When Netanyahu Met Obama

Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative”
YnetNews, May 25, 2011

The May 20, 2011 meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama highlighted the unbridgeable gap between the two.

Netanyahu cannot bridge the gap between himself and Obama, as long as the President assumes that the ethnic, religious, tribal and ideological violent power struggles on the Arab Street constitute “a story of self-determination” and “the vanguard of democracy.”

Netanyahu cannot bridge the gap between himself and Obama as long as the President’s world view is heavily influenced/shaped by his senior advisors: Valery Jarrett, who is the favorite of Muslim organizations in the US, Ambassador Susan Rice, who considers Israel part of the exploiting Western World and the Palestinians part of the exploited Third Word and Samantha Power, who is one of Israel’s harshest critics in the US. In addition, Obama considers Prof. Rashid Khalidi, who was a key PLO spokesman in the US, a luminary on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Netanyahu cannot bridge the gap between himself and Obama, as long as the President’s underlying assumption is that the Palestinian issue is the root cause of Middle East turbulence, the core cause of anti-US Islamic terrorism and the crown jewel of Arab policy-making. Obama ignores the fact that recent intra-Arab turmoil – as was the case with the intra-Arab turmoil of the last 1,400 years – has been totally independent of the Palestinian issue, of the Arab-Israeli conflict, of Israel’s policies or of Israel’s existence. In fact, the recent turmoil has clarified the secondary/marginal role played by the Palestinian issue in shaping Middle East developments in general, and Arab priorities in particular.

Netanyahu cannot bridge the gap between himself and Obama, as long as the President assumes that Israel can be secure – in the most violent and volatile region of the world – within the 1967 borders. Such borders would rob the Jewish State of its Cradle of History and would reduce its waistline to 9-15 miles (over-towered by the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria): the distance between JFK and LaGuardia airports, between the Kennedy Center and RFK Stadium, between Columbia University and Wall Street and the length of DFW airport. How can the gap be bridged when Obama does not realize the correlation between Middle East instability, uncertainty, volatility and violence on one hand, and security requirements on the other hand?! Recent seismic developments in Arab countries have intensified Israel’s security requirements, dramatically enhancing the strategic value of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria.

How can the gap be bridged when Obama considers the 1967 Lines, and not hate-education in Abu Mazen’s schools, media and mosques, the crux of the conflict?

Was Netanyahu’s criticizm of Obama’s focus on the 1967 Lines an over-reaction?

Presidents Reagan and Bush attempted to impose territorial concessions on Prime Minister Shamir. Shamir defied the pressure, expanded Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, was severely criticized, but engineered unprecedented bilateral strategic cooperation. President Nixon presented Prime Minister Golda Meir with the “Rogers Plan,” calling for a total withdrawal. Golda reacted by constructing four new Jerusalem neighborhoods, beyond the Green Line (150,000 residents). President Johnson pressured Prime Minister Eshkol against building in East Jerusalem and reuniting Jerusalem. Eshkol built beyond the Green Line and reunited the Capital of the Jewish People. The US pressured Prime Minister Ben Gurion not to declare independence, to end “occupation” in the Negev, to absorb Palestinian refugees and accept the internationalization of the whole of Jerusalem. Ben Gurion defied all demands.

The current disagreements between Netanyahu and Obama center on the Palestinian issue, which is not a major component of US-Israel relations; instead, that relationship is based on shared values, joint interests and mutual threats, which have been intensified by the intra-Arab upheaval. This upheaval underlines Israel as the only stable, credible, reliable, capable, democratic and unconditional ally of the US.

Obama’s attitude toward the Jewish State represents a minority within the Democratic Party, among all Americans and in Congress – the most authentic representative of the American people – which has supported the idea of a Jewish State since the 18th century. Congress possesses the power to initiate policies and to suspend, amend or turn around presidential policies.

Netanyahu should focus on enhanced US-Israel strategic cooperation, in the face of turbulent Middle East reality, the mounting threats to US interests, the absence of any reliable/capable Arab ally, the intensified Iranian threat, the increased Russian and Chinese profile in the Middle East and the concerns about a post-US-withdrawal eruption of an Iraqi volcano. He should propose to Congress and to the President specific bilateral projects, which expand US and Israel employment and export, while upgrading US and Israeli national security, as well as the development of energy alternatives, water technologies and homeland security.

