GLICK’S ARGUMENT IS NOT TERRIBLY CONVINCING. SHE DOES AND DOES NOT THINK ISRAEL CAN STAND UP TO AMERICAN PRESSURE ON MOST THINGS. YORAM ETTINGER BEGS TO DIFFER. PRIME MINISTERS ARE ELECTED TO STAND UP TO PRESSURE AND OFTEN HAVE. MARTIN SHERMAN AGREES WITH HIM. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN SHE IS WRONG. TED BELMAN
US President Barack Obama’s rapidly changing positions on Syria have produced many odd spectacles.
One of odder ones was the sight of hundreds of lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee fanning out on Capitol Hill to lobby members of the House and Senate to support Obama’s plan to launch what Secretary of State John Kerry called “unbelievably small” air strikes against empty regime controlled buildings in Syria.
AIPAC officials claimed they were doing this because the air strikes would help Israel.
But this claim was easily undone. Obama and Kerry insisted nothing the US would do would have any impact on the outcome of the Syrian civil war. This was supposed to be the strikes’ selling point. But by launching worthless strikes, Obama was poised to wreck America’s deterrent posture, transforming the world’s superpower into an international joke.
In harming America’s deterrent capabilities by speaking loudly and carrying an “unbelievably small” stick, Kerry and Obama also harmed Israel’s deterrent posture.
Israel’s deterrence relies in no small measure on its strategic alliance with the US.
Once the US is no longer feared, a key part of Israeli deterrence is removed.
Obama did not announce his intention to bomb empty buildings in Syria in order to impact the deterrent posture of either the US or Israel. He probably gave them little thought. The only one who stood to gain from those strikes – aside from Syrian President Bashar Assad who would earn bragging rights for standing down the US military – was Obama himself.
Obama wanted to launch the unbelievably small strikes to prove that he wasn’t lying when he said that Syria would cross a red line if it used chemical weapons.
So if the strikes were going to harm the US and Israel, why did AIPAC dispatch its lobbyists to Capitol Hill to lobby in favor of them? Because Obama made them.
Obama ordered AIPAC to go to Capitol Hill to lobby for the Syria strikes. He did so knowing that its involvement would weaken public support for AIPAC and Israel. Both would be widely perceived as pushing the US to send military forces into harm’s way to defend Israel.
Then, with hundreds of AIPAC lobbyist racing from one Congressional office to the next, Obama left them in a lurch. He announced he was cutting a deal with Russia and had decided not to attack Syria after all.
What did AIPAC get for its self-defeating efforts on Obama’s behalf? Obama is now courting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the hopes of making a deal that Iran will use as cover for completing its nuclear weapons program.
Such a deal may well involve ending sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and its central bank – sanctions that AIPAC expended years of effort getting Congress to pass.
And that’s not all. Monday, as Obama meets with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly in New York, Vice President Joe Biden will become the highest ranking administration official to date to address the J Street conference.
J Street was formed in order to weaken AIPAC, and force it to the left.
Sending Biden to headline at the J Street conference is an act of aggression against AIPAC. It also signals that Obama remains committed to strengthening the anti-Israel voices at the margins of the American Jewish community at the expense of the pro- Israel majority.
The question is why is AIPAC cooperating with Obama as he abuses it? Why didn’t they just say no? Because they couldn’t.
AIPAC is not strong enough to stand up to the president of the United States, particularly one as hostile as Obama.
Not only would it have suffered direct retaliation for its refusal, Obama would have also punished Israel for its friend’s recalcitrance.
In a recent interview with The Times of Israel, Eitan Haber, late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s closest aide, made the case that Israel is powerless in the face of White House pressure. Haber claimed that only when a person becomes prime minister does he understand “to what extent the State of Israel is dependent on America. For absolutely everything… we are dependent on America.”
Haber noted that the US can collapse every aspect of Israel. From this he concluded that no Israeli leader can stand up to Washington.
Haber recalled a menacing conversation Rabin had with then-US secretary of state James Baker during which Baker became angry at Rabin.
“America is right even when it is wrong,” Baker admonished the Israeli leader.
Haber warned that Israel cannot stand up to the US even when the US is behaving in a manner that endangers Israel. “It’s possible that they don’t understand the region and that they are naïve and stupid,” he said, “But they are America.”
