On the eve of Lieberman visit, polls show that American and Israeli views continue to diverge
Avigdor Lieberman arrived today in the US today for his first visit as Foreign Minister. He is scheduled to cover all the bases over the next two days meeting with Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones, Joe Biden and leaders in Congress.
We've been giving a lot of attention to the recent Israel Project poll which shows American support for Israel dropping like a rock, and Lieberman seems aware of the trend in general. Over on the Peace Now's blog, Ori Nir quotes Lieberman as telling the Knesset's Security and Foreign Affairs Committee that Israel "'cannot continue with a successful foreign policy without changing the way we are perceived' internationally. He lamented: 'We have a fundamental problem: we are not perceived well.'"
Israel's plummeting international support is contrasted to a new poll which shows rising Israeli support for the agenda Netanyahu laid out on Sunday. Ha'aretz reports:
Public support for Netanyahu's speech is sky-high, even though Israelis do not have illusions about the prime minister's motives, which they generally attribute to American pressure. But it turns out that Israelis prefer a prime minister who does the right thing even if he does it for the wrong reasons. And most of the public thinks the right thing is the combination found in Netanyahu's address: right-wing rhetoric mixed with the desire for peace, an undivided Jerusalem, opposition to the return of Palestinian refugees, a demand for defensible borders, and the words that made the big headline - a demilitarized Palestinian state.
The article adds, "The public liked the speech not just because it was based on the Israeli consensus, but also because of its tone: moderate with a desire for peace and casting the blame for a lack of peace on the Arabs."
Increasingly the Israeli consensus and US consensus are at odds. It is also easy to imagine that Lieberman's visit will highlight the difference in Israeli tone as well. This will be the Obama administration's first chance to offer a substantive response to Netanyahu's policy speech and engage with Avigdor Lieberman, himself a settler. Hopefully they recognize that the pressure they are exerting is working - and that it's not enough.
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Read more at Mondoweiss.
Well, Lieberman has arrived... and we're getting lots of Hillary smiling away as TPM's frontpage tells us:
Lieberman: "...No Intention Of Changing 'Demographic Balance In Judea And Samaria'..."
Oki doki... meanwhile, the EU comes in first and seems to have found some backbone:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093086.html
Over to you Obama?
June 17, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The EU-Israel Association Agreement has not been upgraded because Israel is in gross breach of its obligations of the specific provisions of that agreement that deal with human rights.
The EU should have abrogated the agreement a long time ago but the European Parliament took the position that it could exert more pressure on Israel by having it as an associate rather than otherwise.
That is not my view which is that Israel should not continue to receive the benefits of unrestricted trade with the EU when it treats its undertakings, its contractual obligations and the EU itself, with such contempt.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement should be suspended now.
June 17, 2009 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...The EU-Israel Association Agreement should be suspended now..."
I wish.
June 17, 2009 7:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re Lieberman's" "We have a fundamental problem: we are not perceived well."
I would suggest that a more fundamental problem for Likudniks is the over-reliance they have had on a pressured and co-opted US Congress that has long allowed them to willingly and knowingly IGNORE the fact that for many years (but especially since the brutalities committed under Netanyahu's first PM-ship and also that of Sharon) Israel, particularly its hardline and pro-settler minority, have not been "perceived well" internationally.
The key, it seems to me, will be whether the Obama Administration with the help of Peace Now and such groups can finally exert some counter-pressure on the US Congress. This is the pivot on which the future of Israeli government intransigence on settlements and a Palestinian state will (or will not) turn.
June 17, 2009 9:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks to Ynetnews, we know that Lieberman's entourage includes his nasty wingman, former Israeli ambassador Danny Ayalon and a slew of Israelis who will be making another case altogether:
The dialogue includes Israeli security officials from the Mossad, the Israel Defense Forces, and Israel's atomic energy agency.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3733107,00.html
I wonder if they will be discussing the Mossad chief Meir Dagan's recent revelation that the latest estimate that Iran-wil-have-teh-BOMB has been pushed back to 2014?
Hey, only one more year to go to match up with the CIA estimate of 2015.
June 17, 2009 9:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it's all you Arabs' fault. No, none of you Palestinians can return or get compensation despite the ethnic cleansing. Yup, we want almost all your water. And, actually, a good chunk of your land that's worth anything. That's right, we want all of Jerusalem and everything east. And there's no way we can stop expanding settlements on your land. But don't worry about so many of us over there; remember we've still got so many of yours over here. Oh, and we want defensible borders. And you won't enjoy any of the rights of a sovreign state. Mmmm. There might be some things I missed. So, then we might negotiate with you {but we'll make sure to drag it out and continue by any means our 40-year -- at least -- policy of undermining any political stability or unity within your territory while continuing to annex or destroy your property).
What a reasonable people. I think I'll sit down with them.
June 18, 2009 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
We welcome the radical extremist Avigdor Lieberman, an illegal occupier of Palestinian territory, as a head of state, a foreign minister, with flowers, smiles and champaign. We will patiently listen and consider his twisted ideology (however politically couched in terms of "progress and solutions").
But we cannot even talk to the duly elected officials of the Palestinians, most in prison or dead, or even those still standing such as Haniya. Well, after all, they're terrists. You know, they're Islamofascist, somehow Al Qaeda affiliated Ahmahdinijad puppet, Praise-Allah suicide-bombing, Sharia Law imposing, rape-victim and other honor killing, head-chopping terrists. Plain and simple, right?
Okay, maybe they're not all that bad, but that won't openly recognize Israel as a fundamental Jewish state. That's pretty damn evil.
June 18, 2009 2:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's interesting. So it's official then -- there is an actual Jewish caucus? If so, just like the Progressive and Blue Dog caucus do we get to know who belongs to that caucus and what their agenda is?
I knew about the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus headed by Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) who works with their "sister caucus" the The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC) [whose members stretch across all parties] in Israel, but for this specific caucus to have a 'special' meeting with Avigdor Lieberman -- is there a way to find out more about this meeting?
June 18, 2009 8:51 AM | Reply | Permalink