Our “Friend” in the White House is obsessed with the Palestinian narrative.

Here are my thoughts about today’s big speech designed by the White House to ‘reach out to Israel’.

First let me say that we are honored to have had the VP Joe Biden visit with us, he is the Vice President of what has been until now our closest & most trusted ally, The United States of America. Sadly, it remains to be seen if that legacy will carry forward.

Mission Unaccomplished

It’s hard to escape the fact the speech was heavy on lecturing us in Israel, the bulk of it was seemingly devoted to this, Biden’s personal anecdotes of friendship aside.

• How we don’t do enough for peace
• How we don’t risk enough for peace
• How we endanger peace.
• How hard Peace is & how we are making it harder.

As I listened to it, even the parts extolling our long friendship, I couldn’t help but be struck at how superficial it all was. The personal anecdotes were the same ones delivered by Biden previously to AIPAC in other speeches, that’s fine & understandable. It may have effected me nonetheless. I can’t even fault Joe, he delivered his speech well. But I felt it’s as if this White House is just going through the motions when it comes to Israel.

It’s such a stark contrast to the genuine warmth we felt from Bush. When he spoke you could hear it in his voice & see it in his eyes he was true friend. You could feel the alliance pulsing, the passion that real friends or brothers have for each other. Shoulder to shoulder, thick & thin.

This passion & friendship at a leadership level is long gone.

Try as they may to write it out, the White House speech writers, the advisers, down to the President himself they hold no passion for Israel. It’s evident. Biden tried to deliver it for them, but making us wait 45 minutes collectively as a nation for him to get it started certainly did not help. TV stations, radio, all of it live..  Filling in dead air time for nearly an hour making up for the fact Biden was so late!? It contributed to this feeling we have, that we are a chicken or fish bone stuck in the White House throat. That’s how they feel about us and we can sense it, we’re an errand, an annoyance or something to knock off on a post it note.

Obama’s stumbling block to greatness

That’s the reason Obama is so unpopular here. We know that for Obama, in his mind we are a roadblock preventing him from greatness. He feels no doubt the same way about nearly everyone. The US House, the American people, the Congress. It’s very sad, he’s clearly an egomaniac and I won’t mince words. We all know the type, they blame their failures on everyone else, like a slighted Hollywood star who’s acting simply sucks.

So how can anyone here in Israel feel assured, or entrust our very existence to such a ’friend’? It’s frankly beyond me. Truthfully this America Israel stuff should be easy as apple pie. This is not a difficult mission, we love America! We want to be swept off our feet by her, the fact Obama can’t accomplish even this simple task is astounding. It’s speak much more than words can.

Nonetheless, what we really needed to hear is how we would stop Iran. That part was painfully short and passed by all too quickly. Instead we mostly heard how we should stop figuratively abusing the Palestinians and begin delivering for Obama a big win. Indeed, when Obama spoke in Cairo and embraced the Arab narrative it is clear now more than ever, he wasn’t humoring them. This dribble is what he actually believes. It’s 20 years of Jeremiah Wright coming home to roost, and he’s humoring us instead.

This one line from the speech says it all.

It was in reaction to the housing plans announced in Jerusalem which caused such a scandal.
Jerusalem, the territory we made sure everyone understands is not subject to settlement talk, not subject to freezes..

I — and at the request of President Obama, condemned it immediately and unequivocally.

That’s the real story. We had once again dared to stand before President Obama and his failed legacies. We are, and have always been in his mind condemned unequivocally and we know it. If someone had intended to convince us otherwise today, they failed. The speech went out with a whimper, it’s hardly being spoken about or even reported about hours later. I suspect thanks to this Administration, much the same can be said about the American Israel alliance for the next 3 years.

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Anti Israel – Start to Finish.

Capping off a year of stunning Obama incompetence, Joe Biden has come to Israel to re-enforce the Obama administration’s friendship with our country. To err it seems is human, to be stunningly incompetent however is all Obama. Domestically, internationally, any way you slice or dice it so far this President is failing and doing so on an epic scale.

