There are only two political parties in Israel, really, the party that dreads the loss of Greater Israel, i.e., the party of settlements, and, the party that dreads the isolation of global Israel, i.e., the party of America. Think of the country as paradigms, the first focused on Jerusalem's fire, the second on Tel Aviv's cool. The Likud is mainly in the first party, as are all of Netanyahu's coalition partners, save Labor. But the prime minister supposed he could keep a leg in both, or at least preclude the need for Israelis to choose, by focusing everybody, including American diplomats and generals, on the dread of Iran--also by activating neoconservative allies in the United States to downplay settlement activity in the face of Islamist violence.
Netanyahu's stance, or ploy, finally came unraveled last week, not only because of the dustup with Joe Biden about new construction in East Jerusalem, but because Gen. David Petraeus finally weighed in with a statement of the obvious, that America's long acquiescence in Israel's occupation "was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region." Netanyahu is trying to pretend that the crisis with Washington was precipitated by bad timing. That's a little like saying the announcement of AIG's bonus pool was bad timing. Nobody's really buying it, and with Petreaus in the mix, the neocons can hardly sell it. We have come to a moment of truth that is long overdue. The Israeli media is, gratefully, growing preoccupied with its implications, not the least of which is just how divided the country is, and how its citizens must indeed choose.
REVEALINGLY, BIDEN'S GOOD speech at Tel Aviv University last week spent a good deal of time anticipating (or preempting) Netanyahu on Iran, reassuring Israelis-in-general about their existence-in-general. But this sounded more like a preliminary hymn than the necessary sermon. The university is ground zero of the America party. Biden looked a little surprised when he found that his only strong applause line was an unequivocal condemnation of new Jewish settlements, which would further "prejudice the result of negotiations." This caused Knesset Speaker
Ruby Rivlin, the hack conscience of the settlers party, to issue a condemnation of his own, namely, of
the Tel Aviv University audience.
The point is, there is a culture war in Israel now, and the only way the liberal side of it can mount an offensive is if America keeps the heat on. It is futile to treat Israel as if it were the embodiment of some big Jewish psyche in need of reassurances to trust the world. In fact, Israeli governments refuse to depart from the status quo because a large and hardened minority, perhaps a third of Jewish Israelis, regards peace as an end to the divinely self-enclosed way of life they have established in and around Jerusalem. The squishy, declining, more cosmopolitan and secular majority is unwilling to confront them for the sake of Palestinians, that is, not unless they have to. Israelis have to see that there is something to lose.
NOBODY HERE KNOWS how violently the Israeli right would be prepared to defend the settlement project against the Israeli state itself. To the extent that Israeli politics are merely electoral politics, the fight is clear, however. It is
over swing voters: immigrants from the former Soviet Union and their acculturated children, better educated Mizrahim, traditionalist Jews drawn to orthodoxy but who have traveled the world. In recent years--what with the collapse of Oslo, the suicide bombings, the rise of Ahmadinejad, etc.--these voters have swung sharply toward the settlers. A
recent poll of high school students reveals that over half would deny Arab citizens of Israel the right to vote. To be for peace, you see, is to be naïve, trusting of "the Arabs."
The global party can win back the initiative, but this means giving swing voters something new and more urgent to be not naïve about, something like reliance on Likud, AIPAC, etc., to deliver America. Reports of Clinton dressing down Netanyahu on the phone were just a beginning. Labor's dissident former leader, Amir Peretz, was on Reshet Bet radio this morning sounding charged up for the first time in two years. He told listeners it was time to "grow up." There are rumors that Kadima's Tzipi Livni has sent Netanyhau a message that she'll join the government if he gets rid of Shas and Leiberman, in effect, if he is prepared to try to drag the whole of the Likud to the party of America, even if this means he loses absolute control over the cabinet. This is his moment of truth. If Washington lets up, critics of government policy will slump back into their corner.