Haber said rightly that that the White House can destroy Israel’s economy, defenses and diplomatic position any time it wishes. In the past administration threats of economic sanctions or delays in sending spare parts for weapons platforms have been sufficient to make Israeli leaders fall into line.
For the past five and a half years Obama has dangled US diplomatic support at the UN Security Council over Israel’s head like the Sword of Damocles.
Obama forced Netanyahu to make concession after concession to secure his veto of the PLO’s request that the UN Security Council accept “Palestine” as a member state two years ago. Netanyahu’s sudden support for Palestinian statehood and his 10- month long freeze on Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria were the most public concessions he was forced to cough up.
The timing of the EU announcement that it was barring EU entities from forging ties with Israelis that operate beyond the 1949 armistice lines was revealing in this context. The EU announced its economic sanctions the day Kerry announced the start of negotiations between Israel and the PLO. The message to Israel was absolutely clear: Do what we order you to or you will face economic sanctions far more damaging.
Obama’s appointment of Samantha Power to serve as US ambassador to the UN was another signal of ill intent. Power became the object of fear and fury for Israel supporters after YouTube videos of a 2002 interview she gave went viral during the 2008 elections. In that interview Power called for the US to send “a mammoth protection force” to Israel to protect the Palestinians from “genocide” that Israel would commit. That is, she called for the US to go to war against Israel to protect the Palestinians from a nonexistent threat maliciously attributed to the only human rights-respecting state in the Middle East.
And just after his reelection, Obama sent Power to the epicenter of international blood libels and attempts to outlaw the Jewish state.
Obama’s deal with Russia President Vladimir Putin was also a signal of aggression, if not an act of aggression in and of itself. The ink had barely dried on their unenforceable agreement that leaves Iran’s Arab client in power, when Putin turned his guns on Israel. As Putin put it, Syria only developed its chemical arsenal “as an alternative to the nuclear weapons of Israel.”
The Obama administration itself has a track record in putting Israel’s presumptive nuclear arsenal on the international diplomatic chopping block. In 2010 Netanyahu was compelled to cancel his participation in Obama’s nuclear weapons conference when he learned that Egypt and Turkey intended to use Obama’s conference to demand that Israel sign the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.
Obama’s behavior demonstrates his bad intentions. So Israelis and our American supporters need to ask whether Haber is right. Is Israel powerless in the face of a hostile US administration? Let’s reconsider Obama’s decision to turn to AIPAC for support on Syria.
Why did he do that? Why did he turn to an organization he wishes to harm and order it to go to the mattresses for him? Obama turned to AIPAC primarily because AIPAC could help him. AIPAC hold sway on Capitol Hill.
Where does that power come from? Does AIPAC wield influence because it frightens members into submission? No.
AIPAC is powerful because it serves as a mouthpiece for the overwhelming majority of Americans. The American people support Israel. If something will help Israel, then most Americans will support it. Obama wanted Congressional support. He couldn’t win it on the merits of his feckless plan. So he sent in AIPAC to pretend that his strikes would benefit Israel.
Obama’s demand that AIPAC help him is reality’s response to Haber’s protestations of Israeli powerlessness.
Israel’s alliance with the US, upon which it is so dependent, was not built with America’s political or foreign policy elites. Saudi Arabia’s alliance with the US was built on such ties.
Israel’s alliance with the US is built on the American public’s support for Israel. And although Obama himself doesn’t need to face American voters again, his Democratic colleagues do. Moreover, even lame duck presidents cannot veer too far away from the national consensus.
It is because of this consensus that Obama has to send signals to Israel – like the EU sanctions, and Power’s appointment to the UN – rather than openly part ways with Jerusalem.
Obama is powerful. And he threatens Israel. But Israel is not as powerless as Haber believes. Israel can make its case to the American public.
And assuming the American people support Israel’s case, Obama’s freedom of action can be constrained.
For instance, on the Palestinian issue, Haber said Israel has to accept whatever Obama says. But that isn’t true. Netanyahu can set out the international legal basis for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and explain why Israel’s rights are stronger than the Palestinians’.
The government can expose the fact that the demographic doomsday scenario that forms the basis of support for the two-state formula is grounded on falsified data concocted by the PLO.
Demography, like international law, is actually one of Israel’s strategic assets.
Then there is Iran.
