Obama & Israel - troubling signs on the horizon - Obama's intentions questioned

The Wages of Moral Equivalence [Victor Davis Hanson]


The Obama outreach to Syria, the video sent to Iran, the failed Freeman appointment, the $1 billion to Hamas, the anti-Israeli figures in Obama's past (cf. the Wright outbursts, Khalidi, etc.), and the Al Arabiya interview all point to an "adjustment" in U.S. policy toward Israel — made easier by the victory of the rightist Netanyahu.

We are entering a new phase in which, for the first time since Jimmy Carter, an American administration really believes that land concessions back to 1967 will ipso facto ensure new mentalities that are not like those in 1967, when the Arab world on three occasions had gone to war to destroy the Jewish state within its 1947 borders.

If the Obama plan is successful, we would see Israel back to about the 1947-sized state, public professions of eternal peace — and then triumphalism from non-democratic players in the radical Islamic world to the effect that first Sinai, then Lebanon, then Gaza, then the West Bank, capped off with Jerusalem — and, for the next generation, the final task of the end of Israel itself.

Once U.S. foreign policy is based on moral equivalence — that a Western democratic state is about the same as an undemocratic, radical authoritarian entity that embraces terrorism as a tool of state policy — then anything is possible, from calling for Israeli nuclear disarmament as part of an Iranian deal, to pretending that a Hamas ten-year truce is something other than a decade of chest-thumping before the final assault.

Given the fact that the vast majority of American Jews voted for Obama — despite clear indications that he would embrace radical changes in U.S. policy toward Israel — the politics of what is to come will be as fascinating as they will be tragic.

And given the Obama method of grandly professing the opposite of the reality that will soon follow (most ethical administration nominees in history lead to Geithner, Richardson, Daschle, Solis, etc.; no desire to interfere in the private sector means near nationalization of the banking, car, and soon health-care industries; commitment to public campaign financing equals first candidate to reject it in the general election; strong desire for fiscal sobriety translates into a $1.7 trillion annual deficit; Bush shredding the Constitution means adoption of Bush's wiretaps, email intercepts, Predator attacks, Patriot Act, Iraq plan, renditions, etc., and on and on), the tell-tale sign of the final U.S. break with Israel will be a dramatic Obama hope-and-change declaration that "our historic commitment to Israel will remain unchanged."

When we hear that, we know exactly what follows . . .


The Breakdown of the 'Special Relationship'
Middle East | Fri, May 8, 2009 at 9:29:29 am PDT

No surprise from me over this news; during the campaign, Barack Obama’s ties to numerous radical Palestinians and leftists made it very clear that this was in the cards if he were elected: Jerusalem worried over breakdown of U.S.-Israel cooperation under Obama.

Obama’s foreign policy plan seems to be to reach out diplomatically to America’s worst enemies, and shun America’s best friends.

Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama’s entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel’s new government.

Senior White House officials told their Israeli counterparts that Obama will demand Netanyahu completely suspend construction in the settlements, the officials said. “Obama’s people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to,” the officials said.

In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don’t consult with them or coordinate their statements in advance. This has caused several coordination “malfunctions” between the two states in the past two months, they said.

Also see:
Mere Rhetoric: Israeli Officials: Hey, It’s Almost As If Obama’s Trying To Detonate The US-Israeli Relationship

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33607_The_Breakdown_of_the_Special_Relationship


Israeli Officials: Hey, It's Almost As If Obama's Trying To Detonate The US-Israeli Relationship

My first inclination was to go with something like "you know what's really weird? That the guy who smeared 'pro-Likud approaches to Israel' during his campaign would be having problems with a Likud Prime Minister." But whatever. This was so inevitable that during the election I was already trying to guess the actual headlines and ledes that would be used to describe the implosion of the US-Israeli alliance.

Just one quote from a post from last September, then I'll give you the blockquote from this morning's inevitable news:

Of course the Obama White House will degrade US-Israeli ties. That's what his foreign policy team thinks needs to be done to promote American interests. It will be a White House that changes US priorities. It will be friendlier with Hamas and friendlier with Syria and friendlier with radical Muslim countries and friendlier with Hezbollah - all at the expense of Israel. Following the personal declarations of Obama, it will obviously be friendlier with Iran. And it will be an administration institutionally predisposed to blame Israel for Middle East instability across the board.
Of course that's how it will play out. That's what distinguishes liberal foreign policy from conservative foreign policy. Those are the policies that Obama is running on. Those are the policies that his advisers discuss at length in their academic work.


And so, almost as if Obama's statements as a candidate could have been used to predict his policies as President:

Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama's entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel's new government... This has caused several coordination "malfunctions" between the two states in the past two months, they said.
The last incident was the statement of Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty... [Israel] heard it first from the media... The American policy shift toward Syria and opening direct talks with Damascus followed minimal coordination with Israel... [On] Dennis Ross' trip to the Gulf states a few days ago for talks on Iran... Ross did not pass through Israel on his way to the Gulf or back...

The new administration no longer seems to see Israel as a "special" or "extraordinary" state in the Middle East, with which the U.S. must maintain a different dialogue than with other states.


That's a little too generous. The new administration sees Israel as a particularly problematic state in the Middle East, responsible for the length and breadth of Middle East instability. This was their position before the election and it's been their positions since they got into office. So it's not exactly a shock that they're pressuring Israel while ineffectively sucking up to Syria.

The only question left is how this will end up being Israel's fault. If Israel attacks Iran, then it'll be that. The "Israeli self-defense will undermine Obama's diplomacy" meme has already been well-seeded by Gates and Biden, by Brzezinski, and - on the same day, almost as if there was a coordinated campaign - by the NYT and the Washington Post.

If Israel doesn't attack Iran, then it'll be either anti-Hamas efforts or Syria or Israel's nuclear deterrent. All three have already been fed to reporters as "sources of tension" by the Iran Lobby, part of their ongoing drip drip drip erosion of Israel's standing in DC.

It won't be settlements - too blase. The whole point is to give Netanyahu a demand that he can't possibly meet, so that his subsequent refusal can be used as a pretext for degrading ties.


http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11275580.html