Such projects would bolster the unique nature of US-Israel relations: A two way mutually-beneficial street.

May 26, 2011 | 8 Comments »

Leave a Reply

8 Comments / 8 Comments

  1. p.s. Heck, I didn’t even bring up the non-stop insults, the pressure, the obssession with Settlements and where a Jew lived on their own land, even more so than his concern – or lack of – with the plight of those like Neda Soltan, shot down in the streets of Tehran by those whom he wishes to appease. As for his “strong sanctions” against Iran – “toig in draeyd” – the time is coming, very soon, when Israel may have to go it alone to take out the Iran nuke sites – because Obama is more concerned with bombing the laughable Gaddafi in a truly ILLEGAL War than in dealing with real threats to World Peace and Human Rights like Iran and Syria – probably even more so because he can use them against Israel.

    Yes, no doubt – a sociopathetic liar and an Anti-Semite.

  2. Obama is a product of his environment. A mother who was a skanky, selfish, “Mandingo” chasing quasi-Marxist ‘ho, probably with hangups about her name (Stanley) and her Mid-Western environment which represents both the best – and the worst – of America. In her case the worst because she was the selfish brat daughter of dysfunctional Bunkerite parents. She gravitated towards Drunks and Marxists – her father was both, though only mildly Marxist, he was more self-indulgent. So when “Mandingo” in the form of the drunk, anti-Imperialist, self-centered Barack Obama Senior came along, she was smitten. Not someone with mainstream American values, she was. Even when B.O. Sr., proved to be too much of a drunk and skirt chaser, she hopped along to Indonesia and picked up another Moslem of Lefty views. Didn’t stay with him, either but by then she was getting big and fat too. Not the pretty, if pretty vacant Mid-West girl she was – but still plenty selfish…leaving a kid to be raised by others, a kid who was already developing resentments towards the country he supposedly was born in.

    We could debate the issue of Obama being an anti-Semite all day long, but here’s my take. He is a classic Anti-Semite.

    No one, I repeat, no one makes those kinds of associations nor carries on policies clearly detrimental to the security of Israel without being one. Take a look at his friends and advisers – Power, Malley, Jarrett, Said, Khalidi, Brezinzski, McPeak, Charles Freeman, Ayers, the list goes on and on – and yes, Uncle Jeremiah Wright, whom were he White would correctly be described as someone right in line with David Duke (hey, any of you Liberal Jews want to vote for Duke? – well, you did). Even the RINOS Jim Jones and Bob Gates comes from the Bush I-Baker-Scowcroft wing of the Republican Party, pretty much discredited these days but also a throwback to the anti-Israel policies of Dulles.

    As for the “Jews” Obama brought on board. Again, not a single one with the possible exception of the questionable Dennis Ross has shown any true concern for Israel’s security needs nor has been a strong advocate for Israel. They’ve by and large adopted Obama’s pro-Palestinian policies to a man – even the Dan Shapiro who will be the next (and worse since Danny Kurtzer – also an Obama adviser)Ambassador of Israel. All of them – Emanuel, Axelrod, Alan Solow, Lee Rosenberg, Penny Pritzker, are self-indulgent, get rich Chi-Town Liberals more interested in where the next thousand comes from. They have no visceral ties to Israel. Mara Rudman, Rosa Brooks, Hannah Rosenberg, all Obama appointees with radical ties and longtime Israel animus. Again – not one advocating non-“Auschwitz Borders” or getting tough with Palestinians who have already gotten 1.3 Billion courtesy of Obama and Clinton over the past two years.

    Sorry, if you’re Jewish and you voted for Obama, you might as well have voted for Hitler. Harsh, well, tell that to any German Jew surviving from 1932, 1933 who didn’t think Adolf was a threat or made excuses for him too.

  3. I think the Messiah is an antisemite. He wouldn’t associate with hardcore antisemites if he didn’t agree with them and/or feel comfortable with them. Thatthe Messiah does not seem like an antisemite to people, he is 50% white, 46.75% Arab, and 6.25% black. As someone schooled in Islamic thought in his formative years as a child, the Messiah knows how to hide an emnity toward people. As for the Arabs, the Arabs of Hebron (Chevron) hid their hatred of Jews for years and years until they decided to massacre them in 1929. What a Muslim/Arab appears to be like may not actually what he is really like.

    That any Jew would vote for this creep, religious or secular, should be an occasion of deep shame for them. The religious Jews probably knew better than to vote for an Islamo Marxist, but the secular Jews, whose heart bleeds for the black person, probably did not know what this part Arab was and did not care. I would say Jews (masinly secular) voting for the Messiah would be like Jews voting for Hitler. But such a comparison between the Messiah and Hitler is unfair. Hitler would not have needed a teleprompter for his every utterance and Hitler had C in C ability (read Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism” on that one) while the Messiah doesn’t have any.

  5. Ed, you said,

    [Obama] hates Jews because they stand in his way to being loved by Muslims

    I think you nailed it there, Ed. If Obama is antisemitic, it is the antisemitism of the politically self-advancing opportunist. That said,

    Jomit,

    I agree with your analysis. There seems to be a “Washington Syndrome” akin to the “Jerusalem Syndrome”, wherein every US President, sooner or later, thinks he’s the Messiah — or at least Elijah. Every US leader, since the fall of Hitler, meddled in the region; but two Presidents were so distracted by American wars that they couldn’t meddle much: Truman was preoccupied in Berlin and Korea, and L. B. Johnson was preoccupied in Vietnam. Those two administrations, not coincidentally, represented the eras of Israel’s greatest expansion. Maybe “THE ONE” awards will be handed out on inauguration day, along with the Nobel Peace Prize, to every incoming US President as a matter of course. It’s heady stuff.

    By the way, Netanyahu’s ratings among Israelis have soared since he butted heads with Obama.

  6. Bland, I agree with your assessment with one exception. You even called it right on Clinton and, probably, McCain. I do believe that you missed it on anti-semitism. He hates Jews because they stand in his way to being loved by Muslims.

  7. He may not be an anti semite. Who knows truly what is in a man’s heart. He has surrounded himself with anti semites.
    He is schooled, guided, and consulted by anti semites. I can say that he has no heart for Jews, and certainly none
    for Israel. He has attempted to become the muslim nations/governments friend. He has failed. He has constantly
    underestimated the strength and fortitude of Israel. He is cocky enough that he wants desperately to be THE ONE.
    The one who finally settled the mideast crisis. He will push Israel any way he can because he knows that he cannot
    push the islamists….so to make a deal, it is Israel that has to move (in his mind). He has shown this in almost
    every single action with the exception of his fauning speeches in front of AIPAC. Then he says what the Jews want to
    hear. He is dangerous because of his immense power, the fact that Israel needs him to nix problems in the UN security
    council, and his driving desire to “make this happen”. Israel is only a tool to him that he can use to go down in the
    history books as THE ONE.

  8. I’m getting tired of all the psychoanalyzing of Obama that I see on the web. Let me try to sum it all up, so it can be quietly put in the trash:

    1. Obama is multiracial, and has an international, interracial background of White, Black and East Asian friends, classmates and associates. He was raised in the Conterminous US, in multi-ethnic Hawaii and in Indonesia. If I am to believe some of his detractors, he also spent time in Pakistan. It is unreasonable, to expect Barack Obama to have a parochial outlook on life, which is the typical outlook of the generic “Antisemites” of the past.

    2. Obama appears to be of average intelligence, being able to process information as well as the next person. He also has a particular talent for reading teleprompters.

    3. Obama spent virtually his entire adult life in close association with racists, radicals and intellectuals who have a worldview that corresponds to the colonial situation in 1946. They scratch his back emotionally, and he scratches theirs in return.

    4. Obama is politically ambitious, and apparently religiously opportunistic.

    I don’t read any visceral “antisemitism” into any of the above. Neither can I excuse his actions by ascribing them to incompetence. “Selfish” and “Evil” are probably good descriptors. “Liberal Democrat” is probably the best; though Jews tend to be very myopic with this term, as it is actually the religion of the majority of them. In my opinion, ANY Democratic candidate, including Hillary Clinton, would have pursued a policy very similar to Obama’s; and in fact, so would the Republican, John McCain. The rhetoric would have been slightly different, but the results the same.

    SUMMATION: Obama is a very normal Blue State politician, and a typical lackey of the ruling class. He is not an antisemite, nor a psychopath.