Were Netanyahu to defy Obama and order the IDF to attack Iran’s nuclear installations, he would be pushing the boundaries of the US political consensus less than Menachem Begin did when he ordered the air force to destroy Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981. He would also be pushing the US consensus less than Rabin did when he embraced Yasser Arafat in 1993.
No, Israel cannot say no to everything that Obama wishes to do in the Middle East.
And yes, it needs to make concessions where it can to placate the White House.
AIPAC’s decision to take a bullet for Obama on Syria may have been the better part of wisdom.
Israel has three-and-a-half more years with Obama.
They won’t be easy. And there is no telling who will succeed him. But this needn’t be a catastrophe. Our cards are limited. But we have cards. And if we play them wisely, we will be fine.
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=327188
Bill Narvey Said:
Thank you Sugar Pie, I’am a “Cowboys” fan,therefore I have learned life’s disapointments.
No Honeybee, not a loon, but one who with quick quips often brings a smile. Your quips provide a welcome respite from less than friendly posts that drive all the fun and good things out of blogging, discussing and debating.
Some people just take themselves far too seriously. You don’t and that is your charm.
Bill Narvey Said:
I Sir, am the only loon on this blog, please do remember.
@ yamit82:
Seahawks beat the Texans!!!! No joy in mudvile
honeybee Said:
NFL Est is a disaster. Eventual winner of the division might have a losing won/loss record.
Told ya the Giants don’t look good this year and Manning is the pits. I say trade him and get a real quarterback
No Yamit, I am not aware of who you have been engaging with under your own name, except I presume Ted. 2ndly, what blog forum do you say I was booted from? News to me.
I am a left wing liberal? Maybe liberal sometimes. I go where the facts lead and that can find me either to the right or left of center on a particular issue or in the center. Though a few radical right nutbars have before suggested I expressed left wing views regarding some issues, I don’t recall the issues.
I however, doubt any sane person would have agreed with anything the few right wing extremist loons I have encountered over the years, had to say about anything.
For that matter, I also doubt any sane person would have agreed with anything a few far left radicals I have also encountered over the years, had to say about anything.
Your anger with me colors every comment you make in respect of any of my posts. Is that because you are one of those extreme right wing loons I am speaking of?
@ yamit82:
Just about the time I can post,yawl are turning in. There I go again,end a sentance with a proposition. The Brocos are eating the Eagles lunch.
honeybee Said:
Video blocked for Israel.
Bill Narvey Said:
That might be true if I were not living in Israel and would be one of the first to pay the price for errors in my positions and convictions.
2ndly over the years I have been in communication with a dozen or more of posters who requested to contact me personally. Aside from my screen name I use I have supplied more personal information than just about any commenter on this blog. And you are perfectly aware that this is so.
It wasn’t me who was booted out of a forum of ideological supporters of Israel in Canada because they discovered you were a fraud, a left wing Liberal posing as a right wing supporter. We call that a troll. But I knew that from our first contact and said as much.
You are here for the debate not for supporting Israel. I’ve read your trash on other sites along with your sons.
Please release my#28 from moderation.
Yamit #19. Starting your response by putting words in my mouth is no way for a discussion to proceed.
You premise flows from your assumption that I have before and now excused all Netanyahu policies and actions that you and others take such exception to as being the result of U.S. pressure. Not true.
I expect that some of his words and deeds that turn out badly, are on his own head, though I have no particular issue in mind in saying that. On the issues however, where the U.S. has been directly involved in strong arming Netanyahu, it appears to me Netanyahu succumbed to that pressure.
What you often do is focus your ire and blame not on, U.S. and/or world pressure that Netanyahu bent to, but against Netanyahu for not having the strength to withstand that pressure.
None of us can really know all that goes on behind Netanyahu’s closed doors, what his expert advisers told him as to the credibility of whatever U.S. threat was made unless he complied and what his advisers counseled him to do.
You have a dim view of Netanyahu and thus you interpret his decisions that you disagree with as his being weak or his having taken action in spite of U.S. pressure, because he agreed with their position.
We are in no better position than the expert talking head guessers who make a living appearing on TV, radio and writing columns on what they can deduce of the reasons behind Netanyahu’s decisions. The guesses of those who view Netanyahu favorably, will be kind in their guesses, while those who view him unfavorably, will not be.
