President Obama says that he has an ‘unbreakable’ commitment to Israel’s security and that his goal is an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is how he is going about it, in the words of Caroline Glick:
Obama’s new demands follow the months of American pressure that eventually coerced Netanyahu into announcing both his support for a Palestinian state and a 10-month ban on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. No previous Israeli government had ever been asked to make the latter concession.
Netanyahu was led to believe that in return for these concessions Obama would begin behaving like the credible mediator his predecessors were. But instead of acting like his predecessors, Obama has behaved like the Palestinians. Rather than reward Netanyahu for taking a risk for peace, Obama has, in the model of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, pocketed Netanyahu’s concessions and escalated his demands. This is not the behavior of a mediator. This is the behavior of an adversary.
With the US president treating Israel like an enemy, the Palestinians have no reason to agree to sit down and negotiate. Indeed, they have no choice but to declare war.
And so, in the wake of Obama’s onslaught on Israel’s right to Jerusalem, Palestinian incitement against Israel and Jews has risen to levels not seen since the outbreak of the last terror war in September 2000. And just as night follows day, that incitement has led to violence. This week’s Arab riots from Jerusalem to Jaffa, and the renewed rocket offensive from Gaza are directly related to Obama’s malicious attacks on Israel.
The logic is simple and obvious. Why should the Palestinians negotiate or compromise when they have the US in their corner, extracting concession after concession from Israel, and asking nothing of them?
Obama’s actions are having an effect precisely opposite to his stated goals, and this could have been — and was — predicted in advance.
One interpretation is that the American move in escalating demands indicates that the administration continues to think, against all reason, that it is Israel’s refusal to meet Palestinian conditions that prevents a settlement. If so, the policymakers are remarkably ignorant or stupid — and I don’t think this is the case.
An alternative is that there is a policy objective that requires the US to distance itself from Israel. I am guessing that Iran, Syria or both have promised that they will keep a lid on violence in Iraq, from which Obama has promised he will withdraw, in return for actions that will weaken Israel. Both of these countries have compelling reasons for their hostility: Iran understands that Israel is a danger to its nuclear program (which the US will not seriously challenge), and Syria, in addition to supporting its ally Iran, has interests in Lebanon which are threatened by Israel.
Most likely the next Mideastern war will be between Israel and Hizballah, proxy of Iran and supported directly by Syria. The proximate cause is yet to be determined, but the real reason will be Iran’s drive to get nuclear weapons.
If the latter explanation is true, then Glick is right and the US truly is behaving more like an enemy than an ally.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Obama Administration
There are few greater defeats conceivable for an American government and President than the , God forbid, destruction of Israel. Israel is associated in the mind of the world with the United States. And for very many Americans Israel shares America’s democratic values, and in a way an extension of the U.S.
It is hard for me to believe that Obama is so malicious, so evil, and so stupid as to be actively promoting the destruction of Israel.
Yet it is clear that he has been biased against Israel from the beginning. And it also clear that the recent incident is a replay of the policy initiated earlier i.e. one – sided unfair pressure on Israel.
Why is he doing this then?
My guess is that he believes that by pressuring Israel, or appearing to he will win support in the vast Arab and Islamic world. He is probably trying not to destroy Israel, but to end the impression as General Petraeus puts it that the U.S. ‘favors’ Israel. In this he is joining the bad guys, being unfair, not being a good guy. But he is promoting as he understands them the ‘interests’ of the United States in a lot of places.
We see this rightly as a betrayal of us.And he of course does not have ultimate control of the consequences of this betrayal.
I am not sure however that the wise policy for Prime Minister Netanyahu who is after all the one who has to deal with this, is to call Obama an enemy, and close the door. It seems to me Netanyahu’s job is a much tougher one , of standing on our own and yet trying to maintain decent relations especially in regard to the prospect of future violence in the area.