THE NEXT TWO weeks may prove critical. Netanyahu is coming to Washington, or is at least scheduled to, to address the AIPAC convention. Meanwhile, Obama's international prestige will be riding on his final push to get healthcare legislation passed. The EU's foreign minister, Catherine Ashton,
has rebuked Israel and strongly backed Clinton's stand over Jerusalem construction. Kadima is waiting for an answer. The Arab League is meeting in Tripoli later this month, and who knows if their 2002 offer of full regional peace with Israel, in exchange for the 1967 borders and a resolution of the refugees issue, will be renewed?
Meanwhile, in Jerualem, plans are proceeding to have Ruby Rivlin rededicate
an ancient synagogue in the old city today. Arab men under 50 are being kept away from the mosques, and everyone is bracing for the closures of the Passover holiday. The anticipated proximity negotiations of George Mitchell have been deferred. There were fresh riots at Birzeit University in Ramallah. There is talk of a temporary general strike. The region, in short, will not be the same a month from now. Even the effort to reimpose the
status quo ante Biden will seem a provocation.
Like all administrations since Ronald Reagan, Obama's will be tempted to have representatives to AIPAC mollify what seems the natural leadership of American Jews,
though AIPAC is not anything of the kind. The temptation must be resisted. Perhaps this was inadvertent, but there is now an expectation across the West Bank, and the Israeli political class, that Washington has, in effect, finally told Israel to stop all settlements, period, even in East Jerusalem. If ever Obama needed the realism and nerves
that Eisenhower had when he told Ben-Gurion to vacate Sinai, this is the time. Peretz told the radio that the government has "dried the brush," so that any match can light a wildfire. Obama's return to business as usual, that is, to the inertia from which only the Israeli right gains, can itself provide the spark.
"Tel Aviv University , Biden looked a little surprised when he found that his only strong applause line was an unequivocal condemnation of new Jewish settlements"
The Americans state department are not Idiots they choose on purpose Tel-Aviv and Especially Tel- Aviv university (In Israel we call it "Bir-Zet"(Arabic name) Univ) and I'm sure they also select the Audience in this Speech - The Left wing nuts from "Shaikh-Munnis" (Or simply Ramat-Aviv)
If Biden will come to my University or any other University (And it's not in the 'West bank') or college (Beside IDC for spoilt children ) he Will not getting any applause maybe the Opposite !
TA univ do not represent Israel as Berkley and code-pink do not represent America
March 15, 2010 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
With manners like that I really can't wait to quit subsidizing your ass.
March 15, 2010 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
More like : Subsidize American arms company !
March 15, 2010 8:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
People getting all hot and bothered about claims to land based on something written in an ancient book. It's all so ridiculous!
March 15, 2010 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you saw me use this argument here ?
March 15, 2010 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, you're not a 'one-state solution' backer of Eretz Israel?
March 15, 2010 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I support the Real 'Palestine' solution = Jordan - 85 % of the Jordanians are the so called "Palestinians" - they should kick out the Minority Bedouin monarchy (Sponsored By the USA ) to Switzerland or USA and let the majority rule !
March 15, 2010 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good, you implement your Nazi ethnic cleansing on the Palestinians, and the Iranians send all Israelis off to Poland; then the region is rid of both sets of barbaric kooks. The civilized faction of each side can move to different parts of New York City, and yell at each other on the subway. Palestine becomes a giant mecca for tourists and pilgrims. Everyone wins, except the thereby deported Israeli and Palestinian terrorists, and MTA passengers.
March 15, 2010 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
After reading your rant :
You are more Nut than An American Brooklyn settler In Hebron!
Nobody talk about ethnic cleansing - Only separation - see the Cyprus model !
March 15, 2010 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Nazis also used euphemisms such as "separation." When an ethnic group is driven by force out of the homes their families have lived in for hundreds of years -and force is usually the only way this can be done- it is ethnic cleansing. When great numbers of innocent civilians are deliberately killed, as in Gaza last year, it is a massacre. When such an ethnic massacre is systematic is indiscriminate and wholesale across the entire group, it is genocide. Don't they teach history anymore in Israel? Or did you just sleep through it?