“Solid B+” he cockily intoned while self grading himself on TV. Oh what a sheltered life we lead over there at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue. On the foreign affairs front, nowhere has the failure been more evident than in the US / Israel relationship. The State of Israel is currently more popular with Americans than the President himself! We’re polling better than him according to Gallup figures, near record highs! How embarrassing for the Appeaser in Chief.

Smiles all around

Obama smiles, Joe Biden smiles, Netanyahu smiles. It’s all wonderful but it can’t cover up the latent animosity. Its an animus generated by the US President himself, and a cadre of advisers who let’s not mince words – Don’t like Israel and never have. They identify with the Palestinians. The White House calls it Muslim outreach, in the real world we like to call it yet another grandiose heaping pile of steaming failure.

Let’s Examine the Record

• No one in Israel has forgotten how the President in Cairo delegitmized our entire being here in Israel. A massive affront, felt across every Israeli political stripe. Mr. Obama with his teleprompters single handedly managed to rally 80% of the Israeli public around our right wing Prime Minister, an event until now seen only in times of WAR! Shockwaves rippled across Israel, President clueless was oblivious.
   
• Instead of bridging the gaps he himself had created, perhaps by reaching out to the Israeli public now clearly distrustful of him, the President instead pursued his course of folly.  He opted to lord the existential Iranian sword hanging over us to force Israel into a building freeze across the West Bank. So instead of pressuring Iran where the real action was at, he issued threats to Israel, ingenious really! Priority number one was his pet project, the Palestinians. Quid Pro Quo it was called. Well we quidded, quidded building in the West Bank that is. Where’s the Quo? Failed engagement, stalled sanctions, and a chorus of advisers & veiled threats against Israel should we choose to defend ourselves. Incidentally – The Palestinians rejected our unprecedented concessions, and refused to talk about anything, let alone peace.. While the Iranians suffered a coup d’etat.
   
• When Israeli polling showed only 4% of Israelis felt the President was a friend and pro-Israel ally, (shocking numbers similarly simply unheard of in the annals of Israeli history.) The President still forged onward, sailing his ship of fools. He sent Hillary to lecture us on where we can or cannot build in our own Capital! His promises to Jewish American ears in order to get elected were left simply by the way side – Just words.
   
• When it had become clear to everyone including both the right & left in American media that the pressure gambits on Israel regarding settlements were a dismal failure; When it dawned that engagement follies were ill conceived, planned & implemented in every way. When it dawned the real source of intransigence preventing peace talks were the Palestinians themselves, who simply point blank refused to engage. Did the President assign blame? Of course not. Instead he chose to save that card, preferring to play it against Israel at the nearest opportunity we now learn.
   
• When American Jewish Democrats became disillusioned with their own Messiah, flanked by Israeli leftists begging the President to come to Israel & explain his folly. Months later whom did he send? Joe Biden. While we are honored to receive the US VP, it sent the message loud & clear. Muslims are priority #1 for President Obama. The Jews? Not so much. Worse, Biden was clearly sent here not to clean up Obama’s messes with Israel, but to warn us yet again against striking Iran. Endearing really.
   
• When we excluded Jerusalem from our building freeze, openly – matter of factly. Did Obama get the message? Or was his giant ego utterly incapable of absorbing even basic realities?  The answer seems clear enough, Joe Biden has thrown a hissy fit here WHILE in Israel over our declared building plans in Jerusalem, last night he made Bibi wait 90 minutes with dinner on the table. Apparently we’ve endangered the mockery that is Obama’s greatest achievement. Non existent INDIRECT talks with the Palestinians. Frankly, Bush could achieve more in a night’s sleep than this President can in a year of failures, next time tell Biden the Kitchen is closed, send him out for a slice of Pizza instead.

Just like the UK, Honduras, France, The Czechs and a litany of other nations it boils down to one thing. None of us trust the President of the United States. Incidentally Chris Matthews – It’s not because he’s black. It’s because for all his academic prowess he seems to have a learning disability. Yes ladies & gentlemen, the President is an ideologue, an educated moron cum laude.

Harvard spits them out like Big Macs these days apparently.

