Barack and Bibi?
The question is already being asked, now that Pres. Obama is due to take over in the USA in January and Bibi Netanyahu is expected to win the Israeli election in February, how will Barack and Bibi get along? Bear in mind that Obama is from the left of the US political spectrum and Bibi is from the right of the Israeli one.
For me this is the ideal combination. I trust someone from the right to represent Israel's interests and not to bend as easily as someone from the left with the pressure that is always being placed on Israeli Governments by the US. Since Obama is of the left, he has emphasized in his campaign that he intends to "talk" to America's enemies, Iran, Syria, N. Korea, etc. While this may not do much good, it will give him perhaps a good dose of reality. For example, Former Pres. Carter just went to Lebanon and wanted to talk to the leaders of Hizbollah, but they rejected him, saying that they have no interest in talking to any American whose Govt. supports the Zionist enemy. But, apart from the futility of this, it will also give Obama and Secty. of State Clinton a good chance to assess the possibilities of "improving the image of the US abroad." The left are always very concerned with what others think of them and don't like to be disliked. As one Clintonite wrote recently "no more of this 'are you with us or against us philosophy.'" So they will be aiming for a more nuanced approach with shades of grey rather than black or white. Unfortunately, when dealing with terrorism there is little place for shades of grey. Let's hope they will learn this early.
Also, let's hope they learn that the Israel-Arab dispute is not the basis of everything. The situation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir for example, is far more dangerous and explosive, since both have atomic weapons, and this has nothing to do with the Middle East conflict. Also, the drive of Islamism is far more dangerous than other issues and cannot be ameliorated by placating the Palestinians. Once they grasp these two basics, that the terrorist supporting nations are the enemy and the Israel-Palestine conflict is not as important as Arab propaganda tries to make out it is, then they may be able to develop a useful approach to foreign policy. When they do, they will find Israel under Netanyahu as a crucial and strong ally in the Middle East.
For me this is the ideal combination. I trust someone from the right to represent Israel's interests and not to bend as easily as someone from the left with the pressure that is always being placed on Israeli Governments by the US. Since Obama is of the left, he has emphasized in his campaign that he intends to "talk" to America's enemies, Iran, Syria, N. Korea, etc. While this may not do much good, it will give him perhaps a good dose of reality. For example, Former Pres. Carter just went to Lebanon and wanted to talk to the leaders of Hizbollah, but they rejected him, saying that they have no interest in talking to any American whose Govt. supports the Zionist enemy. But, apart from the futility of this, it will also give Obama and Secty. of State Clinton a good chance to assess the possibilities of "improving the image of the US abroad." The left are always very concerned with what others think of them and don't like to be disliked. As one Clintonite wrote recently "no more of this 'are you with us or against us philosophy.'" So they will be aiming for a more nuanced approach with shades of grey rather than black or white. Unfortunately, when dealing with terrorism there is little place for shades of grey. Let's hope they will learn this early.
Also, let's hope they learn that the Israel-Arab dispute is not the basis of everything. The situation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir for example, is far more dangerous and explosive, since both have atomic weapons, and this has nothing to do with the Middle East conflict. Also, the drive of Islamism is far more dangerous than other issues and cannot be ameliorated by placating the Palestinians. Once they grasp these two basics, that the terrorist supporting nations are the enemy and the Israel-Palestine conflict is not as important as Arab propaganda tries to make out it is, then they may be able to develop a useful approach to foreign policy. When they do, they will find Israel under Netanyahu as a crucial and strong ally in the Middle East.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:55 PM
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