Fresno Zionism
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu will be meeting with President Obama tomorrow. In a long interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, the President revealed — or at least presented the public face of — his thinking on the Palestinian question, Iran, Syria and other Mideast issues.
If what he told Goldberg truly reflects his thinking, it is profoundly depressing, because his remarks display both ignorance and prejudice. And the timing, when Bibi is already on his way, is ugly.
Ignorance:
…with each successive year, the window is closing for a peace deal that both the Israelis can accept and the Palestinians can accept — in part because of changes in demographics; in part because of what’s been happening with settlements; in part because Abbas is getting older, and I think nobody would dispute that whatever disagreements you may have with him, he has proven himself to be somebody who has been committed to nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue. We do not know what a successor to Abbas will look like.
The “time is running out” theme is pervasive (Goldberg headlines the interview with it). But “changes in demographics,” at least if you exclude Gaza, are definitely in favor of Israel. The Jewish birthrate is high, and the Palestinian one is declining. There are far fewer ‘Palestinians’ than official numbers would have it. “What’s happening with [Jewish] settlements” — a few additional homes within existing communities are planned — is irrelevant, and one can even argue that illegal European-sponsored Arab construction in Area C is more significant as a fact on the ground.
Most important is this: the fact that Abbas is relatively (stress that word) moderate compared to his likely successors has precisely the opposite implication than the one Obama suggests. What good would a deal reached with Abbas be if (when) he is replaced by an extremist who will tear it up?
[Netanyahu] has an opportunity also to take advantage of a potential realignment of interests in the region, as many of the Arab countries see a common threat in Iran. The only reason that that potential realignment is not, and potential cooperation is not, more explicit is because of the Palestinian issue.
So the Saudis and Kuwaitis who still hate Palestinians for their support of Saddam; the Lebanese who maintain an apartheid system in which Palestinians residing there cannot go to Lebanese schools, own property or work in numerous professions, and who fought a vicious mini-war against a Palestinian militia in one of the refugee camps several years ago; the Egyptians who are enthusiastically collapsing Hamas tunnels — these Arabs would jump at the chance to cooperate with Israel if only it were nicer to the Palestinians?
Yes, they are scared to death of the prospect of a nuclear Iran, but the idea that nations which have historically (long before ‘occupation’) made opposition to Jewish sovereignty an ideological pillar of their regimes would suddenly go public about any cooperation with Israel is ludicrous.
But here’s what I know from my visits to the region: That for all that we’ve seen over the last several decades, all the mistrust that’s been built up, the Palestinians would still prefer peace. They would still prefer a country of their own that allows them to find a job, send their kids to school, travel overseas, go back and forth to work without feeling as if they are restricted or constrained as a people. And they recognize that Israel is not going anywhere. So I actually think that the voices for peace within the Palestinian community will be stronger with a framework agreement and that Abu Mazen’s position will be strengthened with a framework for negotiations.
Maybe a few short visits weren’t enough. He seems to have missed the ideological indoctrination in the Palestinian media that calls for an unending struggle until there can be a complete victory, an ideology in which martyrdom for the Palestinian cause is the highest value, and in which Jews are compared to the Crusaders, who even after hundreds of years were expelled from ‘Arab land’.
And he has missed the surveys of Palestinian popular opinion that show that, for example, in 2011, “Only 7% agreed that ‘Israel has a permanent right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people’ while 84% thought that ‘over time Palestinians must work to get back all the land for a Palestinian state’”. So much for the Palestinians recognizing that “Israel is not going anywhere!”
Prejudice:
Do you resign yourself to what amounts to a permanent occupation of the West Bank? Is that the character of Israel as a state for a long period of time? Do you perpetuate, over the course of a decade or two decades, more and more restrictive policies in terms of Palestinian movement? Do you place restrictions on Arab-Israelis in ways that run counter to Israel’s traditions?
When I read this, I wonder what ‘Israel’ he’s talking about. The one I know has reduced restrictions on Palestinian movement in recent times, to the point of endangering security (and released murderers, if that counts). It also treats Israeli Arabs as well as any national minority is treated anywhere in the world.
So it is not realistic nor is it my desire or expectation that the core commitments we have with Israel change during the remainder of my administration or the next administration. But what I do believe is that if you see no peace deal and continued aggressive settlement construction — and we have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we’ve seen in a very long time — if Palestinians come to believe that the possibility of a contiguous sovereign Palestinian state is no longer within reach, then our ability to manage the international fallout is going to be limited.
Aggressive settlement construction? Nobody is building settlements, except perhaps Arabs in Area C. Why does he keep hitting this nonsensical issue? Only because it is a reason to blame Israel for the inability to reach an agreement, and to set the stage for the threats to follow. The man is a bully — except with Iran, which he is afraid of.
Here he becomes a pussycat. “Time is running out” to give the Palestinians a state that they certainly ought not to have, but
… the most important thing that I have said to Bibi and members of Congress on this whole issue is that it is profoundly in all of our interests to let this process play itself out. Let us test whether or not Iran can move far enough to give us assurances that their program is peaceful and that they do not have breakout capacity.
