Op-ed: US president will not travel thousands of miles just to eat hummus or place note in Kotel
Eitan Haber, YNET
During his next term as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu will have to do what he avoided doing in his previous terms: Draw boundaries and begin establishing two states for two peoples. This painful process, certainly from Netanyahu’s perspective, will commence soon.
Officials in Jerusalem and Washington say that Obama will not introduce a new plan during his visit to the region next month; that it is important for him to show the Jewish community in the US that he is not hostile toward Israel. This could be true. Or not.
An impolite American would call these statements bullshit. Despite John Kerry’s claim that Obama will not bring a peace plan to Israel and the Palestinian territories next month, but rather intends to listen, an American president does not travel thousands of miles just to eat hummus in Mahane Yehuda Market, place a note in the Western Wall or lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. In his second and last term, Obama wants to leave his mark on history. And he will leave a mark on history if the path toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will begin during his term. Obama and his associates know they can achieve glory here, between Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas.
The Americans are not sentimental. In Panama, at the time, they killed thousands of innocent people just to capture a ruler they believed was a drug dealer. If they ask something of Netanyahu, nicely, they will actually be ordering him to do it. They will begin with a small step and suggest to Netanyahu that Israel reduce or stop construction in communities outside the “settlement blocs.” By doing so they will be hinting that communities located outside the “blocs,” even the large ones, will not be a part of the State of Israel once the permanent borders are drawn.
Netanyahu will object, cause a media uproar and maybe even shed a tear, but he will explain to us that there is no choice. And he will be right. Netanyahu knows that without America we have no life here. Although he is still torn between Jabotinsky’s doctrine and reality, the prime minister leans to the moderate side of Likud when it comes to finding a solution to the bloody conflict. Today he is closer to Dan Meridor than he is to Moshe Feiglin. There is a reason why the settlers consider him a “suspect.”
Netanyahu signed his first coalition agreement with Tzipi Livni, who calls for the resumption of peace negotiations. Will he tell her, when the time comes, to forget about the agreement? We’ll see. If he submits any part of a peace agreement for the Knesset’s approval, he will not be able to count on the votes of Feiglin, Yariv Levin, Uri Ariel, Naftali Bennett, Orit Struck and Tzipi Hotovely. As was the case with the peace treaty with Egypt, which was brought by Menachem Begin, it will be the Labor and Meretz parties that will save Netanyahu and his term.
@ yamit82:
Malito,tiene cuidado gringo,para ti me voy con pistoles. Cuidado la enojara de una Tejana.
@ the phoenix:
I missed this thread, and i would have participated if i knew of its existence. But, phoenix, just now that i checked it the comments are closed.
Honey Bee Said:
canada’s laurentian mountains. one hour north of montreal…
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
The ‘good doctor’, is curious american and the ‘telemarketer’ is dweller. (Devolin lingo)
This really bugs me ….
Essentially I posted a similar post as I did to you at the time.
@ Bert: Damn right! Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem are more than just “disputed territory”, they are “liberated territory” as the Levy report confirms. Most of the world objection to Israel is based on the Arab narrative that Jews are stealing Arab land, displacing the Arabs. Israel must confirm the Levy report and directly traverse the Arab claim that its political rights should be recognized. It has no political rights to Palestine under International Law and never had. International Law is the product of treaties and long established custom but the latter is not applicable here. There are several treaties that recognize that Israel’s political rights were recognized in 1920 and 1922 but initially placed in trust with England as trustee, having legal dominion over them. The consensus was that this was needed because at the time the Jewish population in all Palestine was only 10% of its total population. Legal dominion was intended to vest in the the Jews when it attained a population majority in Palestine and it was as capable of exercising sovereignty as any modern European nation-state. British Foreign Office memo of September 19, 1917 directed at opponents of the Balfour policy stating that the charges that the policy would be antidemocratic were “imaginary” because the political rights would be placed in the trust of a trustee, either England or the US and so the trustee would have legal dominion over them. So the term Jewish National Home was provided to spell out the status of the Jews having a beneficial interest but would not become a reconstituted state until they obtain legal dominion over these rights. This can with difficulty be seen in Article 2 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, its preamble, and Article 22 of the League covenant. And both Winston Churchill and David Lloyd-George confirmed that is exactly what was intended.