More Palestinian immigrants are not particularly welcome in Jordan (for somewhat similar reasons to those why Americans don't care for Israeli-kook settlers telling our Congress what to do) but even if they were, there is clearly no great clamour by Palestinians wanting to move to Jordan. Why indeed should they? They have as much of a right to live in Palestine as do Israelis, and the civilized world figured out long ago that there therefore need to be two states, side by side, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians. The only firm objection to this comes from Israeli and Palestinian terrorists who prefer some variant of ethnic cleansing instead. The civilized world is starting to lose patient with these barbaric troublemakers. Finally.
March 16, 2010 5:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Even simpler: Since WWII, population transfer (ethnic cleansing) has been considered a crime against humanity. Why engage the troll on something so basic. It's like arguing rape should be illegal. Why waste the heartbeats.
Besides, every time you engage him, someone wahoos another adult video.
March 16, 2010 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
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January 11, 2011 6:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
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February 21, 2011 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
People are claiming land based on whats been told by their ancestors may seem ridiculous to a few, but there are several people who would love to give up so much for the same land. It's confusing and complicated. Its more like we have to ask when they've been thought or tutored to think with that mindset. But who really knows whats up, can't they just sit on a love couch and smoke a hookah and relax?!
October 14, 2010 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Netanyahu is trying to pretend that the crisis with Washington was precipitated by bad timing. That's a little like saying the announcement of AIG's bonus pool was bad timing. Nobody's really buying it, and with Petreaus in the mix, the neocons can hardly sell it."
Nobody's buying it??? Don't overestimate the intelligence of the American people! CNN International (i.e., overseas) today reports the issue as timing only.
How many Americans still think that Iraq hatched 9/11 (for *several years* it was a majority)?
March 15, 2010 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the detailed update and insightful analysis, Bernard, but I really have trouble seeing that anything very significant is going on here.
1. Has Netanyahu made any policy change on settlements or on appeasing the settlers?
2. Is the Obama Admin. doing anything beyond giving lip service to pressuring Netanyahu?
3. Is there any noticeable move in Congress away from doing whatever AIPAC tells it to do no matter what, and at the drop of a hat?
4. Is there any indication that AIPAC will ever utter the slightest tentative and token criticism of the settlers no matter what they do, unless the Israeli government first denounces them vehemently for months (as they have never ever done)?
5. Are the Palestinians going to be able to stop their terrorists from launching attacks so as to sabotage any incipient peace efforts that might sprout up despite the poisoned earth of 1,2,3 and 4 above?
Deal decisively with AIPAC (an outrageous affront to American democracy, basic human rights, and the 2/3 of Israelis -by your reckoning- that are not maniacal expansionists) and the US Congress can be liberated from allowing settler-fanatics and Palestinian terrorists to hold it hostage, and the peace process can commence in earnest. Fail to take on AIPAC and it is hard to see any progress ever happening.
March 15, 2010 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steve Grossman, former president of Aipac, sabotaged Howard Dean's campaign by announcing 2 days before the Wisconsin primary that he would quit as campaign manager if 'someone else needs me.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/16/politics/campaign/16DEAN.html?scp=1&sq=grossman%20dean%20wisconsin&st=cse
This was after Dean's backing of the 'Geneva accords' peace plan (1967 borders, limited repatriation).
I know because I called Mr. Grossman and he apologized for his act.
March 15, 2010 9:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hiring the gross man was perhaps a bigger blunder than the holistic yell in Iowa?
March 15, 2010 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bernard: Having members of his administration boycott AIPAC would send a strong signal that Obama is serious.
Israel should be made to choose between Netanyahu's policies and their relationship with the United States. If Israel wants to "go it alone", well, au revoir!
March 15, 2010 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
MythB,
I highly doubt that the second stage of your scenario would ever happen. Most Israelis are not idiots, and unscrupulous opportunist that he is, Netanyahu is far too pragmatic to even consider a significant deterioration in the US relationship just for the sake of settler support in the Knesset coalition.