If, in fact, they can’t get there, the worst that will have happened is that we will have frozen their program for a six-month period. We’ll have much greater insight into their program. All the architecture of our sanctions will have still been enforced, in place. Their economy might have modestly improved during this six-month to one-year period. But I promise you that all we have to do is turn the dial back on and suddenly –
There are several paragraphs of rationalizations, but I’ll spare you. The sanctions regime is dead. It cannot be brought back to life. It was leaky before, and now it has a iceberg-sized gash in it and is listing 70 degrees. He’s given the Iranians the time they need to do precisely what they want, which is to get the “breakout capability” that will make it impossible to stop them. That is “the worst that will happen,” and it will happen for sure, unless someone bombs them.
Providing this interview on the eve of Netanyahu’s visit is reminiscent to his 2011 announcement calling for an agreement “based on pre-1967 lines” while Bibi was, like today, on his way to the White House. This tactic is an embarrassment. David Horovitz wrote,
The timing could not have been any more deliberate — an assault on the prime minister’s policies delivered precisely as Netanyahu was flying in to meet with him, and on the first day, too, of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC’s annual tour de force conference across town.
At the very least, that might be considered bad manners, poor diplomatic protocol, a resounding preemptive slap in the face: I’ve just told the world you’re leading your country to wrack and ruin, Mr. Prime Minister. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?
Did I say he was a bully?
dove Said:
You are welcome, dove. We are all unique individuals.
@ AbbaGuutuu:
Thanks for agreeing with me. Not many Christians who visit this site do. (or at least they wouldn’t admit it)
honeybee Said:
Whatever the God of Jacob promises (says), you can take to a bank and cash it. He is faithful! I put my trust in Him than Men.
Read the following, please.
Psalm 146:1-5
New International Version (NIV)
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
Footnotes:
Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10
dove Said:
I agree _ “No pity party!”
dweller Said:
A FEW QUESTIONS? You would bring them to their knees!!!!!!!!!!! Have you ever asked a FEW QUESTIONS?
Oi vey! Is that fellow and his aggregate the best that the US has to offer as a “world leadership”? Even assuming that Mr. Obama planned to sink the US, that is a giant and the purportedly planed harm could not have been so easily accomplished. I have to conclude that it is absolute, abject system wide incompetence coupled with ill intent.
As far as the status of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu has the whole court open. The Arafat PLO has nothing in place to function independently. And we do no have any obligation to feed and keep the vermin. If he fails to take the opportunity, he will be history in short notice. Israel has achieved its economic objectives and the natural gas and impending oil miracle provide sufficient leverage to bypass US direct sabotage. I doubt that military attacks will be promoted by the US but seeing Mr. Obama functioning otherwise, one can never know.
dove Said:
http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-secular-religion-of-left.html
@ the phoenix:
Do you have anything in your archives that compares the left with secular?
His ignorance is not only colossal; it also seems compulsive.
Would love to corner his foreign policy advisors in a room someday and ask them a few “questions” of my own. . . .
@ yamit82:
the very best of my abilities
honeybee Said:
😛
@ yamit82:
I am helpless, what can I do, people keep feeding these lines?
@ rongrand:
@ RandyTexas:
🙂
@ ArnoldHarris:
Well said.
G-d judges nations but America is different. They have a unique and near perfect constitutional system of division of power (checks and balances) Unlike all other democratic systems who are governed under a paliamentary system where there is no division between legislative and executive America is different and the people have more direct responsibility over the choice of their representatives and therefore have more responsibility for the policies of their governments.
In the end G-d will judge not only America collectively but also individuals will also be judged as harshly.
I quote Eric Hoffer:
Israel’s Peculiar Position
by Eric Hoffer
May 26, 1968
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab.
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.
Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.
Other nations — when they are defeated — survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June he would have wiped Israel off the map and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on.
There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him. The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we did in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
@ keelie:
Keelie, Ovomit can’t lead a one car funeral.
A line drawn in the sand is merely him stuck in a sand trap, he can’t play golf either.
He can’t even play president. He is a person of words only.
Your right, pot meet kettle.
@ rongrand:
And his latest quote, believe it or not, is that “Russia is on the wrong side of history”.
Pot, meet kettle…
@ AbbaGuutuu:
Amen
@ RandyTexas:ou
Good to see you checked in again Randy.
You are right on.
For the love of me I don’t get why the PM meets with Ovomit. He has no love for the Jews or Israel. He is an anti-Semite.
He should stay his distance from the two birds, Ovomit & Kerry.
There is only one (1) State, the sovereign Jewish Nation of Israel, period.
The kool-aid drinkers better wake up, hangover or no hangover.
Change Wash. no more career office holders, serve 8 or 10 and go home, can’t stay and lobby either.