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EU, World will be shocked to learn Israel is a Democracy

The Peace Process is being endangered by appeasement. The Palestinians have rejected every peace deal to ever grace their plate, now they refuse to even negotiate. Putting aside for a moment the fact they clearly don’t desire a state so much as the destruction of ours, one begins to wonder why some are so eager to appease them endlessly?

The list is long..

• Israeli Governments of the right & left
• The EU
• American Presidents
• Donor countries pumping in billions per annum in cash
• The UN
• Liberals, NGOs..

It’s practically a party! There are however two entities that are decidedly less keen on appeasing Palestinians. They consist of the Arab world & the Israeli public.

Picking up the Peaces

The Arabs refuse to appease the Palestinians because they’ve been employing them as pawns to bludgeon Israel for over 40 years now. Why ruin the gravy train? No one gives the Palestinians less money, less rights, less land or lesser dreams for a better future then their own Arab brethren, Lebanon is a prime example.

The Israeli public on the other hand, which has given the Palestinians more money, more rights, more land & more hopes for a better future than any Arab nation on earth now refuses to do much more. Out of patience, because this same public has inevitably paid the price of being the pawns sacrificed by the rest of the appeasing world in the name of Palestinian violence, terror, and intransigence. Here in Israel much of that public has simply had enough. That includes incidentally Arab residents of East Jerusalem whom themselves want no part of a PA state it seems.

The dangerous cycle of appeasement has now come to the point where the PA is not even negotiating for Peace. They want all their demands met, they want a state, they want the billions in aid, they want to be courted as players – and in return they offer nothing. Peace is not even on their table.

It’s not land for peace, its now land for appeasement.

The attempt by Sweden, the UK & others this week to pre-determine final status issues when the Palestinians themselves refuse even to negotiate smacks of the most sickening appeasement we’ve seen to date.  These moves rejected by Israel, rejected by the US, and opposed by EU member states including new Europe, Italy & France smack of a form of psychosis removed from all reality. Well reality will come crashing in soon enough.

1st IDF Paratroopers arrive at Western Wall after liberating the old city from Jordan in 1967

The Referendum Bill

The bill 1st tabled under the Olmert Kadima government, passed 1st reading then but was put aside due to elections. It is now tabled again & headed to 2nd & 3rd reading & probable passage. The rest of world may choose to play pretend, but Israel annexed East Jerusalem & the Golan Heights after the defensive 67 war. International actors may think they can pre-determine reality, but they will come up against an inconvenient truth – Israeli democracy & Israeli law, both of which trump pitiful international declarations.

As early as Wednesday, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem Referendum Bill could return to the Knesset plenum for a key vote, after a late-night decision Tuesday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation ensured coalition support for the controversial bill. [...]

“We must safeguard the Land of Israel and accelerate the legislative process, in order to prevent a future possibility of retreat against the will of the people,” said Science and Technology Minister Daniel Herschkowitz, shortly after the committee’s vote.

Indeed, Jerusalem & the Golan belong to the people of Israel, annexed. We control the land - This also is an ‘inconvenient truth’. Our governments, our allies, our ‘Palestinians friends’ can huff & they can puff but when push comes to shove reality can prove to be a cruel mistress. Our current Prime Minister as opposed to previous clowns in the post knows this well..

Netanyahu backs referendum bill, wants public’s support for withdrawals

Knesset expected to pass ‘continuity law’ that allows body to continue legislative discussions on bill obligating national referendum on withdrawals. ‘Any historic peace agreement I bring will be based on support from majority of public,’ PM says. [...]

We hold all the cards.

Any deal must be based in reality, palatable to the Israeli electorate. We are much more crucial to the process than Abbas or his crooked thieving cronies. EU officials would be wise to embrace reality instead of living in an unelected tax payer funded dream consisting of caviar, limos, jets, and unbackable feel good pronouncements designed to tickle Abbas’ testicles. Here in Israel we live in the real world. The threats are grave, the will of the people here is strong & the Democracy will have its say – Whether the EU likes it, or not.

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Update:  Booyah! – Knesset votes in favor at JPOST

The Knesset voted Wednesday afternoon in favor of continuing legislative work on the Golan Heights and Jerusalem Referendum Bill, by an overwhelming majority of 68 to 22, with one abstention. [...] The vote crossed coalition-opposition lines, with over one-third of Kadima MKs supporting the bill, but with the majority of Labor ministers conspicuously absent from the vote.

Livni voted NAY <– After negotiating in total secrecy with PA, nearly selling the farm.. Leader of Kadima doesn’t feel its necessary to consult the public on issues that will affect Israelis for generations. Epic fail.

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Just as pandering to him will achieve pretty much the same..

In Honduras a new President has been elected, he’s a conservative. You know things are going real well when a tiny latin nation tells the leader of the free world to take a hike, and then a few months later he’s lacing up his hiking boots.

In Iran, illicit nuclear enrichment & plutonium work continues unabated & is even expanding while America is seemingly on the retreat. The Russians have given Obama no quarter, and the Arab world from Lebanon to Syria right down to the Palestinians themselves seemingly thumb their noses at Obama on an almost daily basis now.

What has all this talk from the podium achieved? Nothing.

One could argue that these efforts in foreign countries of re-writing history, tarnishing America’s great exceptionalism, embracing Arab narratives, and bowing deep have not delivered tangible concrete results – But that the goal was to engender a ‘feeling’, a wave of good will or hope which itself would deliver..

Such tripe may actually speak to Obama adherents, after all they staked it all on Hope & Change. However sadly for them most of all, reality has fallen flat. The old saying goes ‘talk is cheap’, yet when the President talks someone somewhere inevitably ends up paying a price. Thus far it’s been America and her allies paying with no possible hope of return on the investment.

Feeding the Crocodile

Fouad Ajami writes in the WSJ on Obama’s signature big talk program – Pandering to the Muslim World & the results as recorded by Pew intl surveys..

In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in Ankara didn’t seem to help in Turkey, where the favorables are 14% and those unreconciled, 69%. In Egypt, a country that’s reaped nearly 40 years of American aid, things stayed roughly the same: 27% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 70% do not. In Pakistan, a place of great consequence for American power, our standing has deteriorated: The unfavorables rose from 63% in 2008 to 68% this year.

Mr. Obama’s election has not drained the swamps of anti-Americanism. That anti-Americanism is endemic to this region, an alibi and a scapegoat for nations, and their rulers, unwilling to break out of the grip of political autocracy and economic failure. It predated the presidency of George W. Bush and rages on during the Obama presidency.

In other words, nothing has changed.

Here in Israel however plenty has changed. A nation which reveres America & her leaders has turned decidedly sour on Obama across the board. Through it all we’ve tossed concession after concession to feed the appeasement monster that is Obama’s failed policies, all in the hopes that he will have our back in regards to Iran. That’s what this is about, no one here believes the Palestinians want peace, we know what they want – Pieces of Israel one after the other until nothing is left.

Sadly, this notion that we can feed the Obama beast chunks of appeasement meat in return for his good graces is just as flawed as Obama’s own failed philosophies. We can freeze settlements, hand off Jerusalem, prostrate ourselves to failed international policies till the sun comes up. It won’t deliver peace, not with an Arab world which still hasn’t reconciled itself to Israel. Nor will it deliver American carrier groups & B-2 strike bombers to flatten those enemies which threaten us & the region as a whole.

I can’t say I blame my Prime Minister, appeasement is in fashion these days. I just hope he’s got a backup plan for when the day dawns on all of us here in Israel, that just like the Palestinians, Obama is incapable of delivering the goods.

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Mofaz tables Disengagement+ in bid to top Livni

The internal battle for the Kadima leadership rolls on. Shaul Mofaz the party #2 seized an opportune moment (all Israeli political heavy weights abroad) to let loose a bombshell as part of his leadership bid, a new peace plan.. To recognize a Palestinian State!

[...] Under the plan, Israel would annex settlement blocs while withdrawing from 60 percent of the West Bank, comprising Areas A and B, where 99.2 of the Palestinians live, and additional land to create territorial contiguity. A Palestinian state would be set up in those areas of the West Bank and in Gaza, while no settlements would be evacuated at that stage.

Israel would then negotiate the fate of the rest of the West Bank and other core issues of the conflict with the leadership of the new Palestinian state, while passing legislation sanctioning compensation for settlers living in outlying settlements that would be evacuated.

“As a candidate to lead the country, I felt I had to present a plan” – Mofaz. [...]

Mofaz’s plan is very different than Livni’s Annapolis process, in which Israel would make no concessions to the Palestinians until a final-status deal would be reached on all issues. Bypassing Livni on the left, Mofaz said he would be willing to negotiate with Hamas under certain conditions to advance the plan.

“If Hamas would be elected and would want to negotiate and accept the quartet’s conditions, from that moment, it is no longer Hamas,” Mofaz said. “Responsible leadership in Israel would sit with those who changed their agenda.” [...]

Please everyone but Israel plan..

Shaul Mofaz goes gunning for Livni

Not quite sure what if any benefit would arise from Mofaz’s plan. We already tried the disengagement plan in Gaza with poor results. This time out Mofaz seems convinced the entity leading this proposed Palestinian state may be Hamas from the get go, yet he’s undeterred. Isn’t the objective supposed to be gaining some peace? It seems highly unlikely any deal would result from this disengagement+ plan, we’d be in the same spot we are in now less the land and with 10x the security threat.

Equally, this doesn’t assist us in any way securing a regional peace deal with the Arab world. Sorta looks like a plan full of rewards for all the wrong people (including terrorists) with little payoff for Israel. Mofaz is clearly gambling he can rely on his solid right military credentials.. While leaping way left, poaching at Livni’s support base in the mix of Labor, Kadima, Meretz liberal soup that exists.

Time will tell how solid that keeps his right flank in Kadima & beyond. The center party is comprised of both right & left after all. Is this electable? Olmert certainly tried, but witness the backlash in Israel with the resurgent right as a result.

Not that it matters much – Hamas responds..

Former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas responded that it would never accept the Quartet’s conditions, which include recognizing Israel, disarming terrorists, and accepting diplomatic deals signed by the PA.

“Hamas will not negotiate with Israel,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. “We do not believe in engaging with the occupation, or in talks that would beautify its face in the eyes of the world.” [...]

Mofaz is gunning for Livni

Shaul is sure to get much more headway with his plan internally within Kadima. He upstages Livni who’s leadership qualities are being weekly challenged within the party, he even tosses in the fact Ehud Barak & President Peres support the initiative. All subtle jabs at Tzipi. Her personal relationship with Barak is frosty at best, and her own plan beyond opposing Netanayhu in everything remains obscured. The strategy of undermining her here is already paying off..

Kadima warms to Mofaz plan for Hamas talks, despite Livni opposition (Haaretz)

Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni on Tuesday slammed party rival Shaul Mofaz’ plan to open negotiations with Hamas in order to push forth the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying the concept ran contrary to their faction’s political platform.

While Livni would prefer to ignore the initiative of her number 2, however, she will not be able to avoid the issue for very long, as Kadima MKs are demanding a serious discussion. [...]

A number of Kadima MKs, some of whom supported Livni in her primary fight against Mofaz, support discussing his proposal. [...]

Not Ready for Prime Time

All in all it doesn’t look like Mofaz’s plan will gain much traction in the wider Israel arena, it’s too far left for the climate, not too mention dreamy in regards to Hamas. But I’m not sure it was designed for that purpose. With Bibi, Lieberman, Barak, Livni all clamoring at the top for the leadership of Israel stakes, it is a bit crowded up there right now.

Mofaz has other things to worry about, he’s got to knock Livni out of the Kadima leadership perch before he can play on their turf.  His plan looks like the latest in a series of ever more forceful branch shakes.