Honey Bee Said:
Asshole From El Paso
the phoenix Said:
phoenix which comment you refer to? can you post the link of the relevant article?
@ CuriousAmerican:
Country and Western song “If You Don’t Stand for Something, You Will Fall for Anything”.
In this case, it might be
@ the phoenix:
@ Canuck Frank:
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
Goat is very popular on the border,it is roasted over a fire on a spite, Goole “Walks in Beauty”, a Navajo prayer. For all you who love nature.
@ the phoenix:
Where is here? We have racoons too, egg stealing chicken killers. But we very care with chicken don’t worry.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Stiiff neck is good.
@ the phoenix:
We have a Parrie Falcon here,and Furugionous Hawks. Have you ever seen Hawks court,it is sooooooooo romantic.
The Israelis will dodge. They are masters at it. Netanyahu beat Obama in 2009 when he started resettlements as Biden visted. He will win now.
Nothing will happen.
The Bible says the Jews are “a stiff-necked people” Exo 32:9
They will yes Obama to death and continue to build.
The may pull back a new outpost for a month to make a show, then when no one is paying attention, restart two new outposts.
I do not think Obama has the intellect or mettle to stand up to Netanyahu.
I am not saying this is good or bad. It is what it is.
My view is:
A) Start the process of enfrachising the Arabs
-or-
B) Pay them to leave for South America
I am not in favor of a two state solution.
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
dionissis, we’ll get back to the animals later.
YOU of all people should be able to relate to this.
you read devolin’s comment. (‘the holocaust..because of the church’ thread)
SAY SOMETHING, MAN!
Honey Bee Said:
And sadly, in my experience, the Evangelicals are also better friends of Israel than the (so called) liberal Jews.
Dean Said:
Let him retain it. That will keep him company with another Nobel Laureate, Yasser Arafat.
@ the phoenix:
the phoenix Said:
I am in this gang, and i think yamit is too, so we are becoming more and more. But, phoenix, i would urge caution on the use of the expression “animal lover”. I mean, the Arabs are bound to misinterpret it : “The Jews do to their goats like we do!!!”. 😛
@ Honey Bee:
Dear honey bee,
Kindred spirits I guess….
You would love it here as well…. A river runs through it….the cutest family of raccoons, and last year, a deer as well!
What an incredible feeling to see a wild animal in his natural habitat, that just happens to be your backyard….
@ the phoenix:
You would enjoy it here,I have a yard full of deer. A young buck, a doe and serveral yearlings. They come up to the house.look through the glass at me and try to nibble my house plants.
@ rongrand:
Dear Ron,
Always enjoyed your comments. As you know, I am a great animal lover, and I hold dear to heart fellow-animal- lovers.
This is one of the things that I associate with you… (Sometime in the past there was an exchange with Alexis on this subject and it stuck!…actually, I haven’t seen any post from her for a while.)
So there!
🙂
@ Bert:
The Christian Evengelicals are forever being critizied by Jewish Liberals,but the Evengelical are better friends to the Jewish People then the mainline Protestants. I don’t know why the Jews always chase after those who hate us and turn our backs on those who are kind. Are we filled with self-loathing that we are forever begging for acceptance from enemies?
@ the phoenix:
Certainly glad you are in agreement.
When he arrives in Israel Bibi should have him be met with the lowest level person in the administration with regrets he is not available due to a rescheduled golf game.
Enjoy your lunch at McDonalds
BTW what do you know about Buster!!!!
@ Bernard Ross:
Yes.
@ Laura:
You are so right Laura!
Did any of you ever play baseball, well?
It’s time to hit the homers that we have always been meant to hit!
A truly great team will cause Obama to strike out.