So, your stage one suffices to kill Netanyahu's pro-settler policies.
But that stage one contains, WITHIN it, a leap of monumental proportions: Getting truly "serious" here (in deed not just word) will require far more than simply "boycotting AIPAC": it will require an all-out and very long term political assault against AIPAC and the whole crazed Israel-is-always-right mentality that props up it and its many appendages. No US president would ever take on such a thankless and sacrificing burden alone.
The main thrust of the fight to liberate America from AIPAC has to come from a deep and unrelenting commitment within the mainstream Jewish community in the US which for too long has allowed AIPAC's claim of representing it to go largely unchallenged. Preaching to the gentile and "self-hating" choir here is nice but nowhere near enough.
Or it will take some kind of catastrophe involving loss of American lives and absolutely no connection whatever to Arab terrorism.
I'd prefer the political solution.
March 15, 2010 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd prefer we stop pretending that this is some cosmic problem. It's a grubby fight over land. Just because one side claims "God" gave them land--and their claim must be true because they risked their lives flying Aeroflot from Moscow to Tel Aviv to claim it--is a ridiculous argument.
My half-Palestinian children were born in the USA and they have a "divine right" to Palestine equal to some American Jew born in Brooklyn has to Israel; that is to say, both have a "divine right" to jack squat.
Hoever, both sides have rights in the secular sphere. Let's solve the problem there. And stop pretending that God is taking sides.
March 15, 2010 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
MythB, If the problem were solvable exclusively in the secular sphere, it could have been solved already. I quite agree that "it's a grubby fight over land," a grubby fight over grubby land, actually. But those who believe that this territory is their Holy Land or promised land, will never be persuaded by such a framing. What "just a secular fight over land" does do, however, is help persuade the vast majority that it needn't care or pay attention, which of course, leaves things largely in the hands of religious fanatics. I really see no way around confronting those fanatics, and their dupes and tools and webs of deception, directly, firmly, and persistently.
March 15, 2010 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/movers-and-shakers/
March 15, 2010 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
If ever Obama needed the realism and nerves that Eisenhower had when he told Ben-Gurion to vacate Sinai
And What Ben-Gurion say about that :
Our future does not depend on what the gentiles will say but about what do the Jews will do." ~ (Speech Ben - Gurion IDF March, Independence Day, 27/4/1955)
March 15, 2010 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
You quote Ben-Gurion said in 1955 about actions in 1956. What the Jews did was realize that a smart retreat was better than a stupid stand.
March 15, 2010 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ben- Gurion say that on General issues (not because of specific event )
He never really give a dam about what Americans puppets trying to dictate !
He always understand that Israel Can't rely on the USA -
USA is interested in OIL & Money - and the Arabs have both of them!
"The Arabs have OIL , the Jews have the matches "
March 15, 2010 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
As do vandals....
March 15, 2010 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Avishai (and others here) never answer, but I thought I would ask again):
"Two states for two Peoples" Please define the "two peoples".
The "east jerusalem" that you wish to be ceded to the "Palestinians" because, after all, there was a places in force armistice, almost 62 years ago, that was never intended to be a national boundary. Does this include the Old City?
March 15, 2010 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your question does not deserve an answer because it is irrelevant to the whole discussion on this page. No one here is talking about definitional details of a final deal between Israel and the Palestinians. The issue is liberating the peace process from the Israeli terrorists known as settlers. Palestinian terrorists, though also deserving zero tolerance, are a less immediate and intractable problem because the US Congress does not lick their behinds whenever a well-funded but maniacal "American Palestinian Public Affairs Committee" tells it to.
March 15, 2010 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, and this is well-known tactic of obstructionism on this issue. Obscure details. If you can't discuss them in such minutiae as some zealots, then you lose the argument supposedly. So yes, such mischief definitely does not deserve an answer.
March 15, 2010 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
And we get to waste time arguing whether the Palestinians are actually a people.....
