Unless you’re the Obama administration.
Once again, Israel was excluded from one of Team Obama’s pet projects — the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, a group of 29 nations that met this week in Spain.
Israel was not only not invited — Turkey objected — it also was completely ignored.
In remarks to the group, Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Maria Otero didn’t include Israel in a list of terror victims.
This, despite a public commitment by the State Department that it would find “ways to involve Israel in its activities and [was] committed to making this happen.”
And despite pointed bipartisan criticism from Capitol Hill legislators, such as Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), that “there are few countries in the world that have suffered more terrorism than Israel, and few governments that have more experience combating this threat.”
As they noted, GCTF’s stated mission is to provide “a needed venue for national [counter-terrorism] officials . . . to meet with their counterparts” in order to “share experiences, expertise [and] strategies.”
Asked about this curious omission, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell professed complete ignorance.
“I don’t have the details of the undersecretary’s speech,” he replied.
For its part, Israel hasn’t complained publicly about what can only be seen as a very clear snub.
But the message is clear: Israel, long the world’s chief target of international terrorism, increasingly is being written out of the global discussion of that very issue.
That Washington should be complicit in this effort to isolate and marginalize Israel is ominous indeed.