Another way to look at this is to say that even if America is lacking the kind of leadership that we would prefer, including good Jewish leadership,
we can cheer the status of our own elected persons and hope that they know how to lead our team to the playoffs and win.
comment to rongrand in moderation
rongrand Said:
dear rongrand,
your description of this bastard (literally and figuratively) though correct, is understated, i think.
i would like to believe that indeed the overall sentiment of the americans is as you have described.
as such, there is NOTHING MORE that i would love to see than for this fraud, masquerading as the potus, to be humiliated from the moment he sets foot in israel and for that to be seen around the globe as a payback for bibi’s visit at the wh.
i think bibi is the WORST pm israel has ever had. nonetheless he is the pm of the state of ISRAEL whom he represents.
the black plague abomination on the other hand is fraudulently in that position and as such, he does not represent america.
and speaking of bastards…. how’s ‘buster’ the black lab?
🙂
yamit82 Said:
dear yamit,
once again, a ball hit right out of the park!
excellent comment (as usual)
the key operative words though are IF THEY BELIEVE WE ARE SERIOUS
with current leadership being what it is….can you blame ANYBODY for not taking it seriously?
i am convinced that for that to happen israel’s pm MUST be an observant jew!
Bernard Ross Said:
Obama’s hostility could be a blessing in disguise. Other presidents were pro-Arab (usually secretly). Obama is so arrogant and hostile that he feels no need to hide his anti-Semitic, anti-Israel feelings. Maybe a miracle will happen and Israelis will wake up to the fact the USA needs Israel as much as Israel needs to US. Israel aid/credits have actually harmed Israel. They have provided cover for the US to arm countries like Egypt to the teeth. In monetary terms, Israel has definitely lost money from the credits which require them to use 75-80% of the financial aid to buy American weapons. This has hurt Israel monetarily by having to match what the US has supplied to Arab countries to keep their monetary edge. The aid to Israel has allowed Egypt to close the gaps in the quality of their tanks. They receive the Abrams (not the latest version) but still one of the best tanks in the world. Israel developed the Merkava. The US actually closed the gap in tank quality. Israel could have made billions of dollars each year had the US not treated Israel like a vassal state and told them they could not sell weapons to China. If the punk Obama and his punk Secretary of Defense cut off the credits, Israel can increase (maybe even double) their weapons exports. India spends more than $1 billion a year buying Israeli weapons. China would spend even to buy Israeli made UAVs. The top US high tech firms such as Intel have made billions in profits from innovations developed in their Israeli R& D divisions. Intel was in trouble financially but Israeli innovations such as the Centrino chip saved them from bankruptcy due to their R&D center in Israel which accounted for 40% of its’ profits. All of the top US High tech firms have R&D centers in Israel which provide 40-50% of their profits. A top of official of General Dynamics has stated the countless improvements Israeli have made on the F 6 has resulted in tremendous additional profits for General Dynamics. The US since they began providing financial aid of obviously questionable value has treated Israel like a puppet having a parade of idiots like Biden, Rice, and Hilary come to Israel throwing tantrums like little children and not showing an ounce of respect to Bibi and other top officials. The US has built up the Fakestinian Mafia’s fighting capabilities . It is no coincidence that Israel has not won a war convincingly like in 48 and 67. It is because the US since they began their financial aid has prevented Israel from finishing off their enemies in every war since 1967.
@ yamit82
@ Laura:
Yamit and Laura are both correct.
The president is limited to what can be done in the short term with a long term effect and it is foolish to allow yourself to be intimidated by a bully especially when a majority and I mean a majority of Americans support Israel and recognize her as one of our staunchest ally and trusted friend.
NormanF Said:
perhaps this is a blessing
Bert Said:
yamit82 Said:
My reply to your first post didn’t show up. What might save Israel is the fact Netanyahu is no Sharon and second the Arabs are not going to give him what he needs to justify a peace deal with them. Which in any event wouldn’t be worth the paper it was signed upon.
Bernard Ross Said:
There is certain amount of truth to it. What blocks a peace deal though is Arab intransigence. And Obama will not turn Abu Bluff into a lover of Zion. Netanyahu, contrary to Haber’s wishful thinking, is not the real obstacle to peace. The Arabs do not want peace with the Jewish State and they cannot be forced to negotiate an agreement. If Haber has any idea how to do, he should tell us! Its eluded every Israeli and Western leader for the past 20 years and its certainly not for lack of an effort that peace between Israel and the Arabs is impossible.
