| First was President Obama’s failure to speak out in solidarity with the people of Iran when they heroically took to the streetsprotesting the gerrymandered re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Obama's silence was duly noted by the Ayatollahs and helped drive devastated protesters back into desperatesilence. Then there is Syria. The U.S. cannot be blamed for Bashir Assad’s butchery, but today we are left with a horrific choice betweenacquiescing to his thuggery or empowering Al Qaeda terrorists. Many are left with a deep sense of unease over the gnawing question: How many lives would have been saved, how many refugeeswould have stayed put, how would the landscape look today, if the President had dispatched NATO to impose a no-fly zone before the Islamists filled the void? As events in the Middle East and beyond continue to spiral out of control, we are witness to an unprecedented erosion of U.S.clout. Now, regarding Egypt, we are caught between a rock and a hard place. Despite many signals to the contrary, theadministration willed itself to believe that the Muslim Brotherhood -- the mother ship of Islamist extremism -- having won power through democratic process would embrace democraticprinciples. Hence, the virtual moral free pass provided by the U.S. for Morsi’s administration, during which Coptic Christians lived in fear for their safety, rights, and churches, andtens of millions of people who do not think or pray like the Brotherhood watched in dread as their Tahrir Square revolution was co-opted by religious fanatics. Now after the militarytakeover, our lack of clarity and courage has all sides in the Arab world’s largest nation furious at America. And now the absence of moral backbone is undermining support among the U.S.’s only reliable ally, democratic Israel. In the past few days, Israel was forced by the U.S. to release 26 Palestinian terrorists convicted of murdering innocent Israelis --Jews and Arabs, from babies to grandmothers. Instead of confirming that the release of these reprehensible individuals was an unfortunate, but necessary measure to jump-start "thepeace process," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf refusedto even identify them as terrorists: "I do not have a position on that," she boldly asserted. Asked whether the Obama administration objects to the Palestinian Authority officiallydesignating murderers and terrorists as "freedom fighters" and "political prisoners," she answered repeatedly: "I don't have a position on that." Her mealymouthed dodge added more salt to the wounds of bereaved relatives of the victims, and must have brought a satisfied smile tothe leadership of the Palestinians. What a gift the United States is delivering: 126 living 'heroes' along with the remains of dead 'martyrs,' a move that threatens to blow open a holebetween Washington and Jerusalem. Large enough to drive a suicide bomber through. As for the released Palestinians, since the State Department won't say, here is a partial list of the first 26 released and some oftheir crimes. Murderers or freedom fighters? You decide. • Khaled Asakreh: April 1991, murdered Annie Ley, a French tourist in Bethlehem. Forcing Jerusalem to release terrorists without Secretary of State John Kerry demanding anything from the Palestinians in return isdifficult enough to swallow for Israelis. Watching the spokesperson for the United States government declare that we are agnostic about whether they are "freedom fighters" is anoutrage. Historian Dr. Harold Brackman contributed to this essay. Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebookand on Twitter. |