Obama Campaigning Secretly To Become U.N. Secretary General — Netanyahu Spearheading Efforts To Thwart Bid [Report]

Obama has reportedly launched a discrete campaign to become the secretary general of the United Nations after he leaves the White House in 2017. As part of efforts to achieve the goal, he has reportedly held private discussions with senior Democrats and Republicans, including influential Jewish politicians.

The report on Obama’s alleged bid for the role of U.N. secretary general, which first emerged as rumors following speculations among conservative pundits reacting to Obama’s West Point speech in May 2014, appears to have originated from the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida. But the report has also been carried by some Israeli news outlets, such as Arutz Sheva, and conservative U.S. news outlets, such as Fox News and the Washington Times.

It has not been confirmed independently by other international news sources, but it comes ahead of the expiry of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s term early in 2017.

Al-Jarida quotes unnamed Netanyahu aides who confirmed that Prime Minister Netanyahu is aware of Obama’s moves to replace Ban Ki-moon as U.N. secretary general.

Speculations that Obama could be interested in succeeding Ban Ki-moon as U.S. secretary general and that he has launched a secret campaign for the role first surfaced after his May 2014 West Point speech. At the time, some conservative pundits interpreted certain remarks he made in the speech as a thinly veiled campaign for the position of U.N. secretary general.

In the speech (full text may be accessed here), Obama stressed the need for the U.S. to “mobilize allies and partners to take collective action.”

“But U.S. military action cannot be the only — or even primary — component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”

However, the interpretation of Obama’s West Point speech by conservative pundits as a veiled campaign for the position of U.N. secretary general has been dismissed by liberal pundits as part of right wing Agenda 21 conspiracy theory paranoia.

But some world leaders are reportedly alarmed at the prospect of Obama becoming the U.N. secretary general.

A source close to Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly said that when the Israeli leader learned of Obama’s plan, he complained aloud to aides, “Wasn’t eight years of having Obama in office enough? Eight years during which he ignored Israel? And now he wants to be in a position that is liable to cause us hardships in the international arena.”

Netanyahu is upset about Obama’s dismissal of his objections to the recent Iran nuclear deal and concerns that Iran could replicate the nuclear threat scenario in North Korea.

A source close to Netanyahu reportedly said, “Obama’s term is ending with him forging an alliance with Iran, coming to an agreement with it on its nuclear program which in the end will result in a similar scenario that took place with North Korea.”

“Israel will not allow this, and will take the required steps to prevent Iran from manufacturing nuclear weapons, secretly or in public,” the source added.

Netanyahu is also upset about Obama’s closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood, which toppled the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The aide accused the Obama administration of attempting to ally the U.S. with “political Islam.”

“Obama’s presidency was characterized by moving closer to the Muslim Brotherhood, toppling the regime of Hosni Mubarak, and attempts to ally itself with political Islam.”

According to another unnamed top Netanyahu aide, “Obama is the worst president for Israel, the Middle East and Israel’s allies – the moderate Arab states.”

[Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP]