Israel is heading for what could be its
most severe confrontation with the United States, despite reassuring
words from the Obama administration to the contrary.
President Obama’s policies have led to a
US retreat at all levels in the global arena, particularly in the
Middle East where his disastrous policy of “engaging” with rogue states
coincided with alienating, even abandoning, traditional US allies like
Egypt and Saudi Arabia. His administration has also totally failed to
mitigate the rampant bloodshed with hundreds of civilians being killed
daily in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world.
However, despite all evidence to the
contrary, the administration persists in its mantra that the principal
problem in the Middle East is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and
displays a determination to impose a settlement on Israelis and
Palestinians. It does so– even setting aside the problem of Hamas –
despite the fact that the undemocratic PA President Abbas whose term
expired years ago, is neither willing nor has the authority to make any
meaningful concessions to Israel.
The US chooses to disregard to the
extreme intransigency of the Palestinians and the massive ongoing
incitement by the Palestinian Authority against Israel and continues to
pressure the Israelis, their only regional democratic ally, to make
additional unilateral concessions, many of which have long-term negative
security implications for the future viability of the Jewish state.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry,
presents himself as a “friend” of Israel. Yet his offensive off the cuff
remarks not only depict him as somewhat of a buffoon, but demonstrates
that he now openly sides against Israel in the confrontation with the
Palestinians.
He utterly failed to act as an honest
broker in his November 6 joint interview with Israel’s Channel 2 News
and PA TV, when he targeted Israel for criticism and failed to even
relate to Palestinian intransigency. He provocatively asked “whether it
[Israel] wanted a third intifada” which he declared would eventuate if
the talks failed. He warned that the Palestinians would “wind up with a
leadership committed to violence”. Following a meeting in Bethlehem with
President Abbas, brushing aside the venomous incitement to hatred
manifested daily by the PA, Kerry stated unequivocally that “President
Abbas is 100% committed to these talks”.
He reiterated that the US considers
construction in settlements, including Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem
to be “illegitimate”, and went so far as to state that Israel was
sending “a message that perhaps you are not really serious.”
He never even referred to the PA demand
that Palestinian refugees and their 5 million descendants be given the
right of return to Israel. He refused to confront the Palestinian
leadership over their refusal to reconcile themselves with the reality
of Israel as sovereign Jewish entity.
There have been hints, subsequently
denied, that if progress was not achieved by 2014, the US would propose
bridging proposals – an ominous signal to Israel. Kerry also threatened
that if Israel could not find an accommodation, the US would not be able
to deter the rest of the world from imposing real sanctions against
Israel. Such remarks, effectively guarantee Palestinian intransigence by
declaring that after the talks collapse, the world will in any event
seek to impose a solution on Israel and shall not blame the Palestinians
for once again reverting to terrorism. And this is following Israel’s
capitulation to intense American pressure resulting in the outrageous
release of Palestinian mass murderers who were subsequently glorified by
the Palestinians as heroes.
These statements by Kerry parallel other
negative vibes from the US: Obama’s failure to condemn Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan’s provocative anti-Semitic remarks and the repudiation
of his commitment to set aside the confrontation with Israel after
Netanyahu had been pressured to apologize to him; the US effort to
divert attention from its cyber-attacks on the French government’s
communications network by hinting that the Israeli Mossad were to blame;
and, most damaging of all, despite deliberate Israeli silence over the
issue, the formal US announcement that Israel was responsible for
bombing the Syrian military base in which missiles en route to Hezbollah
were located. That is not how one treats an ally.
Over the past few months, there has been
immense pressure directed at Israel and American Jews to ease up on
Iran. Although accused of seeking to sabotage American diplomacy with
the “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani, Netanyahu has never challenged
the role of diplomacy. He merely reminded the Americans of the proven
duplicity of the Iranians and Rouhani himself as he engages in
protracted negotiations whilst proceeding to advance their nuclear
status.
On the basis of Obama’s recent track
record, Israelis were increasingly skeptical as to the fulfillment of
his repeated commitment to employ military force if necessary to prevent
the Iranians from becoming a nuclear power.
These concerns were confirmed when,
despite repeated assurances by Kerry that “no deal is better than a bad
deal”, the US and the Europeans (other than France) demonstrated a
willingness despite all evidence to the contrary to ease the sanctions
on the Iranians without receiving anything tangible in return. Clearly,
the US Administration lied when it promised to brief Israelis in advance
of any deal, not to surprise them and gave repeated reassurances that
short of an agreement by the Iranians to end their nuclear objectives,
no partial deal was contemplated.
A shocked and distraught Netanyahu
publicly admonished Kerry for making a “monumental mistake”, accusing
him of providing the Iranians with “the deal of the century” and “in no
way reducing their nuclear enrichment capability. Netanyahu stated that
under such circumstances, Israel did not consider itself bound by any
agreement between Teheran and the six world powers and “will do
everything it considers necessary to defend itself and the security of
its people”. There is of course the outside possibility that by the time
the talks resume next week, Netanyahu’s warnings are heeded and a
Munich like capitulation is averted. But we should be under no
illusions.
The next three months will be seriously
challenging for Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu will need to marshal
all his resources and seek to salvage what he can of the likely
capitulation to the Iranian mullahs in a deal which in no way guarantees
that that the centrifuges will not soon again resume spinning.
In addition, Israel must resist American
pressures to make further concessions to the Palestinians which may
well have devastating repercussions our future security.
To confront these threats, it is
imperative that the Prime Minister devises a strategic plan, engaging
the broadest possible coalition providing a united front and work
closely with the American Jewish community and other pro-Israel groups
to orchestrate a major campaign to enlighten the American public and
seek congressional support to rein in the appeasers.
For American Jews, this will be a real
test of their commitment to the security of the Jewish state. There have
been conflicting reports that leading Jewish organizations and
representatives of the administration had agreed to defer for two months
efforts to intensify sanctions on Iran, but this was adamantly denied
by AIPAC and AJC spokesmen.
Regrettably, American Jews committed to
the security of the Jewish state appear to be heading towards a direct
confrontation with an administration willing to diplomatically abandon
Israel and appease the most lethal global terrorist state. ADL head Abe
Foxman predicted that Kerry’s “outrageous behavior” and his “chutzpa” of
lecturing Israel about peace would unite the American Jewish community.
The question is will they display the courage to stand up and be
counted?
The writer may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.comThis column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Article printed from Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem: http://wordfromjerusalem.com
URL to article: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4882
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