Obama Administration Should Defer to Israel’s Expertise
I just returned from the AIPAC policy conference. It was a well-organized, professional event, spanning over three days. It was wonderful to see how AIPAC continues to grow and to feel the sense of global support for Israel which fills the air with a steady buzz. Speakers reinforced the importance of the American-Israel relationship and were greeted with applause and standing ovations.
Israel’s security was clearly of concern to all who spoke, with Iran’s nuclear aspirations being first and foremost on everyone’s minds.
The halls were filled, the mission to avert an Iranian imposed nuclear catastrophe was clear, and the love for Israel was palpable. Yet I left Washington with a heavy heart.
With two newly elected leaders in Israel and the U.S., dynamics are changing. It became clear that the Obama administration is about to begin pressuring Israel to take immediate steps toward the two-state solution. Senator Dianne Feinstein encouraged the large delegation of California voters to help push in this direction. She said, “Talk about it in your synagogues, your communities. Talk about the two-state solution in Israel.”
She noted that until now, there were “excuses” for why Israel couldn’t move forward. First, she said, Arafat was a problem. Then there were other reasons. There must be no other reasons, she said. The time is now. She was clear that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank as soon as possible. She was not the only elected official who optimistically and urgently promoted this policy.
Each time I heard it, I worried. I did not understand how these people, who seem genuinely concerned about Israel’s security, could possibly believe that the situation on the ground indicates it is time for such a dramatic move.
We have seen this movie before. Doesn’t this administration remember? First it was Lebanon. Arafat formed a mini-state in southern Lebanon and carried out cross-border terrorism in northern Israel. Israel finally retaliated, sending in tanks and ousting the PLO. In May 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew from its small security zone in Lebanon. The Palestinians viewed the withdrawal as a sign of weakness and celebrated. Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, claimed victory over Israel and now has thousands of rockets threatening northern Israel.
There already is a two-state solution. Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan
One is left to ask the good (ahem) Senator; What has the PLO done to advance the cause of peace?
Until there is a good answer to that question any further “accomodation” by Isreal is just suicide.
As long as the muslims refuse to recognize Israel there will be no peace and no “solution” will change that. The two state solution is foolhardy. And forget the One ever realizing the truth and supporting Israel. Netanyahu needs to realize that as far as official US government policy goes, Israel is on her own for now.
American politicians have always possessed the privilege of sending the children of less powerful families to die in wars; and to oversee the deaths of Israeli cafe-goers to support a pet “two state” theory. Is it too much to ask Dianne Feinstein to choose her five favorite family members and place around sensitive spots on the Israeli borders with Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank? Would she get in then the way Barak finally got it in 2000? My daughter is approaching two. She can say, “water”. With coaching, she could say “two state solution”. But, all logic, sense, history, proportionality, weight stop there. So it is with Dianne Feinstein. I could explain the tragedy of the forced Israeli withdrawal to my daughter. She would point to the Wiggles dvd box for relief. I could try the same thing with Dianne Feinstein: the concessions demanded now were given then; the good will imputed to Hamas is now transferred to the PA; the missile-launching opportunities are the same; the impossibility of self-defense that would meet the standards of an Israeli/Jewish-hating world. I wonder which Wiggles video is her favorite.
Sure! Israel’s going to let this BOY try to do a mans job; Like Israel’s as dumb as half of America is. They know what survival is about. This boy doesn’t have a clue.
“Yet I left Washington with a heavy heart.”
This is an entirely rational response. Many of these people who attended this conference may have the best intentions—but so what? They often don’t have their heads on straight. Bill Clinton’s administration, for instance, meant well. I have no doubt about it. Nonetheless, it advocated naive policies which resulted in the murders of countless Israelis. It matters little if your heart is in the right place if your brains are scrambled.
It is lovely that some folks verbalized support for Israel, but actions speak louder than words. At heart is the issue of why people voted for a President with a history of appeasing and accommodating anti-Semites.
Before Nazism took centre stage in Europe, it was the secularization of Germany (arguably the most liberal country in the world at the time) that seduced gentiles and Jews alike. The big-government nanny state is the enemy. Remember Hitler was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and not the International German Free Market Capitalists’ Party people.
Why would Obama want to defer to Israel? This would involve common sense, respect, & some kind of leadership. Obama seems to welcome Israel’s destruction in trying to appease the dictators around Israel. Isn’t that special?
I think the WH is setting them up for something. We know the palestinians won’t go for anything less than the destruction of Israel yet our administration is acting as though Israel won’t budge. Israel is already on board for a two state solution. The WH also wants them to come clean about their nukes. We’ve heard this kind of stuff alot lately. Pay close attention to this.
Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein are not so subtly warning Israel that it must adopt appeasement policies. Both Democrats and “moderate” Republicans subconsciously, if not even consciously, perceive the Israelis as victimizers of the generally darker skin Palestinians. Cultural elites like Stephen Spielberg might be truly worried about a future Holocaust. Nonetheless, they are primarily guilt tripped white people—and the Palestinian radicals are masters at cynically manipulating them.