As I remarked to you a number of times, there indeed have been instances where Netanyahu and past Israeli leaders have stood up to U.S. pressure and threats and the results of their actions proved they were right to take the action they did and the U.S. wrong in their pressures and threats or that the U.S. was really bluffing in the hope of getting Israel to comply.
That has gone on and will continue to go on.
Each of those instances where Israel successfully stood against U.S. pressures and international opinion, must be examined in minute detail as to who the players were at the time, what were the stakes for Israel and the U.S., what the U.S. wanted Israel to do or not do, etc. etc. if one is to deduce there is a lesson to be learned as to when Israel can stand against U.S. pressure/threats and international opinion without much if any risk of adverse consequence in defying the U.S. to advance her own interests as she sees them and when such stiff resolve has hurt Israel.
Neither of us Yamit are experts and possessed of enough information to make informed decisions. We are like those professional guessers I mentioned, though we likely are not as articulate, experienced and equipped in playing those high falutin guessing games as to which way Israel should go in whatever instance, whether the way Israel went, she really had a choice and whether her choice has turned out good or bad for Israel.
We all do the best we can with the information we have and the skills and abilities we have to understand all this to reach whatever conclusions we can manage.
Bill Narvey Said:
yamit82 Said:
Yi-pi-ky-ay: http://youtu.be/JlVgBxVqW2c
@ Bill Narvey:
How do you know ?
Honeybee, those bloggers who from the safety and security of their computers make themselves sound tough as nails and possessing balls of steel as they advise Israel to damn the U.S. and world opinion and pressure, annex J & S, force Palestinians to leave the region and blast all enemies to smithereens, bear none of the responsibility for giving such advice and suffer no consequences for having given it.
That is especially so where a blogger seeks an additional level of safety and security for themselves by hiding their identity and thus advocate only behind a pseudonym, Yamit 82 is such kind of blogger.
Bill Narvey Said:
Have ever played chicken???? It takes nerves of steel!!! I think Yamit 82 and Israel can do it.
@ yamit82:
Back from the flea market with an arm full of treasures, not one person mentioned the pending “shut-down” of the USA govt.
@ bernard ross:
Narvey likes to debate from a near neutral position always putting the onus of argument on the other side. That way he can never be pinned down and keep a debate going forever with no agreed conclusions possible.
comment to Narvey in moderation
Bill Narvey Said:
How do you know what the extent of the pressure is from Canada? Yamit lives in Israel, it is absurd to say he would take the pressure lightly. If you have been reading his posts for for than the week or 2 that you reappeared you would be aware that he has written many posts re the danger of US influence and pressure over the years and has proposed a solution of weaning of the US influence. He has replied with facts to support his arguments as to how the effects of US pressure can be mitigated. You continue to make generic comments on all subjects which contain no facts or arguments to support your silly statements.
Bill Narvey Said:
This is a typical ludicrous, irrelevant and meaningless comment of yours. Such statements are not arguments or support for anything and do not even demonstrate cleverness. Surely, you have the intellectual capability to have a meaningful discussion with yamit regarding the facts of the argument? Read Yamits reply to my question regarding military resupply. He is dealing with facts and has gone to the crux of the question. I wish you could do the same: deal with the specific issue at hand and use facts and reasonable arguments for your positions.
@ Bill Narvey:
You can’t compare my positions from that of BB and his predecessors. Mine have never been applied and theirs have.
In the few examples where Israel did stand up to world and American pressure neither the roof fell in nor were we seriously penalized but like with the bombing of the Iraqi reactor or attacking first in 67 and the bombing of the Syrian reactor against Bush’s Red Light we did pretty good.
Appeasement only has led to more demands for more Israeli concessions which always have led to dead Jews with no national of Israeli interests being attained for more than some optical spin by our shitty, cowardly and corrupt leaders.
Blaming it all on pressure by the Americans and EU is a convenient excuse used to cover our leaders duplicitous real agendas, it’s a cover forinaction and an excuse for their own failure of will.
The Israeli people will support a real leader seen to stand for our national intests and not of others even if there are negative consequences in the short term. BB’s poll numbers last year were at rock bottom until he gave publicly a dressing down of Obama and the day after his poll numbers hit there highest they’ve ever been. The people of Israel yearn for a strong leader. Not a wuss who genuflects before a leader who is mocked by every country and their leaders around the world and is hated by almost 50% of his own countryman.
Bush demanded and threatened Sharon early in his first term to get out of the west Bank and behind agreed boundaries negotiated beforehand with American and the Palis. Sharon not only Ignored him he invaded the whole of the West Bank and stayed there till today. The same with the security fence. Bush had respect for Sharon but not BB, accents aside. BB is so predictable he is neither feared nor respected at home or abroad.
Israel needs to divest from America amicably if possible but if not all the more so.
yamit82 Said:
I had asked the question because I had got the impression that it is important for Israel to have short wars of a couple of weeks. I had the impression it was due to supplies. Have you gotten any wind of this “short war” necessity or was it my imagination? I am thinking of Lebanon 2006 and gaza
yamit82 Said:
I have found that Glick is good on analysis of the facts that everyone can see but does not appear to factor in what is behind the scenes that is undocumented by the MSM until afterwards. Furthermore, I have rarely seen her come up with solutions or an approach to solve the problems. She is good at identifying problems but not at suggesting solutions.
Yamit, what you are contending is that Israel should be more ready, willing and able to engage in games of chicken with the U.S. and that she has good reason to engage in those games, confident that the U.S. will not carry out threats express or implied in the context of the enormous pressure the U.S. applies to Israel.
We all know of your tough guy persona in roundly criticizing Netanyahu at every turn and telling him what to do.
Sure it would be great if Israel would pursue her interests and shape her future as she sees it and not as the U.S., the EU and world opinion press Israel to accede to.
That enormous pressure Israel is under however, to succumb to U.S. and international opinion, is not to be taken lightly as you appear to do.
Unfortunately Israel has become dependent upon the USA the same way as this country’s underclass has become dependent upon the government due to Welfare,food stamps, public housing and the host of other things many people can’t or won’t work for. Israel’s acceptance of USA aid which in fact is translated into military equipment for Israel is a tragic mistake because in case of war Israel is dependent upon the USA for resupply of this equipment. Israel should free itself of this dependence on military aid, as it did in the case of its nuclear program.
Bill Narvey Said:
On second thought both you and Glick are wrong!
It’s not and never has been what America could or can do, it is would they??
If they did would Israel just sit back and take it? Don’t think so.
People forget that Israel gets her aid package in a onetime yearly single payment. A president can hold up and delay deliveries but not stop congressional allocations already allocated by congress.
If you noticed Israel went to Germany for our Dolphin submarines and not an American company where American aid would have covered most of the financing.
Israel placed an order with the Italians for 25-30 jet trainers and not America.
Israel sold Russia a half billion $$$ 3 year contract for drones against American objections and a lot of stuff under the table unpublicized to China against American objections.
Do you believe for a nano second that the Mossad is not privy to information that could shake the Presidency? There are many ways to decimate information untraceable to sources.
Historically Israeli leaders when pursuing an agenda that is not popular will use the (pressure) of the Americans as their justification when little to no pressure actually exists. A compliant press here is always a willing decimeter of such narratives even expanding them out of proportion. America has never objected to being used as long as it advances her own political agenda.
Glick has long been both critical of the governments policies but always an apologist for BB. I believe it goes way back to when she was his adviser in 1996… Even when she has no choice but to place some blame on BB it is relatively mild or muted.
Glick is good at analysis but only so so on conclusions. She Being American and tied to American think tanks, may have some influence in her analysis and conclusions maybe even more than just some.
bernard ross Said:
In 73′ there was a false misguided concption and perception that we didn’t have any immediate threat of invasion and under normal conditions our stocks should have been sufficient. Due to the defensive position the IDF found itself at the beginning of the war we fired so much ammo that what should have been sufficient for a month or more of fighting was expended early on.
Looking around today i see little possibility of a similar land invasion by national armies i.e., Egypt and Syria! Today Israel manufactures most of hr own Ammo and even though we do import from America it’s because of the military aid program whereby Israel and IDF saves shekels in favor of imports but no weapons systems it 100% dependent on American imports we even under license manufacture some of the critical parts and assemblies for the F-16 and F-15 for ourselves and the Americans. I believe Israel has extensive stocks of parts for those essential parts imported and necessary from America today.
We also can access pre-placed American stocks warehoused in 2-3 locations in the West Bank and the Negev for America and if in emergency for our own use. There are miles and miles of underground storage of these facilities containing billions of dollars of pre-placed military stocks and hardware.
Israel will need spares and ammo primarily for the Air Force and Navy.
Most of our electronic systems used in both the navy and air-force are made in Israel/
yamit82 Said:
what about massive military resupply in the event of a war lasting more than a few weeks. Wan’t this the problem in 73?
@ honeybee:
I was then this PM fever returned but now after a few hrs sleep it’s gone. See what tomorrow brings I still have some unused antibiotics in reserve. physical signs are absent of the infection.
NormanF Said:
Your source for that comment?
Bill Narvey Said:
Explain why every country in the world has snubbed America and Obama with no apparent retaliation or obvious negatives?
Only Israel seems to ask “How High” When told to jump by American presidents.
Short term hurt vs long term strength and political independence: So far our (Junkie)politicians have been unwilling to face any short term hurt.
Yet Israels economy is performing better than all but a handful of Asian countries and we were almost not affected by the 2008 economic financial collapse of Europe and America. Our military is the 3rd or 4th most powerful in the World, our healthcare systems while far from perfect is held up as a model other western nations come here to study how we do it. Our life expectancy is higher than in America and I maintain that there is nothing in America or Europe that if denied to us could not be replaced and in many cases improved from other sources.
In the past when the Arab and oil interests were boycotting and embargoing Israel and our produce and products, we developed our own and found new markets for our own production. This forced Israel to upgrade and improve our own products and industrial base in order to be able to compete. When companies like Coke and Pepsi boycotted the Israeli market the vacuum was filled with our own companies and local production and those companies abroad who ignored the boycotts. I remember those days and even today won’t buy coke or pepsi brand names. (When we conquered Gaza in 67 we inherited a Pepsi and 7Up concessionary pepi bottler and we began to import from them but coke stayed out until the late 70’s. To their credit they were one of the first to buck the Arab and global boycott against us and opened the way for others as not only did coke not suffer they increased profitability.
In the short term Israel can be hurt if America wanted to overtly attempt to punish us but the election cycle in America almost insures reversibility of policies within a few years. If Russia could wean Israel off the American leash she would gladly pay a high price for our closer relationship even at the expense of some Arabs like Syria. Might even provide Veto protection as she is doing today for Syria.
All that we provide to American as a friend and ally if supplied to Russia instead, is worth several Syria’s. Not saying Israel should align with Russia formally or even become a formal ally but common interests could be explored and enhanced. America I am sure would quickly get the message and rethink any plans to throw Israel under the proverbial bus.
Not sure what any political fallout to American politicians might be if Israel openly divested from America and blamed Obama personally?
Bipartisan support for Israel is becoming a thing of the past in any event.
It would put most Jews automatically in the oppositions camp having to make a choice between support for Obama and the dems or the Jews and the Jewish state. Most have already made their choice and it ain’t Israel. So screw em, accept reality and ignore them. The Republicans can only benefit from an Israeli divestment of America. If we initiate it we become stronger. If America initiated it we become weaker.
Israeli divestment would after a short time enhance our economy and overall economic and military strength by a factor of 2 or 3.
I haven’t even touched our potential energy power within the next decade. Israeli multinational mega corps like Teva are mostly immune from sanctions.
Israel of 2013 is not the Israel of the 70’s-80’s or 90’s we can weather whatever they throw at us absorb the shocks and rebound stronger for the experience.
Our weakness is mostly psychological not in our measurable strengths and weaknesses in the economic and military spheres.
The Jerusalem Post
Arens: “Israel does not need US aid”
Bert Said:
What is the secret, I always thought it was rather well known?
@ yamit82:
And you know as well as I do regardless of whether America gives Israel permission, Netanyahu will never attack Iran.
The Israeli army after all is proficient at kicking Jews out of their homes. Defending the country from Israel’s enemies, not so much! In any case, it appears Iran already has the bomb.
Note that Israel has moral capital and the U.S. has moral vulnerabilities that Jews never exploit because most Jews are spiritually weak when it comes to standing up for our rights. Here are some examples of our dismal failures.
1. We have totally failed to simply publicize all the valuable help that Israel has given to America year by year. Israel is America’s most loyal and most helpful ally but few know this. Such awareness would make Israel less vulnerable to pressure.
2. ALL the land belongs to Israel according to international law and to history as well. Salomon Benzimra wrote “The Jewish People’s Rights to the Land of Israel” but Jewish leaders are too craven and too cowardly (including Caroline Glick) to even acknowledge this valuable asset.
3. The Jewish leadership, in both the U.S. and Israel, are also too craven and too cowardly to expose long term American treachery towards Israel. Many such books including “The Secret War Against the Jews” by John Loftus have all been ignored by Jewish leaders. America needs the illusion of being a moral country that stands by its friends. Jews have the potential to destroy that illusion and cause America great political harm among the nations.
No opportunity can help us if our leadership remains craven and cowardly. Rabbi Meir Kahane exposed the moral rot among our Jewish leaders and for that he was smeared. http://www.kahanetzadak.com/KT/Writings/Entries/1984/11/1_Isolation.html
@ yamit82:
From your post I see you are feeling better. I read in the Isral papers theat jets have scrambled over Nothern Israel, I hope you and you do are safe.
@ LtCol Howard:
So glad to read your post again, I use to enjoy them so much when I subscribed to the JJ.
Glick is not wrong at all in her fundamental premise that in spite of the enormous sway America has on Israeli government words, positions and policies, there are instances, depending on the issue and circumstances, that an Israeli leader can find an opening to dare to defy the will of the American government.
Glick’s premise is that Israeli politicians don’t grasp the powerful hold America has on Israel until they ascend to becoming prime minister and she highlights it by her following reference to Eitan Haber:
Former PM Ariel Sharon made a similar point during an interview about how perceptions change on becoming Prime Minister when he commented on his dramatic reversal on some positions regarding Palestinians and his 180 degree turn as regards going out of Gaza, He said: “Things look different from here than they do from there.”
In spite of Glick’s prolixity in making her point, the fundamental point she makes is amply demonstrated and supported.
LtCol Howard Said:
Too many and too close in proximity for there to be any doubt about whether they were intentional. They were intentional.
Americas fears of an Israeli attack against Iran are far greater and disproportionate than her fears of Iran getting actual nukes. I wonder why?
I am confident that Israel knows or has good idea where they are and where they have been distributed.
Probably, but the ultimate club for that is now being prepared and set up which I call the Iranian Nuke club.
Recall the Bush admin reaction when Israel informed them of the Nuke reactor being built? Israel never received a green light from Bush to eliminate the reactor in fact we were ordered not to attack it. American unstated policy has always been since Nixon in how to get Israel to give up her Nukes. Explains the reason for the overwhelming support of non Nuclear Targets like the Palestinians and why the false flag emphasis of this artificial conflict has been stoked and placed at the top of the American/British policy agenda for all these years.
“Explains why Israel a Top Target for U.S. Spying, Leaked Documents Reveal”
The Obama administration views Israel as one of the top spying threats, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171434#.Ukat-H_m5vU
“Israel has nuclear weapons,” – stated the former U.S. Secretary of Defense
I read last year that Israel has refrained from sharing certain Intel to the Americans due to the flood of leaks.
Nothing new here. American Jews liberal or other are Americans first and are always cognizant that their positions, and status as Americans might be threatened or placed under excessive scrutiny by their gentile peers. Whether this is a conscious or sub-conscious phenomena is irrelevant it’s there and underlies the true dilemma American Jews face daily. It makes them associate with WASP Liberals and dictates their anti-right wing evangelical attitudes. One the reasons Pollard was railroaded and is being kept as a visible example to other Jews not to cross certain lines.
1. The United States has intentionally leaked numerous Israeli secrets to the world.
2. When it came to Syria’s chemical weapons, US intelligence leaks have always been harmful to Israel. When Israel might have taken action the US claimed that the US was fully aware of the locations of all of Syria’s stockpiles. When it came to possible US action, the US claimed that the distribution was too widespread and too unknown to take US action. Now, the claim is that locating and destroying Syria’s chemical stockpiles will be relatively trivial.
3 . The United States is intentionally putting the Israeli nuclear deterrent into play as a payoff for the destruction of Syria”s chemical stockpiles.
4. From where I stand I view America’s liberal Jews as a danger to the survival of Israel and my fellow Christians as a 1st line of defense of Israel in the United States. I have observed Tzipi Livini and other left-wing Israelis behind closed doors urge the US government to exercise “tough love on Israel” and to “rescue Israel from its own obstinacy”.