The good news is this tired Hasbara crap is just not working anymore.
March 15, 2010 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isreal sounds a lot like the USA in the sense that the will of the people tends to be ignored, because the government thinks it knows best.
March 15, 2010 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
The significance appears to be that the Ramat Shlomo announcement is being used by the Obama administration to split off Shas from the Netanyahu government, so Kadima can get in. Then, maybe later, a change of Prime Ministers.
This is what Avishai also seems to want.
Here's a map of Ramat Shlomo: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=31.810478,35.218047&spn=0.01,0.01&t=m&q=31.810478,35.218047
If you check the map, (also click on "Satellite"), you'll see there is more than enough empty land around there for expansion by the Jews and by the Arabs. And the PA isn't expecting to get Ramat Shlomo in the proposed Palestinian State. So it's a manufactured dust up, with a purpose.
March 15, 2010 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
And we all know how quickly Palestinians get building permits....
I wish the Palestinians would stop evicting themselves from their own houses.
March 15, 2010 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
March 15, 2010: "The building in Jerusalem - and in all other places - will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years," said Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting. LINK
March 15, 2010 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sound and helpful analysis again earns the AG seal of approval. However, a few points of dispute to note:
I'd say the secular majority's unwillingness to confront the settler minority stems more from the perception that there is little or nothing to be gained from such a confrontation. I believe most Israelis would turn on the settlers in a heartbeat if they believed it would result in a true, lasting peace. Unfortunately, the perception among most Israelis in the persuadable middle is that Israeli offers and concessions have not produced the intended effect, but have instead only further emboldened the Palestinians and led to more violence. I'm not saying this view is entirely warranted, but there is a factual record: Barak's proposals were not only rejected, but met with the extreme and traumatising violence of the second intifada; Sharon's disengagement from Gaza was welcomed with rocket fire; Olmert, elected on a platform of disengagement from the West Bank, faced a Hamas takeover of Gaza; his proposal to Abbas that would have ended the occupation and rolled back the majority of the settlements was basically ignored. Avishai elides this history and continues to see the way forward as forcing Israelis into more unilateral concessions. The Israeli left's failure to acknowledge and account for these events largely explains its plummeting popularity in recent years.
Avishai also brings up the upcoming dedication of a synagogue in Jerusalem's old city as another spark. What he fails to mention is that the synagogue was actually rebuilt because it was destroyed by the Jordanian army in 1948, that the conflict was stoked by Palestinian claims that the synagogue is a part of a grand plan to rebuild the Third Temple and that Jews are set to storm the Al Aqsa mosque on Passover.
In sum, Avishai seems reluctant to acknowledge the responsibility of both sides for creating these dismal conditions - without which any prospects for a resolution are doomed to fail.
March 15, 2010 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, you are right, AG: the other side has its fanatics, too; I lost members of my family to terror. But there is an overarching problem here, and your explanations for the failure of Camp David II, or the Gaza pull-out, or Olmert's rejected offer do not tell the whole story. I have seen this tragedy build at first hand since 1972, when driving to Ramallah and Hebron was a lark. Had we been prepared to compromise on Jerusalem back then, Hussein would have no doubt rebuilt the synagogue himself, or a Palestinian leadership would have emerged like the one trying to break through in Hebron and Ramallah today. Israelis will slowly have to come to terms with the fact that the occupation's dynamics have been counterproductive in all kinds of ways; and that ultras have been largely responsible for keeping it going, as has the absurd "consensus" about a united, expanded Jerusalem.
March 15, 2010 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
" Israelis will slowly have to come to terms with the fact that the occupation's dynamics have been counterproductive in all kinds of ways; and that ultras have been largely responsible for keeping it going, as has the absurd "consensus" about a united, expanded Jerusalem. "
So many years In Israel and yet you didn't
understand Israelis OR Israeli mentality ?!
The "left" in Israel (Kadima is not left in my opinion) only antagonize ppl here during the last years- In the Next election they will keep to decline - No matter How "tough" Obama is with Israel and The treats are not Impressing anyone here Beside the Press!