A misguided Senator Feinstein (D) from CA should volunteer to abandon her palatial estate so that she can help guard the indefensible Israeli border she’s demanding.
Seems to me that the liberal approach to handling the “hate” speech coming from Israel’s enemies is to accuse, try and convict them of “hate” speech, then send them to anger management classes, then put them to work doing community service. The PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran are all guilty and should be condemned by the World Court, the UN and the USA before Israel is asked to do anything. These are the rules the libs play by, let’s make them stick to them. Anything less is not just, and would surely be hypocritical.
Otherwise, I support Israel’s right to self defense. Period.
I suggest you all start reading Caroline Glicks commentary in the Jerusalem Post. Caroline sums up things nicely from the eastern end of the Med. sea.
Israel will not commit suicide, it is unable and unwilling to transfer 500,000 people back across a “green Line” which is no more than an armistice line and not an agreed international border as Obama and the Global anti Israel/anti Jew narrative would have you believe.
Israel is not about to evacuate areas like Gush Etzion or the Jewish Quarter of the old city, or Har Homa, Gilo, Ramot, Givaat Zeev (all of these areas are considered “Arab East Jerusalem” according to Obama and the anti Israel/Jew Narrative, which were Jewish owned and occupied before the state in 1948 and before the Jordanian Legions under the leadership of British Officers conquered these areas from the Jews .
Nor is Israel about to put these areas under an Arab dominated and anti Israel UN administration as Obama intends.
My wifes uncle fell along with 100s of others {Men women and Children)at the age of 17 defending Kfar Etzion (now considered Occupied Palestine and Occupied by Jews) from the Jordanian legions. Did my wifes uncle not exist, are his and thousands of graves on Mount Herzl a fabrication or Jewish ploy are the land deeds and archival photos of these villages all faked?
It all comes down to whether Obama promotes the anti Israel/Jew narrative, if he does and this is his point of reference for the “New middle East” he envisions then he will fail and run into an Israeli brick wall. If he persists he will cause massive conflict, which wont serve the USA/World interests and will endanger future US strategic interests.
Israelis by and large treat each US administration seperately. Right now most Israeli Jews unlike their US Jewish counterparts have not swallowed the Obamessiah musical and are waiting and watching. Clinton charmed the Israelis and in return we got Muslim Arab suicide bombers and intifada al aksa, 2nd lebanon war and the war in Gaza. Israelis learn from their mistakes and I submit that they wont embrace another ‘wet dream’ offered up by another green US administration.
This means Obama (USA)is backing himself into a corner and is going to be forced to choose between supporting Democracy and Freedom (Israel)or supporting some of the most Despotic totalitarian regimes in the world (syria, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan et.al.), a defining choice which will also define the future of internal politics within the USA. What Obama is doing when juggling the conflicts of the middle east is playing with stones in a glass house. If democracy and Freedom are not worth supporting in other parts of the world Obamas choice could be to shatter the future of US internal Democracy and freedom.
If I were an American I would be worried about my own future and Democratic freedoms under Obamacism.
Wasn’t it Einstein who gave the definition of insanity as repeating the same experiment over and over again and expecting a different result. You don’t have to be Einstein to realize that a two state solution won’t work at present or ever. It won’t happen until both states have all of the functioning organs of a state. At present Israel is a functioning state. The Palis have no functional organs of state and have clearly demonstrated that the only state that they really want is Israel. It’s just not going to happen no matter how much Senator Feinstein or BO or Rham want it to happen. The Israelis will not commit national suicide no matter how much the rest of the world would want them to.
Here in Israel, where we try and try again, against our better judgment, to make peace with our neighbors,
we find this type of reaction from our potential peace partners!
How do you make any kind of peace with people like this?
Why should we give up anything for them?
US Jewry has sold its soul. They openly (78%) voted for a man with known anti-Israel and anti-Jewish allies. They prefer gun control, gay marriage and abortion rights to Jewish survival. And please mark my words, its not just “Israeli” survival. The only reason any US Jew can walk around with their head held high is because the state of Israel exists. Crush that, and you return to the 1930′s at best, where ‘No Dogs or Jews allowed’ signs were rampant. Not far-fetched, EMES. The Emanuels & Feinsteins & Soros of the world are guaranteeing future rivers of Jewish blood.
“I did not understand how these people, who seem genuinely concerned about Israel’s security, could possibly believe that the situation on the ground indicates it is time for such a dramatic move.”
Obviously, they are not all that genuinely concerned about Israel’s security. If they were honest, they would say, “Israel is a brother, but the taste of oil is sweeter.”
“We have seen this movie before.”
Yes, indeed. In 1937, in Munich, with regard to Czechoslovakia.
America is not a friend. “Countries don’t have friends, countries have interests” (Bismark).
Israel stands alone. It must survive alone. It must learn to say “No.”
