« Slavery Is Now Being Put into Practice by the Ukrainian Government: Results from Ukraine’s New Law for Government-Imposed Slavery (And How Western ‘News’ Media Have Hidden All of This from You)Ballots or Bullets: Democracy and World Power »

Cracks in US/Israeli Special Relationship?

November 1st, 2014

by Stephen Lendman

On March 25, 1948, Harry Truman met secretly with Chaim Weizmann. He later served as 2nd Chairman of the Provisional State Council of Israel and its first president. A largely ceremonial post.

Truman pledged support for the future Jewish state. Minutes after midnight on May 15, 1948, America was the first country to extend recognition.

A special relationship began. Thereafter it grew financially, politically, militarily, diplomatically, and counterproductively.

On many issues mattering most, the Israeli tail wags the US dog. Whether or not Washington's interests are served.

Israel benefits most. America loses more than it gains. Serious reassessment is needed. It's long overdue. Both countries threaten world peace. United they endanger humanity.

In their book titled "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy,” John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that Israel is "increasingly a strategic liability…"

"It is time for the United States to treat Israel not as a special case but as a normal state, and to deal with it much as it deals with any other country."

Doing so "means no longer pretending that Israel and America's interests are identical, or acting as if Israel deserves steadfast US support no matter what it does."

The special relationship continues. Solid for decades. More recently like a bad romance. Obama and Netanyahu clearly dislike each other.

In a November 2012 press conference, an open microphone caught former French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying "I cannot bear" Netanyahu. He called him "a liar."

Obama responded saying: "You're fed up, but I have to deal with him every day."

According to Netanyahu:

"Leaders are tested at times of differences with our allies, even our closest allies. We face huge challenges."

"As prime minister, it's my duty to insist on Israel's vital interests and to ensure its security and future."

As long as he remains prime minister, relations with America and other nations won't be easy. His bluster wore thin long ago.

In 2011, he lectured Obama on Jewish history. He has a knack of making more enemies than friends. He alienates associates around him.

He heads Israel's most extremist ever government. Racist, repressive, neoliberal and fascist. Democracy is pure fantasy.

He's arrogant, abrasive, duplicitous, thuggish, and dangerous. An embarrassment to legitimate governance. Why Israelis put up with him they'll have to explain.

One observer urged him to "set red lines on his malice toward Obama." Israelis and many others deplore his bluster.

He's gone out of his way to alienate support from his closest ally. An unnamed Israeli official said he caused "profound" damage in relations with Washington.

He's irresponsible. Oversteping traditional boundaries. According to a Bulgarian proverb:

"When God wants to punish someone, the first thing He does is take away his brains."

Bibiism is a state of mind. Reflecting his hardline world view. Rejecting opposing views. Engaging in confrontational politics

Never missing a chance for a good fight. Avoiding reconciliation and cooperation.

It's hard putting up with his antics. Former State Department spokesman PJ Crowley witnessed nine face-to-face meetings with Obama.

There's "a lack of rapport between these two men," he said. "They don't like each other very much. Plus, there are serious differences between our interests and Israel's."

On October 28, Atlantic columnist Jeffrey Goldberg headlined "The Crisis in US-Israeli Relations Is Officially Here," saying:

"The Obama administration's anger is 'red-hot' over Israel's settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East."

"Profound changes in the relationship may be coming." Goldberg quoted an unnamed "senior administration official" calling Netanyahu "a chickenshit."

Goldberg called him "the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most."

US and Israeli officials discuss each other privately. In less than amicable ways. "(A)nother sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis," said Goldberg.

Relations between the two administrations is worst ever, he added. Likely worsening further after Tuesday's mid-term elections, he believes.

"By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program," he said.

In 2012, Netanyahu campaigned openly for Mitt Romney. Welcoming him to Israel during a campaign visit. Appearing with him in Republican ads.

Goldberg largely blames him for strained relations. He's "written off" the Obama administration.

According to one unnamed US official, " 'red-hot anger' at Netanyahu" persists.

"(F)or pursuing settlement policies on the West Bank, and building policies in Jerusalem…"

"Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and 'Aspergery,' " said Goldberg.

He hadn't previously heard Netanyahu called a "chickenshit." The unnamed US official explained, saying:

"The bad thing about him is that he won't do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states."

"The only thing he's interested in is protecting himself from political defeat…He's got no guts."

Another unnamed senior Obama official expressed similar views. On peace process hypocrisy, settlements, Iran, and "near-pathological desire for career-preservation."

Netanyahu went way out of his way to "let the world know that it will quicken the pace of apartment-building in disputed areas of East Jerusalem," said Goldberg.

And express "contempt for the Obama administration and its understanding of the Middle East."

In part, to mobilize his base. Ahead of possible 2015 elections. On October 27, he called critics of his East Jerusalem settlement construction policy "disconnected from reality."

Both countries disagree on major issues. Like all close allies. At the same time, Goldberg can't recall "a period of sustained and mutual contempt."

Much relates to Netanyahu's "periodic explosions of anti-American condescension," he said.

Months earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon called John Kerry "obsessive and messianic."