See the Polls of youth today in Israel (Haaretz publish that week ago) - They are becoming more radical then ever (In all Israeli sections) -
The "peace industry" didn't contribute nothing only the opposite thing happen (More wars , blood , terrorists in all fronts) - The youth sadly understand today that there will never be a coexistence with Arabs and Muslims (We tried - It didn't work) - " they will never accept Infidels here " - it's all about religious and not politics
The "Peace" with Egypt and Jordan are temporary in my opinion - The dictator Mubarak will pass away very soon - Maybe the "Muslim brotherhood" will make a coup or something like that - then you can take the "peace paper".....
The same is in Jordan (The monarchy there do not represent the ppl - minority Bedouin family control 85% Not Bedouins),
Currently all of arab Sunni countries (The so called "Moderates" and American "allies" in the area (OIL supplier nothing more - nothing less) ) in the area are shaking in their pants fearing The Shea Iran and her Proxies - The new Iranian Hegemony and The Appeasement attitude of the BHO administration ,
Saudi Arabia & GULF states say to the USA (Ask secretary Gates , he visited the area last week) and beg them that Sanctions and diplomacy will never work with Iran , The Saudis & Egyptians & Jordanians & emirates in front of the cameras they will condemn Israel BUT behind the scenes you can ear the drums and the voices
("Fucked hard Iran & Hezbollah & Hamas" )
In the near Future there is no hope for "Peace" & tranquility in the area - PPL here will never support your Ideas - Only minority
We all saw the "Left" in "Shikh Jarrah" last week
3000 (Lets be generous with you) ppl were in the demonstration - 1500 - 1000 were Arabs from the neighborhood , 300 - 500 were anarchists and bored lunatic foreigners (Rachel Corry style ) that I will be ashamed to associate myself with them , This is your Left ? who Uri avneri , Shulamit aloni , yossi sarid ??
" Israelis will slowly have to come to terms "
NOW Are you sure ?
March 15, 2010 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
"bored lunatic foreigners (Rachel Corry style )"
Yes, this is the young American woman that your brave army crushed under a bulldozer.
Do you think any real American will take your side when you kill one of our citizens like that?
Boris, Boris, how little you know us.
March 15, 2010 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
That death should not be forgotten, and I remember the front page headline well, but it happened almost exactly seven years ago. Seven long years of zero progress towards peace. There has to be a better way. There is: The country that makes such monster bulldozers liberates itself from doing the bidding of those occupying the bulldozer-cleared land.
March 15, 2010 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
No , This is the Naive & Stupid American woman that burned American flag after 9/11 and called for Jihad against USA & Israel and jump before a bulldozer in a war zone to protects terroist tunell - I have been there and you not
(I want to see any American "activist" do it in Iraq or Afghanistan to the US marines there)
only arrogant Americans believe that they can go playing around a war zone, and their "americanness" should shield them from harm.
March 15, 2010 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed 100%. But taking on the settlers will require a broad coalition and a strong leader willing to risk an enormous backlash. Without some prospect that these risks will pay real rewards, the prospect of such a leader emerging seems remote. Could the deterioration of the US/Israel relationship prove to be the catalyst? It might eventually be enough to topple Netanyahu's coalition in favor of a more moderate government willing to at least suspend settlements. But in the absence of a Palestinian leadership committed to partition (not in name only, with a right of return for millions), I find it hard to imagine Israelis summoning the political will to make the necessary sacrifices. At present, Abbas & Co. are perfectly willing to sit back and watch Bibi flail about as the chorus of international opposition grows. There's no incentive at all to moderate their positions. To the contrary, they benefit by remaining on the sidelines.
March 15, 2010 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another dreamer
March 15, 2010 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been called worse - like "hasbara hack," for example.
March 15, 2010 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. Bibi has been tossed out before for screwing up the relationship, yes?
