Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Jewish Wingnut Alert:

Now that I’ve got your attention I should point out that the title is a lie, just as is this roughly parallel charge by the American far-right American Thinker and Commentary Magazines.  This is real “out there” stuff. I liken it to the Jewish version of the National Enquirer. So I hope you can follow the whacked out “argument” as outlined in Key Obama adviser called for US military invasion of denuded Israel:

A video clip from a 2002 interview reveals Power calling for…”sacrificing … billions of dollars not in servicing the Israeli military but rather investing in the new state of Palestine” and in a “mammoth protection force.”

Power suggested that the US would need to send a “meaningful military presence” to go in on a scale greater than any previous force. Though “imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is as a “dreadful… a terrible thing to do, … fundamentally undemocratic,” she said, it was essential to stop Israeli and Palestinian leaders who seem “politically destined to destroy the lives of their own peoples.” She suggested that just as “external intervention” in Rwanda might have prevented genocide, doing the the same in “Palestine-Israeli situation” would likely prove “lesser evils.”

Did you follow that?  Powers, way back in 2002, suggested that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are capable of resolving their conflict; and that in the interests of regional stability and ending the bloodshed for both sides, that the U.S. should intervene and possibly impose a settlement on both sides.  Sounds like advocating an invasion to me, doesn’t it?

By the way, this is an idea that Power didn’t think up herself.  In fact, Zeev Sternhell, distinguished Hebrew University professor who was the victim of an assassination attempt last week, suggested precisely this idea in a post bombing interview.  Henry Siegman has also suggested it.

One can legitimiately argue whether this proposal can work in the face of possible opposition from both sides.  But to smear the idea by calling it an invasion of Israel is beyond ludicrous.

By the way, would anyone care to lay down a wager on how long it wll be before Marty Peretz starts shreying from the rooftops about this in his TNR blog, The Spine[less]? The list of other right-wing loony tunes sites which features this dreck is the usual suspects, but I really liked the sound of this one, Fuckfrance. Isn’t the blog name a bit passe considering France is now ruled by a president who adores the U.S. and Bush politics?

Considering that Samantha Power left the Obama campaign months ago, one wonders what’s the point of this smear now. The Israel Insider piece gives you your answer:

The Irish-born Power, pegged as a leading candidate for a top foreign policy position in a prospective Obama administration, perhaps NSC Advisor or even Secretary of State…

The militant pro-Israel right here in the U.S. is terribly frightened of the Middle East advisors Obama will appoint to negotiate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They want to lay down the first marker in the battle to ensure honest brokers like Power will not make it into the new Administration. They’ve smeared Brzezinski, they’ve smeared Rob Malley, now they’re smearing Samantha Power. It’s a shame.