Israel Radio aired this odd report from its political correspondent, Chico Menashe:
A senior source in Jerusalem said that if the U.S. resumes putting pressure on Israel on the subject of Palestine, it would indicate a political vendetta meant to topple Netanyahu, despite the results of the election.
The source, seeking anonymity, said…that there are signs that there will be pressure on Israel to stop military incursions into Area A [which is supposed to be under total PA control]. According to him, such pressure would lead to a disruption of the security “quiet” in the West Bank and would seriously threaten stability.
He said further that the Palestinians are expected to try to strengthen their political capital by means of the ICC and the Security Council. We can only hope that the Americans will not strengthen their hand through added pressure on Israel.
We’ve all heard of red-baiting and Jew-baiting and gay-baiting. Now we see “Obama-baiting.” This is, as far as I can tell, a pre-emptive strike at the U.S., warning that if it gives succor to Palestinians either at the ICC or Security Council; and should such pressure lead to the toppling of the Netanyahu government, he will blame the U.S.
The message is that Bibi will make Obama a domestic political issue in Israel should there be a new set of elections. Not that he didn’t do that in spades during the last one! I suppose he’s saying: if you think that was bad, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!
Bibi’s playing a game of chicken. He knows Obama hates him and wants to attend his political funeral. He’s afraid of what the U.S. president is willing to do to achieve this. To deter him, he fires this shot across the bow.
Frankly, I don’t think Obama will bite. This won’t frighten him. The president will bide his time until the moment is right. Whenever there is an opening presented by Bibi’s boo-boos or the natural course of events, he will take advantage. But he’ll have to do this extremely delicately so as not to fall into Bibi’s trap.
What makes little sense here is the notion that U.S. pressure would make the government fall. The opposite seems true. This is not just a right-wing, but an extremist government. Any outside intervention on the question of Palestine would make everyone more obdurate in support of the government. It’s far more likely this government would fall over a mundane perk, scandal or petty slight offered against a member of the coalition. Israeli governments rarely fall over issues of principle.
Obama should do it.
He really should put pressure on Netanyahu with the aim of making that government fail.
He should do it. After all, it’s not as if the USA hasn’t done that to other countries.
And if Netanyahu calls new elections and campaigns on that basis and wins then,…… Obama should simply do it again, and watch Netanyahu’s govt fall. Again.
And Obama should keep doing that until the message finally sinks in to the Israeli electorate.
After all, what is it to Obama if Israel ends up having elections every few months?
Why should he care? All he should care about is getting an Israeli govt that he can work with.
Because it’s pretty obvious he isn’t going to be able to work with this Israeli govt.
It is often argued that pressure on Israel (pressure for ANY reason) will make Israelis more obdurate. BDS for example is advised to limit itself to targeting OPTs and express connections to settlements. The fact that the government (and thus the entire country) support the settlements is not considered a reason to “attack” (that is, to BDS-ize) the country as a whole, because one really doesn’t want to uopset (and obdurzte-ize) the country as a whole.
Really? why not? It is not a matter of USA (or Obama personally) getting someone he can talk to (or dictate to). Nor is it a matter of trying to get a government that willingly joins hands with BDS and sings tra-la-la.
No. Pressure should be real (it has never been real agaisnt israel since Eisenhower, I believe) and heavy (or accellerating from light to heavy on a predictable and dependable path) and will make Israelis obdurate for a while until they (or their big corporations) feel sufficient pain. And then they will change (or nuke the USA or something or somebody else). One hopes they will “change” by doing whatever the pressure-bringers have clearly demanded. But Israel makes a practice of being vastly over-reacting and unpredictable.
All a bit frightening.
President Jimmy Carter and James Baker III after the first Gulf War. The Clintons were a push-over … hmm Democrats, no wonder Obama failed miserably with HC.
“The message is that Bibi will make Obama a domestic political issue in Israel should there be a new set of elections.”
All the more reason that Obama should pile on the pressure.
The American sheeple have been conditioned by their own media into believing that Israel is an invaluable ally.
It isn’t. It’s an ingrate, and it is well past time that the American public be made aware of that. And there can be few better ways of bringing that home than an Israeli election that is dominated by a single issue: which side can pour a bigger bucket of s**t on a sitting POTUS.
So Obama really should pile that pressure up as high as he can, and if Netanyahu does win an election based on Let’s All Show How Much We Hate America then Obama should…. simply double-down, and then double it again until those ingrates finally learn a painful but necessary lesson: don’t presume that you can piss around with the USA.
After all, who’s the superpower here?
+1!