Not satisfied with ordering Israel not to build new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem, the Obama Administration has now issued a diktat that Israel may not demolish illegally built Palestinian structures.
I know that the Arabs and their supporters will say that laws are applied unequally, they can’t get building permits, etc. But as the Sheikh Jarrah controversy showed, even when Israelis carefully follow the law it doesn’t matter. In that case, a long legal process — which culminated in a decision by the relatively left-wing Israeli Supreme Court — determined that Arabs were in fact squatters; but nevertheless the US has condemned Israel for evicting them.
The fact is that the Obama Administration has set itself up as regent over Israel, and intends to intervene in the administration of its laws whenever that suits the political goals of the US. Today those goals include the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state which will include East Jerusalem.
The US is now playing the role of the British during the mandate period, except that while the British were supposed to be working to create a “national home” for the Jews in the historic land of Israel (which goal, of course, they subverted in practice), the Americans are acting on behalf of a state for the ‘Palestinian people’. And I might add that while the British role was sanctioned by international treaties, the US has simply arrogated it.
As I’ve said before, the arguments for the need for such intervention (the “linkage theory“) do not hold water. I believe the administration is disingenuous about its motives. And I am convinced that a combination of interests and influence, from the powerful Saudi Arabian lobby — which is far more effective than the notorious “Israel Lobby” in the US — to the preponderance of left-wing academic backgrounds among administration officials, is driving it.
This policy is not in the interests of the US, which is in conflict with Iran for control of Middle Eastern oil resources and which, as a Western democracy and Enlightenment standard-bearer, should be struggling to push back the tide of Islamic radicalism which threatens to overwhelm Europe, and ultimately the world.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Obama administration
The Americans have a conception which might make some sense were the Palestinians to truly share it. Two states for two peoples. The Americans are trying to build up the Palestinians in order to realize the conception. They do not seem to understand forcing the idea when there is no real spirit of reconciliation on the Palestinian side will only increase the danger to Israel.
I have no idea of whether the U.S. will wake up or not. Now it does not look good.
I think the U.S. is starting to wake up. Even before Obama, most Americans – excepting a significant minority – supported Israel, certainly vis-a-vis the Palestinians. To the extent that rank and file Americans are not supportive of Israel, it is mostly due to historically high levels of isolationist sentiment that have been growing steadily every since Vietnam. Many Americans who are not supportive of Israel are not against Israel per se, and are hardly in love with the Palestinians, but rather are simply afraid of Israel dragging the U.S. into a war.
Shalom, don’t confuse “Obama” with “Americans”. He does not represent mainstream American opinion, on Israel, the Middle East, and many other issues. He is the most audacious liar I’ve ever seen on the national stage. In my 48 years, I’ve never seen a president move so far from how he represented himself on the campaign trail in so short a time. Not that I’m surprised; I pegged him as a stinking liar early on.
If all I had known about Obama was how represented himself in the six months leading up to the election, I would have thought he was a swell guy, too, and of course, a “friend of Israel”. I knew better. Now, more and more Americans are seeing the truth. That is why he has the worst approval ratings of ANY U.S. president at this stage in his administration. I predict he’ll be in the low 20s by 2012. I predict he won’t carry more than five states, if that. Mark my words.
The U.S. is waking up, and will wake up. Trouble is, the bastard can do a lot of damage in the meantime. Elections have consequences.
Vic, I say again, as I’ve said many times, this administration is not really about what is in the objective interests of the U.S. This is about 1) making the evil, white guy imperialistic U.S. – the root of all the worlds problems – “safe” for the world (per Rev. Wrong), and it is about kissing Arab/Moslem booty. Don’t try to divine some sort of rationality here, some genuine pursuit of American interests as sane people like you or me might understand this. It isn’t there.
Obama may not be the “anti-Christ”, but he sure is the “anti-Patriot”. He has surrounded himself with like-minded cronies, and Saudi whore Israel bashers. That is what is driving American foreign policy today, not silly, frumpy, boy scout notions about what is in America’s interests.
The Pat Buchanan types have long complained about how America’s foreign policy has been “determined” by Israel, the “Israeli tail wagging the American dog”. Now, we can see what it looks like when America’s foreign policy is determined by Israel’s enemies. Just loverly, isn’t it?