Rock Solid Squabble

What to make of the continuing squabble between Israel and America? Now that Netanyahu has returned to Israel after Obama took him to the Whitehouse woodshed, we can venture a few observations and perhaps offer some insight.

Firstly, it is clear that Israel’s parliamentary democracy is of the messy kind. Coalition parties that are bought off to keep Likud in power are not beholden to Netanyahu. They are openly defiant of him. This also happens in Italy, Germany, and everywhere else where there is a need to gather coalition partners to form a legislative majority. A real statesman, a man of conviction who cared about his country, would have made a deal with Tzipi and her Kadima party so as not to be ruled by religious and settler extremists. Netanyahu is not that man. So, as Donald Rumsford used to say, “stuff happens,” and it will continue to happen so long as Netanyahu’s cabinet act more like saboteurs than ministers.

Secondly, Israeli’s are human after all. So to them, what has worked for the past forty years should work for the next forty: settlement building, West Bank land seizures, and “purchases” and expansion of existing lands by “natural causes.” These have resulted in a greatly enlarged Israel. To the Israeli’s, Obama is simply the current President, he’ll be gone soon enough, so why stop seizing and building just to please him?

Lastly, the Israeli’s are playing a game of subterfuge. Rather than clearly stating their policy on Jerusalem and laying it out for the world to see, then defending their position, they remain obscure and silent, the result being disinformation by a thousand cuts. This block-by-block neighborhood cat and mouse game only lets the unstated policy goals fester, and guarantees that Israel will continue to earn the enmity of its allies and the anger of its enemies until the last building is seized.

If Netanyahu has not read an American newspaper lately he may have missed the fact that President Obama just vanquished the Republican Party by having gotten his Health Care bill passed. Slaying this ugly dragon - against all odds - has surely emboldened him and his administration. Note to Bibi: Obama is done having Mediterranean sand (or Jerusalem stone) kicked in his face. A more aware Israel should have known that.

Yes (of course) all the “Israel right or wrong” defenders have jumped into the fray: AIPAC, Lieberman, et al. Yes (of course) all the right public retractions and statements like “rock solid relationship” were uttered. But the damage to the “special bond” was done. V.P. Bidden was tripped up on a Mideast carpet and humiliated.

At Java Jag we dig a little deeper into things, so let’s consider some other reasons for this contretemps between Israel and America. Let’s look at some other American and European policy failures that might be playing an unconscious role in exacerbating this current rift.
Iran is a good place to start. Here, President Obama has had little success. He has failed to prevent the Iranians from continuing to build their bomb, and failed to persuade any of our allies to come out with a definitive statement on military action, even as the Iranians continue to defy all the U.N agreements they signed on to. He has failed to rally Russia and China to even consider sanctions, even as the centrifuges spin away. He can’t feel good about our pathetic responses and those of our European allies to a nuclear armed Iran.

Then there is Hezbollah. The outlines of the next major war in the Mideast are clear to everyone - even without the latest 3D glasses. In defiance of the U.N. (yes, once again) the Lebanese government has given encouragement and legitimacy to the massive and illegal rearmament of Hezbollah. Clueless U.N. inspectors have allowed more missiles with greater payloads and more destructive accuracy to be placed right under their noses. Not only has Lebanon not demanded that this cease, the government has endorsed Hezbollah’s right to “resist” Israel. This next war has the potential to devastate Lebanon and Syria, draw in Iran, and result in serious damage to Israeli cities, all of which could well require America to come to Israel’s defense. This is happening on the Obama administration’s watch.

Finally, in a sideshow of comical dimensions, Britain and the Europeans are more outraged at the use of their passports to kill one blood-stained man than of their failure to stop what will surely be the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents in Shia South Lebanon and beyond. After the next round of bombardment, Lebanon as they know it, might well cease to exist. Israel has done a poor job of pointing out the irrationality of its critics and constantly pays the price for that failure in the public relations arena.

It is only human nature to lash out at what you think you can influence, and remain silent at that which is intractable. It is in this context that the Obama administration’s anger at Israel should be viewed. The peaceful Mideast that Obama envisioned and hoped for seems as far away as before. The Israeli’s are only half – perhaps less than half - of the failed equation, but still deserving of criticism. However, to Java Jag, the other, perhaps greater half bears attention too. We would like to see the President’s animus directed at the countries behind the massive armaments pouring into Israel’s neighbors. We would like him to dress down Abbas for spewing hate and lionizing the murderers of children, and for promoting the cult of death on street names.

A good first step would be for Netanyahu to remove those strategic liabilities from his cabinet that have proven (over and over) to embarrass his country and himself. He should put his people first and his career second. Israel should endeavor to be a faithful ally and get the outrage focused outside its borders.