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Link Update: Mofaz taking heat & clarifying his Hamas statements (Jpost)

“I was the one who fought Hamas through the crosshairs of an Apache [assault helicopter], I stood behind the assassinations of [Sheikh Ahmed] Yassin and [Abdel Aziz] Rantisi and did everything I could to halt the suicide-bombers’ terror from Judea and Samaria during Operation Defensive Shield, and was in charge of the ongoing hits on top Hamas figures between 2003-2005 in Gaza. Nobody can doubt what I think about Hamas.”

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Much better than the new season of Smallville..

The Hudson Institute may not be a team in the MLB, but they sure know how to crack one out of the park.  The topic? Particularly timely and suitably riveting for political junkies such as myself:

U.S.-Israeli Relations - Challenges to the Special Relationship.

Hudson's 3rd Panel - But they were all very very good!

The Panels? One after the other some of the most balanced I have ever seen, fantastic stuff.

Even the opening speech (usually a borefest) was particularly good, with Ambassador Oren delivering a surprisingly interesting and frankly illuminating speech clearly written specifically for the event – Unlike the usual stump speech.

Highlights:

Certainly included Daniel Levy (of Yossi Beilin, Obama tuchus licking fame) making a total ignoramus of himself (I could watch that all day), but that was just the cherry on top of what can only be described as delicious overall viewing. Look at some of these experts lined up..

Ambassador Oren; Aaron David Miller, Douglas Feith, Robert Lieber, Marty Peretz, Gabriel Schoenfeld, Martin Indyk, Elliott Abrams, David Wurmser, Michael Makovsky.

I love it, only complaint is the oddball video player at the Hudson website which makes access to this excellent content a bit difficult. If you have been following the US / Israel relationship in the age of Obama, or have had concerns over recent US policy, these panels will certainly please!

It should also be noted that one of the panels was clearly designed with the controversial J Street in mind, but J Street founder Ben-Ami was a no show. Judging by Levy’s pitiful display this was probably for the best.

I’ve seen video of dozens of think tank symposiums, hundreds of hours of c-span etc etc. This is definitely memorable stuff imho.

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Denials abound, but so do the many causal links & leaks..

Signs: Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia align

When Obama’s administration first tabled the ideology behind its mid east peace efforts, a core argument was the driving need to take advantage of what was termed ‘a rare opportunity for consensus’. The argument was that the Iranian rush to nuclear technology which must be stopped, had created a rare spot of common ground for often feuding parties all around the Middle East. I recall Senator Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee waxing lyrically about it at the time, and the need to urgently re-examine the Saudi Peace Plan as a result.

A policy of convenient linkage was put forward by the White House quite publically - The peace process was key to solving the Iranian riddle, and as such a massive effort toward Palestinian Israeli engagement was necessary. The Saudi’s weren’t all that interested however, they rejected the notion that forging Palestinian peace was a pre-requisite to stopping Iran. They further quickly doused any talk of concessions to Israel, a key component of Obama’s linkage plan.

Israel also rejected the notion, Netanyahu in fact argued the opposite linkage. The only way to facilitate an eventual peace he said was to remove a main instigator preventing peace, Iran – World’s most prolific sponsor of terror, and patron of the Hezbollah & Hamas radical Islamic terror groups. All three openly sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Thus, in a most backhand manner, it appeared that there was indeed Saudi Israeli consensus. Consensus which was shared with Egypt as well, that Iran must be stopped and more effort toward that goal was needed. The quiet consensus seemingly emerged that America was not being aggressive enough toward that goal. We heard rumblings about it after expansive tours of the Gulf by Sec Def. Gates & Admiral Mullen, the senior US defense officials sent by Obama to brief Gulf leaders.

Signs: The Saudi Strike Path

Not once, but twice now we have heard rumors involving the Saudis spill over into the international press. Rumors regarding possible overflights Israel might employ to cut the distance involved striking the Iranian nuclear weapons programs.  Both rumors linked talks with Israel’s Mossad chief Meir Dagan, and the Sauds possibly turning a blind eye to any Israeli aircraft which might be headed to Iran across the vast Saudi deserts & kingdom.

On both occasions, these rumors were flatly denied by both the Saudis & Israel. Of course, that would be the case whether they were based in reality or not. If anything even in the best case scenario this would be a marriage of convenience, not love or lust that is for certain. But, against the odds another compelling sign has emerged.

Signs: Saudi Largess

The House of Saud is on a military spending binge, a world leading one at that. They are buying up tens of billions of dollars worth of military hardware, a lot of it is advanced US equipment. Israel doth protest, but not all that loudly which suggests a tacit understanding on the international level of sorts that these weapons and systems are not aimed at the holy land. This last point I am arguing may seem somewhat weak in the signs department, but I’ll up the ante and solidify the link by bringing in Russia.

Israel, assisted somewhat by the USA has been vigorously petitioning Russia not to sell Iran advanced Russian S-300 Anti Aircraft missile systems. This has been ongoing for a few years. Escalating to the point where Israel has in its own leaks & rumors threatened that such a weapons system delivery to Iran, could spur an immediate Israeli strike. Clearly, the issue is regarded with the utmost of seriousness as such weapons in Iran could remove a strike option from the table entirely. Thankfully we can suddenly add Russia to the pot of Israeli & Saudi interests seemingly converging.

The Saudi S-400s

When Israel most recently petitioned the Russians (again) about the S-300, the Ruskies were rumored to have replied something along the lines of.. ‘If you don’t want us delivering these S-300s to Iran, why don’t you buy them from us instead?‘

The implication being clear enough. The Iranian contract was lucrative, but the Russians might be prepared to take the billion plus dollars such a sale would ring up for them someplace else. That sticker price however is a bit steep for Israel to absorb, especially since such a system cannot be integrated into Israel’s defenses which are based entirely on Israeli & American design.

Video: Saudis Buying S-400s?

Which brings us oddly enough back to the Saudis. Their systems and the many billions of dollars more they have pledged to purchase are also mostly American designs. Which makes their recent moves to purchase a big S-400 order from Russia quite interesting. Unlike Israel, the Saudis can afford a billion here or there to prevent the delivery of said missiles to Iran. Maybe the offer was to Israel, but in the interests of détente in the face of a common threat - the Saudis have yet again come in to close the deal on keeping the pressure on Iran.

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American Jewry Responds to the Pressure Israel Meme

I’ve said it before, I simply do not believe American Jewry would hang Israel out to dry. Tough love the US Administration called it, policy based on an uncomfortably close relationship between far left wing agenda ridden groups & the White House, namely Jstreet. Pressure Israel, Israel is the obstacle, settlements are the obstacle..

J-street’s own bogus custom polling is designed to elicit distorted conclusions & produce media sound-bytes. It’s designed not to engender cooperation or strengthen the US Israel strategic relationship but to push a selective agenda. Sadly for J-street, the highly respected and authoritative yearly AJC polling of American Jewry is now out, and the results are not pretty for the Jstreet crew like Beilin, Ben-Ami or Daniel Levy.. 

American Jews have taken a sharply hawkish turn on Iran, with a majority now supporting a U.S. military strike to end that country’s nuclear weapons program, according to this year’s Survey of American Jewish Public Opinion, released on Wednesday by the American Jewish Committee. [...]

In the survey, 51 percent disagreed “with the Obama administration’s call for a stop to all new Israeli settlement activity, with 41 percent agreeing with that policy.

“That’s a significant shift, and the Obama administration is at fault for putting too much emphasis on the issue of settlements,” said Seymour Reich, a former president of the dovish Israel Policy Forum (IPF). “As a result, the Netanyahu government has outfoxed the administration — and taken American Jewish public opinion along with them.”

Ummm huh.. So much for the cooked claims by Jstreet to the contrary. But wait, on Iran it gets even worse for the pacifist appeasing anti-Israel crowd. In fact it gets much worse. We already know that in Israel the Obama policy has dramatically failed, that support for the US President is below 5% while Netanyahu is soaring in consensus. What we learn is that there is what is being termed ‘Unease’ within the American Jewish community at large over these pressure Israel policies as well, and that when it comes to Iran & existential threats – Even the Liberals get hawkish..

I advise reading the whole thing, because it is a real eye opener

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