by Isi Leibler
 |
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?
He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Isi Leibler
Source: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4882
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment