Pro-Palestinian bias
At the Sunday Israeli Cabinet meeting PM Netanyahu reiterated that he is ready to meet with Pres. Abbas of the PA as soon as possible to begin negotiations without any preconditions. In response, Pres. Abbas said that he is not prepared to meet with Netanyahu until he accepts the American precondition of a freeze on all settlement construction, including "natural growth." Since when has the US been so pro-Palestinian that the head of the PA defers to the precondition set by the American President, Obama.
Perhaps Netanyahu should say that he is not prepared to meet with Abbas until he meets the Road Map condition that he stop all violence, terrorism and incitement against Israel. But, the US has not made that a comparable precondition for the Palestinians. They always get off easy, even though Obama avers that he is putting pressure on the Arab States, we never hear about that in the media.
Then the Foreign Policy Chief of the EU Javier Solana, who is retiring at last, said that if Israel does not recognize a Palestinian State in 6 months, the UN Security Council should establish one unilaterally. Apart from the fact that this would be a new policy of the EU, never before has the UN Security Council established a state de novo. In fact a Palestinian State could not be founded without Israeli cooperation as required by previous international agreements, as welklas deciding who would govern such an entity. But, once again the fact that he would even say this shows a clear pro-Palestinian bias.
Pres. Obama met with a group of representatives of American Jewry in the Oval Office on Monday. But, this group was carefully pre-selected to give it a left-wing bias. Americans for Peace Now and Avenue J were present while the ZOA, the Lubavich Movement and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) were excluded. This was no doubt intended to result in a friendlier attitude of the liberal Jewish organizations towards Obama, rather than the traditional pro-Israel and Zionist organizations. But even this liberal crowd suggested that Obama should visit Israel, after his visits to Cairo, Russia and Ghana, and before he decides to visit Syria or Iran. They felt that he needs to visit here to show that he is not in fact Israel's "enemy". I doubt that he will get an enthusiastic welcome here. We are not stupid, and at the last count only 6% of Israelis thought that Obama is a "friend" of Israel, compared to 78% of US Jews who support him. It will be interesting to see how such a visit will be responded to in Israel.
Perhaps Netanyahu should say that he is not prepared to meet with Abbas until he meets the Road Map condition that he stop all violence, terrorism and incitement against Israel. But, the US has not made that a comparable precondition for the Palestinians. They always get off easy, even though Obama avers that he is putting pressure on the Arab States, we never hear about that in the media.
Then the Foreign Policy Chief of the EU Javier Solana, who is retiring at last, said that if Israel does not recognize a Palestinian State in 6 months, the UN Security Council should establish one unilaterally. Apart from the fact that this would be a new policy of the EU, never before has the UN Security Council established a state de novo. In fact a Palestinian State could not be founded without Israeli cooperation as required by previous international agreements, as welklas deciding who would govern such an entity. But, once again the fact that he would even say this shows a clear pro-Palestinian bias.
Pres. Obama met with a group of representatives of American Jewry in the Oval Office on Monday. But, this group was carefully pre-selected to give it a left-wing bias. Americans for Peace Now and Avenue J were present while the ZOA, the Lubavich Movement and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) were excluded. This was no doubt intended to result in a friendlier attitude of the liberal Jewish organizations towards Obama, rather than the traditional pro-Israel and Zionist organizations. But even this liberal crowd suggested that Obama should visit Israel, after his visits to Cairo, Russia and Ghana, and before he decides to visit Syria or Iran. They felt that he needs to visit here to show that he is not in fact Israel's "enemy". I doubt that he will get an enthusiastic welcome here. We are not stupid, and at the last count only 6% of Israelis thought that Obama is a "friend" of Israel, compared to 78% of US Jews who support him. It will be interesting to see how such a visit will be responded to in Israel.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:39 PM
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