by Adi Mintz
The Obama administration, however, has endorsed the Palestinian narrative in full. As far as Obama is concerned, the Palestinian demand for a comprehensive moratorium on settlement construction includes the entire area beyond the Green Line.
Every so often,
information about how U.S. President Barack Obama's administration seeks
to undermine Israel and its government finds its way to the public.
Most recently, this was inadvertently evidenced in a report by Haaretz
journalist Barak Ravid, which stated that a review of the list of
officials regularly invited to the White House revealed that Israeli
Ambassador Ron Dermer was not among them.
The visitors' registry
further revealed that while official Israeli delegates were essentially
snubbed by the White House, the American president's aides regularly
meet with individuals representing the radical Israeli Left.
Ravid reported that, at
the end of October 2014, "There was a visit by the head of the Geneva
Initiative group, Gadi Baltiansky, followed the next day by a visit by
the head of Friends of the Earth Middle East, Gidon Bromberg. They met
separately with Maher Bitar, director of Israeli-Palestinian affairs at
the White House."
Ravid continued that on
Dec. 2, "left-wing activist Danny Zeidman, whose main interest is
problems related to Jerusalem, met with adviser Gordon. On Dec. 9,
attorney Michael Sfard from the Yesh Din human rights group met NSC
Mideast adviser Lempert."
When former Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert was still a Likud MK, he once referred to Zeidman
as "an agent of the Palestinian Authority," whose association was funded
by European governments. Michael Sfard had worked with the Al-Haq
organization, an independent Palestinian human-rights group, which is
also funded by European governments, and conducts lawfare against
Israel.
The nuclear deal
negotiated between world powers and Iran has once again raised questions
over Obama's motives. It is unlikely his actions are rooted in
anti-Semitism, as some would argue, but rather stem from a radical
viewpoint.
The U.S. has never
sanctioned Israeli settlement activity in Judea and Samaria, and
throughout the years, it seems Israel has failed to properly assert the
narrative of the Jewish people's exclusive right to its land and its
sovereignty over it, and has failed to debunk the myth of the
"occupation."
Nevertheless, both Bill
Clinton's and George W. Bush's administrations accepted the fact that
Israel has a tangible hold on east Jerusalem and the settlement blocs.
Bush, who endorsed the so-called "Road Map" and "vision" of Palestinian
statehood, even entrusted former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior
adviser Dov Weisglass with a letter acknowledging Israel's sovereignty
over those areas, while still debating the true meaning of "natural
growth" in the settlements.
The Obama
administration, however, has endorsed the Palestinian narrative in full.
As far as Obama is concerned, the Palestinian demand for a
comprehensive moratorium on settlement construction includes the entire
area beyond the Green Line.
Unfortunately,
Jerusalem has yielded to Washington's pressure in this matter, even
curbing construction projects in east Jerusalem. Obama shares the views
of the anti-Zionist Left in Israel, which is why he is fighting Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over every home built in the Gilo and Ramot
neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Obama's worldview, it
seems, does not recognize the Jewish people's national and historic
rights. As far as Obama is concerned, Israel is a nation of immigrants,
whose establishment -- as he said in his 2009 Cairo speech -- was the
price the world had to pay following the murder of 6 million Jews in
Europe, but it cannot come at the expense of the Palestinians.
Given this perception,
Israel must strive to shift the focus of the conversation back to the
issue of rights, and offer a moral alternative. The strong ties that
bind the U.S. and Israel are not solely rooted in the administration,
but also derive their strength from American public opinion, and the
hundreds of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who do not share the White House's
radical views.
Adi Mintz is the former CEO of
the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of municipal councils of
Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Adi Mintz
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=12321
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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