We must take off our rose-colored glasses.
Rene’ Paul de la Varre
701 Emory Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Email: fitteryou@gmail.com
Friends, This is a letter I am sending to all government officials, campuses, etc. I am one of the most ardent supporters of the great country of Israel. I am willing to fight for it!
May 13, 2009
Dear__________
This letter addresses one of the great deceptions being promoted by the American Left. Unfortunately, their platforms include many of our esteemed Universities, where students are not taught how to think, but what to think. Note: I am neither Christian nor Jew, but I have worked and lived in Israel, and have traveled extensively throughout the Middle East.
I am fed up of seeing liberal students, professors, media, and certain government officials like Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell attempting to delegitimitze the state of Israel. They complete disregard the history of region, while undermining sixty-one years of unprovoked attacks by Arabs towards a state, simply for being Jewish.
Over 275 University professors have endorsed a national campaign calling for an academic boycott of Israel. This spring, “Israeli Apartheid Week took place, which called for an economic and academic boycott and a move towards divestment from Israel.
For the sake of truth, I encourage you to share the following information with your left winger:
1) Human Rights –
Israel is the only country in the Middle East to honor civil rights, freedom of speech, religion, feminism, and gay rights. Gays can serve openly in the military; in the U.S. we have a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy thanks to former President Clinton. Gay rights is codified in Israeli law, in contrast to Hamas where being gay is a capital offense. The Left remain silent.
With the ’67 liberation of Jerusalem by the brilliant Israeli military, members of all faiths can practice openly without fear of retribution. For the past century Israel is the only area where the Arab Christian population has grown, while in the “West Bank” and Gaza, Christians have been threatened, extorted, and harassed ever since Hamas and the PLO took over. The Left remain silent.
2) Apartheid and “Occupation”
Israel is a country that grants citizenship to people, regardless of religion, Arabs are Israeli citizens, serving in the government, and free to criticize opponents. If that happened in an Arab country the person would be beheaded. Veiled women who show too much cleavage are flogged, and in Saudi Arabia women must get special permission if they wish to leave by themselves. In Gaza, under Hamas, political opponents are executed or tortured. Israel has even rescued black refugees from the Sudan, while the PLO leaders express solidarity with their genocidal government. The righteous Left remains silent.
3) Truth versus Propaganda and disinformation through deception
“Occupation” – Israel occupies nothing. The so-called “territories” have never been exclusively Arab land, nor a sovereign state. “Palestinians” are not a unique set of displaced individuals; they are the same as Arabs in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Even the Koran refers to this area as the land of the Jews.
The area in question only became known as “Palestine” after the Arabs humiliating defeat in 1967 while losing the “West Bank”, Gaza, and Jerusalem. The Left opposed Israeli’s building of a security fence to combat terrorism, yet since it was erected along the Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”) terrorism dropped by 80%.
Partners in Crime: The Left, Hillary Clinton, George Mitchell and the Media.
Israel – not Britain, Jordan, or the U.N. – was the first country to give the “Palestinians” their own sovereign country – Gaza. Instead of electing a government built on achieving peace, they used its human resources to attack Israel, long after Israel had withdrawn. War crimes committed by Hamas created the carnage of Gaza, and now the American taxpayer pay for the damage to the tune of $900 million which in effect supports Hamas.
The last time we gave Arafat and the PLO money, it went into the hands of Arafat and his corrupt cabinet; it went into funding Hamas and Hezbollah as they massed troops, and weapons along the Lebanon, Gaza borders. They did not build schools, roads or hospitals as promised. The Gazans have nothing to show for it but dead women and children.
This Arab-Israeli conflict isn’t about land, it’s about legitimacy. Islamic fascists don’t care about a “Palestinian” state; they want the entire region cleansed of all things Jewish. Incredibly, the American Left is aligned with these martyrs who have no regard for life on earth.
The American Left has made a mockery of the concept of human rights, and will be exposed for the hypocrites that they are.
Those of us, who value life, will continue to fight for Israel, for in the end truth and justice will prevail. Meanwhile, our pro-Israel lobby is taking the across PC America. There is no more room for lies and deception.
Dear Rene,
This is a wonderful letter.
The problem is that when you send it to government officials, campuses, etc. you are sending it to sellouts.
Campuses are all leftist. 100%. A few teachers who are not are hiding it, or else they risk stones thrown into windows and swastikas painted on walls of their houses.
And in Obama administration, all government officials are delegitimizing the state of Israel.
In both cases, values and sincerity have nothing to do with it. So arguing is a waste of time.
There used to be a time when leftist would call eveyone else a sellout (fairly or unfairly). And now leftists themselves are sellouts, even as they play romantic and idealistic revolutionaries.
Leftists have controlled all universities for a long time. And now they are in the government and control the country. Talking sense to them is worse than talking to a wall, because a wall would not call you ugly names or arrest you (not yet the case in the US, but already true in Europe).