Laura Said:
Israel was founded despite American State Department opposition and won the Six Day War in spite of the same. Israel took out Israel’s Osirak nuclear reactor in spite of US objections. In reply to Haber, I would say Anerica does exercise a certain amount of influence over Israel but America is not Israel’s overlord and all powerful arbiter of its fate.
Laura Said:
Eitan Haber was Yitzhak Rabin’s former aide. And Israel’s leftist media is now beating the drums to pave the way for an American diktat to be imposed upon Israel the country has no choice but to comply with. Netanyahu will be forced to “pull a Sharon.” Its not what any of us want, its the way things are and Israel has a linguini-spined government.
yamit82 Said:
While I agree you I suspect Eitan Haber is still correct. Netanyahu will choose the path of least resistance. And Obama is not coming to Israel to play nice. He will exact a price for his visit and doubtless soon enough we’ll find out what Netanyahu is going to be forced to pay to host him in Jerusalem.
@ yamit82:
Bravo, Yamit.
Bravo.
http://israel-thrives.blogspot.com/
This is bull. This is the opinion of a loser and defeatist.
Bert Said:
got to agree with this comment
@ yamit82: the US relationship has always prevented Israel from closing the deal(ultimate victory) because it suited the US to present itself to the arabs as the one who can control Israel. Perhaps a weaning would open the Israeli mind to assertive military, political doctrines in the region. Israel has the capability to become the major player that can form and topple regional govts and without the US leash could reap whirlwind benefits in Africa and the ME. Israel’s military prowess and potential is wasted on its defensive posture; an aggressive pro active, self interested, pragmatic posture would gain it a myriad of real alliances. Once off the US leash Israel would be in demand for military protection from African govts coupled with Israels already respected aid doctrines. this would open the way to resources which are close at hand minerals, agriculture and energy. The block to all this is the US leash which causes Israel to be the assistant to someone else. Great possibilities await an intelligently planned transition. a pragmatic Israel would be a more palatable military partner for african nations than the US or EU. RE the enemy it could ascend to the position of “great satan” and leave the US as the “little satan” it has become.
retired Said:
I agree with your conclusion. It may be that there is an announcement geared to bring credit to Obama but I think the actual situation will be the status quo with make up. they might talk state, agreements, or whatever but the outcome will probably be that the pa continues to run area a some b and Israel runs C etc. I don’t think that Obama will put himself in the position to be ridiculed so I think that any announcement will have been pre agreed with BB. The Gaza outcome may have been the prelude to maintaining stability for Obama to come. Obama advisers emphasized in the past to come to Israel and speak directly to Israelis so perhaps that will happen.
I agree that Obama would not come without a reason or annoncement but it would have to be pre agreed; another possibility is if the west bank flares up then his trip may be canceled. If this happens it would be a set up. This would solve many issues for all. I definitely get the impression that everything taking place at this time has already been agreed.
We cannot blame our enemies too much because we have given them the weapons to attack us politically. Jewish leaders failed to firmly insist on Jewish rights to the land of Israel and even admit that Jews are occupiers. Our leaders have failed to ever promote the ONLY peaceful solution which is transfer of the so-called Palestinians to Jordan or somewhere else. How ironic that it is the Christian Evangelicals who will tell the truth that Jews fear to say.
Release my comment
my comment got zapped as spam
I became anxious when I read the first few sentences.then,being upset,I checked the bylines & calmed down.This article came from ynet,one of Haaretz’ little brothers.I took a deep breath & began to smile.I checked further & found that the article was written by none other then Eitan Haber,Israel’s great writer of science fiction posing as political analysis.Haber is to political opinion what Paul Krugman,at the N.Y.Times, is to economic analysis.For the right price they will write whatever management tells them to write!