Need to remove the RINO’s.
honeybee Said:
I know who wins. The Almighty God who brought back this great county (Israel) after 2,500 years, will disappoint all of her enemies and give her the victory. No doubt about this!!!!!!
@ AbbaGuutuu:
Obama may stand against Israel, but he stand against the Almighty????????????????
the phoenix Said:
You rightly picked my wrong assumption which I was trying to correct. I should not have said that. Actions speak louder than words.
He has not earned anything positive to give him a benefit of a doubt especially when it comes to the so called peace process
. You may buy me a beach front. 🙂
@ RandyTexas:
Are you randy who lives in Texas or are just randy in Texas, like most Texans ?????
dove Said:
Thanks for your comment. As an adult BHO is fully responsible for misdeeds against Israel. To be frank with you, I donot even know whether his intentions were/are good or not (I simply assumed). What I was trying to point out was: Because of his ideology and one sided view in favor PA and loyalty to Palestinian Arabs, he cannot be trusted as a friend of Israel. The good news is: The majority of Americans are with Israel despite so many agitations going on in universities etc. Until there is a positive attitude among the majority of the American public, BHO may not be able to stand against Israel as he wishes. Israel should carry out an effective PR campaign around the globe to counter repeated lies that gave her an image of an “occupier”.
@ AbbaGuutuu:
No pity party there! I’m glad he’s not one of my leaders!
@ AbbaGuutuu:
Hmmmm…..
May I interest you in buying some tropical beachfront property in my neck of the woods?
Bwah hahahahahahahaa!!!!
Depressing? No. Obama is finally going to start being who he really is. The man is coming unraveled and even the media won’t be able to keep his clothes on. What was depressing was when he was hiding behind lies and pretending to support the Jewish people, and people believed him. We are getting beyond that now and will see the real Obama. He will come apart from here on out.
dove Said:
Your statement almost brought tears to my eyes. I appreciate your courage and commitment. BHO as a person may have good intentions. Due to his upbringing and influence (from his communist father and mother and associates), he was brainwashed by leftist radicals who hate Israel/Jews. One of his closets friends was a Palestinian professor at Columbia University. No matter what Israel may or may not do, Israel shouldn’t expect a favorable attitude from the current US Administration. Compared to what it is receiving from the USA,Israel has done great things for USA and is the only reliable ally in the Middle East. The radical lefts value their ideological commitment to Palestinian Arabs. Hatred of the Jews (as illogical and diabolical it is) for some of them is like a religious belief. Israel should do a better PR campaign all over the world to change the wrong belief that it is an “occupier”. The left for most of the time is unrealistic: They donot properly discern the difference between a reality and a vague imagination. At this critical juncture, I hope the different parties within Israel would put their differences aside and show solidarity with the PM who is now under great pressure. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
@ SamG:
Empires such as the fading one run out of Washington DC, whose economy and monetary system is owned more or less outright by China, come, and they drift off into history within 2-3 centuries. So it isn’t just the phenomenon of the affirmative actton US President that is now permanently shrinking. It is also the society that produced such a phenomenon.
But Eretz-Yisrael, the Jewish nation, and, I think, the Jewish state — are all here to stay on a permanent basis.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
well, heres what I know from watching a few years of obama and the latest batch of Washington Whiz Kids trying to implement their old college theses:
their judgment has been incorrect on every issue they have engaged!
That should be enough to warrant ignoring their childish prognostications. The poor world has to suffer the plague of the latest batch of washington whiz kids striving to make a name for themselves domestically, every 8 years. It looks like just about everyone is now sick and tired of the US constantly pimping their unwelcome arrogant opinions and hypocritical meddling.
The US appears to exacerbate every imaginable situation that it touches. I wonder if anyone hopes that US power is not diminished. Obama is merely the latest episode of this repetitive saga of US meddling and bumbling on a global scale.
Obamas come and Obamas go, Israel is here to stay…
Hey Obama I just read in length your ‘threats’ to BB. What ‘threats’ are you making to Abbas the enemy of the Jewish soul? The enemy of the United States of America? The enemy of ALL people who live outside of Sharia law? I made a decision a long time ago that I would, could and DO stand up and fight. I could care less if it cost me my life. It’s worth it! 🙂
Most anti-Semites that profess concern for the palys couldn’t give a fig for the palys. It’s their their hate of Jews that drives them. Not so Hussein Obama, he genuinely loves the palys, being a closet Islamist himself and secretly shares their demented ideology. That’s my theory. A theory that is adopted explains the phenomena. Witness: a President that guts its military, destroys its economy, alienates friends while placating enemies, makes common cause with the Muzloid Bros and has done more to encourage and enable Islamofascists than any other single person, is the phenomenon I speak of. Do you have a better theory?
Bibi needs to tell Obama to take a long walk off a short pier. Or that Israel will forge stronger ties with Russia, LOL. And airlift Jews from Ukraine.
truly at a loss for words. But he is only repeating what the Democrat Party professes.