March 15, 2010 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know the internal politics of Israel are complicated, but the harsh reality is that things have to change. America cannot continue to tacitly approve of every violation of every agreements Israel makes regarding the cessation of more "settlements". For decades Israel has been agreeing to stop and violating those agreements and that bad faith is causing more and more complications not just for Israel but the US. At some point, as Israel continues to fail to abide by the agreements it has made to stop the settlements it's going to be on its own. There's no reason at all for America to defend or support or approve of or ignore the counterproductive and very provocative expansion of Israel into land that clearly does not belong to Israel.
March 15, 2010 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I say, Amen, Amen!
For most Americans, though, this is just a question of "Do we support our treasured, religiously-connected ally, Israel? Against those dark-skinned bastards?!!"
March 15, 2010 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ordinarily, Dr. Bones, I am all for trotting out goose-and-gander arguments against the Hyperzionists, yet maybe there can be too much of a good thing?
This publicist seems to bend the G&G envelope almost to the point of "two wrongs make a right." That is, he starts with The L*bby (Pat. Pend.) brazenly intervenin’ in our domestic affairs and proposes to return their kind neofavour tit for tat. Or maybe doubled, redoubled and vulnerable.
That plan might be OK as politics, if not morality, provided it actually worked, but one definitely ought to insist that it work as close to permanently as possible. Toppling M. de Nétanyahou and installing a government full of "cosmopolitan and secular" folks who still crave the fleshpots of Old Europe would not be worth much if it only lasts a few months and then turns out to be the last such government ever.
I don't know enough to be sure that the situation is like that, but it looks to me as if it might be.
Please advise.
March 15, 2010 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a believer in tipping points. This isn't it, but one might be coming and the right or wrong if it all may not matter.
American Jews are a declining democraphic within the larger declining demographic of Euro-Americans.
Israel isn't Canada. Israel isn't essential to American security.
American support of Israel is unshakeable - well right up until the moment it collapses.
March 15, 2010 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the constant need to keep talking about how "unshakeable" the relationship is actually proves it's quite fragile.
It's like a proclamation of undying love at the Oscars. You just know the winner is going to get a divorce.
March 15, 2010 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."
- Lord Palmerston
Just as true for Israel, of course.
March 15, 2010 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama needs to get health care passed. Now. This week. Nothing else major can move unless that happens.
March 15, 2010 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
The American have more big problems right now -
Even bush was not clueless as BHO
March 15, 2010
Baghdad sources disclose that prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was injured in an attempt on his life last Thursday, March 11. His armored convoy came under an RPG-automatic fire attack after a bomb hit his car. US and Iraqi authorities have blacked out the incident
March 15, 2010 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bush ("not careless")?
1. Asleep while a dozen foreigners attended flight school to train crashing planes into buildings
2. "Worst fiasco in US foreign policy history" (Iraq cock-up)
3. Brain-dead policy on Mideast = US as lapdog for Israeli barbarians
4. Many trillions lost in mortgage/derivatives bubble through shoddy regulation / corruption
5. Worst US recession since 1930s
Better stick to Israeli-terrorist-fanatics' settlements where you have clue what you are talking about.
March 15, 2010 10:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well lets analyze the Last year with your beloved Hussein :
American allies which BHO upset
Colombia
Honduras
Poland - Missiles plan
Czeck - - Missiles plan
Israel - ...
UK - do not support on the Falkland Island issue
China - Economic threats by China , Google and many more
Turkey - Armenian Genocide
Russia - Missiles plan
France , Italy - see what the Leaders say about BHO ("clueless")
And the List is long...
March 15, 2010 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I forgot the Abandonment of NATO countries from Iraq & Afghanistan.
March 15, 2010 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who gives a hoot about any of these fake concerns?
Not Americans, except the dumb-ass trickster and faker nutcase Republicans who are the US equivalent to your settler maniacs and from whom your BS propaganda list was undoubtedly obtained. Smart of you to remove the ridiculous lie about Obama not being born in America, though.