Israel will not give Obozo what he wants because it would be impossible to do,even if Bibi wanted to!The whole Oslo deal is & always was a huge fraud.The PA can’t govern,if given independence they would be eaten up alive by Hamas,Israel & the PA know this.Abbas & the PA are doing a shakedown similar to Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson,they keep a certain amount of pressure on Israel & get rewarded with suitcases of money.Israel tolerates them because they are better then the alternatives.Regardless of what this potz,Eitan,say’s this situation will not be changed anytime soon.To do what Obama (& Eitan?) want would be a disaster for both parties & they both know it!
What will happen to Netanyahu is he may be forced stop all the political double talk & invoke a higher power to fix the situation.He would need to apply that ancient political strategy known as “Tuchas Offen Tish”& get his wife Sara to beat up the skinny bustard Obama And straighten him out!
Israel should stand up to Obama! Being scared of anyone does not provide a solid future. Israel should lay the groundwork with Obama that it will approve the Levy commission report. No planning for leaving the West Bank. A strong Israel will win in the long run. A weak Israel that withdrew from Gaza will got rockets. Leaving anywhere militarily from the West Bank will endanger Gush Dan, Jerusalem, and Ben Gurion.
When Israel starts getting revenues from the gas fields it should stop taking American monies and become more independent. They should tell this to Obama as saying Israel will help in a small way helping the USA with its future debt.
Time for Israeli leadership to stand up and be counted.
Start practicing “NO – NO – NO – NO – NO – NO”. Get use to it.
Remember what your mother and father told you when you asked for something stupid. NO
It’s not hard and it won’t be the end of the world.
The last thing Israel needs is “An acorn community organizing pamphlet distributing anti-Semite pretending to be a Christian for political reasons, who embraces Islam, orchestrated by George Soros & Co and the liberal media “telling you what to do.
Balls up and practice – NO NO NO
Oh really? There are a number of examples where Israel has said “no” to the USA and has come out stronger and more self-sufficient for doing so.
And America does not equal the Obamites. The grass roots support for Israel in America is still intact and Obama will have a fight on his hands if he bullies Israel at the same time he is advancing the destruction of Egypt, Libya and Syria and thrown the Gulf states under the bus as a consequence of his soft approach to allowing Iran nukes.
Obama already has his Nobel Peace Prize – a prize that should be rescinded considering the path of Islamization and violence he has advanced in his years in office.
If worse comes to worse we could always learn to herd goats and sheep?
We could all become vegetarians and consumers of seasonal fruit and berries.
Make do forever with our old clunkers,creating lots of jobs for mechanics.
A national return to the simple life might not be a bad thing. 🙂
Haber fails to consider that there could be alternatives to the American option that would serve us at least as good if not better.
He fails to consider that our technical prowess transcends politics in the real world and that sector should not be injured too much if at all with or without official American support. Business is Business. If there is money to be made there is always a way.
Israel can thank the Arab boycott in the past for stimulating our businesses and Industries forcing socialist Israel to improve our products look for alternative export markets and adjust our methods of doing business in line with the most advanced western economies.
When France denied us weapons we relied on from them, we began to make them ourselves creating one of the leading military Industries in the world. The old saw that when one door closes another opens has always been a truism with Israel.
Many of Israel’s leading Industries like TEVA are multinational immune from sanctions and boycotts.
Israel today is on the cusp of becoming energy independent that makes serious sanctions that can cripple our economy doubtful.
Americas leverage is in the spheres of military procurement, monetary support and veto support at the UN. By changing our military doctrine to the reliance on Nukes not as a hypothetical implied deterrent we can elevate their use as our primary offensive response compensating from degraded superiority in conventional weapons parity. Once Iran goes nuclear more countries in the region sure to follow. There is no reason to keep them hidden in the basement anymore. Israli ICBM’s can deliver a nuclear payload to any point on the globe. A world afraid to confront North Korea, Pakistan and now Iran will not suddenly get a spine with Israel if they believe we are serious like (Crazy MAD).
Israeli doomsters Like Haber fail to realize that All American Presidents are in office for limited terms of max 8 years and what they fail to achieve in the first 4 are not likely to be achieved in the last four. The last 2 years of the second four are essentially Lame duck years. Threat means that they all are perceived correctly to have limited influence and power to exact any policy or change resisted by the objects of that policy. They can be just waited out til a new president is elected.