He denounced his peace plan. Calling it "not worth the paper it was written on."

"(S)imply not connected to reality," Calling him "not an honest broker." Wishing he would win "the Nobel prize and leave us alone."

During Ya'alon's recent Washington visit, Kerry and national security advisor Susan Rice refused to meet with him. According to Goldberg:

"Netanyahu, and the even more hawkish ministers around him, seem to have decided that their short-term political futures rest on a platform that can be boiled down to this formula: 'The whole world is against us. Only we can protect Israel from what’s coming.' "

On October 30, Kerry expressed concern about escalating tensions across Jerusalem and particularly surrounding the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount."

He referred to violence following its closure. After radicalized right-wing rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot and seriously wounded.

Before Al-Aqsa's Friday reopening, Kerry added:

"The continued commitment by Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians to preserve the historic status quo at this holy site is critical. Any decisions or actions to change it would be both provocative and dangerous."

"The Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount must be re-opened to Muslim worshipers and I support the long-standing practices regarding non-Muslim visitors to the site, consistent with respect for the status quo arrangements governing religious observance there."

Following Friday prayers, protest marches are expected throughout the West Bank, Tensions remain high.

Jerusalem's Fatah chapter called for a day of rage following Mutaz Hijazi's murder. Israeli police blamed him for killing Glick.

Despite no evidence proving it. Denying him due process. Murdering him in cold blood. It's longstanding Israeli practice. He never had a chance.

According to Fatah's Jerusalem secretary-general, Adnan Ghaith, killing Hijazi was an Israeli "act of terrorism."

Its "crimes are systematically increasing to target Jerusalem through killing, detentions, assaults, demolishing houses, and preventing worshipers from praying inside the compounds of the Al-Aqsa mosque."

Persecuting Palestinians led directly to Glick's shooting, he added. East Jerusalem residents live in Israeli stolen territory.

They're non-citizens. Subject to permit permission revocation for remaining away from the city beyond a specified period. With no right of appeal.

Treated like nonpersons. Discriminated against in all aspects of their lives. Including housing, employment, healthcare, education and other vital services.

Separation Wall blockage denies them access to West Bank services. Jerusalem is legally considered an international city. A corpus separatum (separate body) under a UN Trusteeship Council.

At the same time, East Jerusalem is recognized as Palestinian territory. Israel's annexation is illegitimate.

Nothing is done to change things. Longstanding injustice prevails.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.t]ere to Reply or Forward

No feedback yet

Voices

Voices

  • Paul Craig Roberts Endless repetition by whore media and careless media turn lies into truth. Whatever media you read, you read that “Russia invaded Ukraine.” The lie is not limited to official narrative-controllers, such as the NY Times, Washington…
  • By David Swanson, World BEYOND War The United States just held a presidential election between two pro-war, militarist candidates, each of whom could have been expected to shift yet more funding into war preparations, to arm the genocide in Palestine,…
  • By Richard Turpin, World BEYOND War Isolation has not prevented Kiribati from suffering the depradations of colonialism, militarism, and capitalism. David Swanson asked me to write about Kiribati after I wrote to him to point out Costa Rica is not the…
  • by Tracy Turner The preceding nuclear pollution article, "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: 2024 Aftermath, Risks, and Insights, " examined the millennial-spanning consequences of nuclear disasters like Chornobyl and Fukushima, atomic testing, and…
  • By David Swanson, World BEYOND War I do see a problem with justifying the U.S. Civil War while recognizing the damage done by of regrettable dreams of vengeance... I wasn’t going to read The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates because I’m doing what I can to…
  • By Kathy Kelly, World BEYOND War The Biblical Book of Job chronicles a string of catastrophes relentlessly plaguing the main character, Job, who loses his prosperity, his home, his health, and his children. Eventually, an agonized Job curses his own…
  • LifeSiteNews The president-elect praised the former Democratic congresswomen and said she'll bring a 'fearless spirit' to the intelligence community as a member of his cabinet. President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would nominate…
  • Paul Craig Roberts There’s many a slip between cup and lip I have been speaking with MAGA Americans and, as I suspected, there is little comprehension of the vast impediments to renewal. The swamp that Trump is to drain is entrenched and…
  • PDF's for Einstein, Dr. Rosaly M. C. Lopes, Darwin, Lorenzo Langstroth, Marie Curie, Shakespeare & Many More! by Tracy Turner Shakespeare, Curie, Orwell, Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Lopes, Einstein Dr. Rosaly Lopes Director of the Planetary Science…
  • RT.com Speaking just one day after the Republican candidate's US election victory, the Russian president explained Moscow's position on a range of global issues Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed pressing global issues at Sochi's annual Valdai…
November 2024
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 << <   > >>
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

  XML Feeds

Advanced CMS
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted articles and information about environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. This news and information is displayed without profit for educational purposes, in accordance with, Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Thepeoplesvoice.org is a non-advocacy internet web site, edited by non-affiliated U.S. citizens. editor
ozlu Sozler GereksizGercek Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi E-okul Veli Firma Rehberi