Bush's blunders cost America tens of trillions of dollars. Obama's blunders are trivial in comparison. Except possibly for Turkey-Armenia (and the Turks will finally come to their senses one day and stop assassinating those among them who tell the truth) nobody will have the slightest idea what anything on your list means a few years from now. I doubt you have much of an idea even now.
March 16, 2010 5:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
His list is sloppy. Foreign leaders always have concerns about specific American policies. To say that all these foreign state are upset at President Obama is, therefore, meaningless. We do know, however, that President Obama is not universally abhorred--unlike Dubya.
Of course, they liked in Israel.....
March 16, 2010 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe You Americans are too sensitive, you Morons Idiots Slackers Freiers Boobs Nitwits Numbnutses Simpletons Blockheads Chuckleheads ...
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August 14, 2010 5:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are insults a normal part of everyday conversation over in That Country we are always discussing ?
Do the citizens of our Dearest Ally insult each other all day long ? That would explain a lot.
Insults flow out of these people quite freely.
Maybe You Americans are too sensitive, you Morons Idiots Slackers Freiers Boobs Nitwits Numbnutses Simpletons Blockheads Chuckleheads ...
Insults : learn to expect a lot more.
March 15, 2010 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Israel can insinuate itself into our politics, why can't we return the favor? Why can't we drive Netanyahu from office?
March 16, 2010 6:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is trying to do that.
March 16, 2010 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
A nice dream. Even J Street can't bring itself to utter a word of criticism against Whatayahoo. It's just a little argument in an otherwise long and happy marriage. Obama will go with the flow, as always. The flow lately has been: Goddammit when are you finally going to kick some ass? So he did. Now that's done and it's on to health care horse-trading.
March 16, 2010 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tabiattaki bitkilerin yağlarından faydalanmak eski çağlardan bu yana kullanılan ama günümüzde unutulan bir çareydi.
Bazı bitkiler yoluyla cilde yapılan doğal işlemler, hem gençleştiriyor hem de doğanın uyumuyla parlaklık ve canılık yaratıyor. Saf yağlar ve bitkilerin cilt için yüksek kalite sağlayan özlerinin damıtma çiçek sepeti yoluyla elde edilmesiyle bu gençlik formülü elde ediliyor. Damıtma işlemi, bitkinin tüm orjinal değerini koruyan bir yöntem. Doğal yağlar ve aktif besleyici maddeler içeren bitki özleri, yaşlanmanın iç ve dış nedenlerini ortadan kaldırıyor. Ayrıca dekolte, kol ve bacaklarda da kullanılıyor ve düzenli kullanıldığında bu bölgeleri pürüzsüz hale getiriyor.
Damıtılmış 10 bitkinin bir araya getirilmiş yağ formülü ile mucize bir şekilde yaşınızı 10 yıl geriye sarabilirsiniz.". Ancak şuna dikkat edilmesini öneriyor: "Yalnız doğru ve sağlıklı topraklarda yetişen bitkiler olması kaydıyla faydalanabilirsiniz. Bu sözünü ettiğim bitkilerden elde ediler saf yağların miktarının uzman bir el tarafından belirlenerek, oluşturulması gerekir. Doğal gençlik yolu ancak doğru uzman ve doğru yöntem ile birleşirsee ortaya çıkar.
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September 15, 2010 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
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October 26, 2010 6:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.George B. Shaw
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October 26, 2010 6:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. D.E
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October 26, 2010 6:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive. T.H.
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October 26, 2010 6:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perfectionism is simply putting a limit on your future. When you have an idea of perfect in your mind, you open the door to constantly comparing what you have now with what you want. That type of self criticism is significantly deterring. J.E.
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October 26, 2010 6:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
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December 16, 2010 4:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Must still take into account the environment of Israel by Arab terrorists and renegades. Interestingly, there is no other country in such a negative environment could survive? ДЭНАС
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The civilized faction of each side can move to different parts of New York City, and yell at each other on the subway. Palestine becomes a giant mecca for tourists and pilgrims.
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A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten. online games to play for free | imobiliare
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