Richard Goldstone is an antisemitic Jew, Turkey has long since become an Islamic state, the Russians are a disappointment, the Chinese are confused, the Indians are wrong, the Swedes and Norwegians are always against us, and the Americans -- we can do without them.
Like a car going against the traffic on a motorway, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sees all drivers coming at him as going the wrong way.
Like a car going against the traffic on a motorway, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sees all drivers coming at him as going the wrong way.
From his point of view, we Israelis are the only ones going in the
right direction. The Prime Minister has not yet absorbed the fact that,
if he wants to travel on the international highway, he has to get in
the right lane and accept the uncompromising demand for action to end
the conflict with the Palestinians. As long as his government decides
not to make a U-turn and embark on the road towards peace and
compromise, cars will continue crashing into each other head-on every
day with increasing force.
Netanyahu thought at first that mumbling the words "two states" at his Bar Ilan speech in June would lower the pressure on Israel and present his government as peace-seeking. Buoyed by the wave of qualified sympathy he managed to attract after his speech, Netanyahu tried to bury the political process and make do with mere statements. Like Ariel Sharon in his first term as Prime Minister, Netanyahu believes that international pressure is a passing headache and that, soon, the world will find other issues to deal with and leave Israel alone.
But continued construction in the settlements, dozens of new construction sites popping up like mushrooms after the "freeze," the absence of initiative and the foot-dragging even on the matter of evacuating outposts, all combine to damage Israel daily.
Not only in Tehran and Damascus is "Israel" a dirty word. In Turkey, in most European countries, Canada and even to some extent in the United States, Israel is becoming a leprous and hated country. The world in general is sick of the daily provocations issued by its ministers in the form of new neighbourhoods or isolated outposts, not to speak of their running the diplomatic process into the ground.
The importance of this matter should not be underestimated. This is not about a popularity contest between countries or the inability of IDF officers to holiday abroad. In the global world of the 21st century, it is a real existential danger to the state of Israel, which could find itself alone against the real threats it faces in the region. Israel's international isolation strengthens its enemies, who, in the face of Israeli arrogance, can declare, "we told you so," and gain support from others who would normally be expected to sympathise with Israel.
Forget external apologists and advocates, publicists and statesmen -- the only means of removing Israel from such isolation is meaningful, diplomatic movement by its government. When the pressure was too much for Sharon to bear and he believed Israel's status to be in danger, he initiated the disengagement plan to demonstrate to the world Israel's intention to leave the territories. And now, Netanyahu too must make a dramatic decision and initiate a significant and genuine process before the political and military damage becomes irreversible.
If the settlement policy, the provocations and the unwillingness to co-operate with the Obama administration are not abandoned, Israel faces ruin in the international arena. The Goldstone report was just the beginning.
http://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/22067/netanhayu-steering-israel-disaster
Netanyahu thought at first that mumbling the words "two states" at his Bar Ilan speech in June would lower the pressure on Israel and present his government as peace-seeking. Buoyed by the wave of qualified sympathy he managed to attract after his speech, Netanyahu tried to bury the political process and make do with mere statements. Like Ariel Sharon in his first term as Prime Minister, Netanyahu believes that international pressure is a passing headache and that, soon, the world will find other issues to deal with and leave Israel alone.
But continued construction in the settlements, dozens of new construction sites popping up like mushrooms after the "freeze," the absence of initiative and the foot-dragging even on the matter of evacuating outposts, all combine to damage Israel daily.
Not only in Tehran and Damascus is "Israel" a dirty word. In Turkey, in most European countries, Canada and even to some extent in the United States, Israel is becoming a leprous and hated country. The world in general is sick of the daily provocations issued by its ministers in the form of new neighbourhoods or isolated outposts, not to speak of their running the diplomatic process into the ground.
The importance of this matter should not be underestimated. This is not about a popularity contest between countries or the inability of IDF officers to holiday abroad. In the global world of the 21st century, it is a real existential danger to the state of Israel, which could find itself alone against the real threats it faces in the region. Israel's international isolation strengthens its enemies, who, in the face of Israeli arrogance, can declare, "we told you so," and gain support from others who would normally be expected to sympathise with Israel.
Forget external apologists and advocates, publicists and statesmen -- the only means of removing Israel from such isolation is meaningful, diplomatic movement by its government. When the pressure was too much for Sharon to bear and he believed Israel's status to be in danger, he initiated the disengagement plan to demonstrate to the world Israel's intention to leave the territories. And now, Netanyahu too must make a dramatic decision and initiate a significant and genuine process before the political and military damage becomes irreversible.
If the settlement policy, the provocations and the unwillingness to co-operate with the Obama administration are not abandoned, Israel faces ruin in the international arena. The Goldstone report was just the beginning.
http://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/22067/netanhayu-steering-israel-disaster
This article completely reflects how I felt on my October visit to Israel, a country I have visited many, many times before.
No sooner had we stepped into a cab at Ben Gurion at 5:30 a.m. than a week long barrage of negativity ensued.
The UN Report on Gaza and Richard Goldstone? - just a bunch of lies by a raging anti-semite who has it in for Israel. Israelis are victims, totally innocent victims goes the refrain - everyone is against us and it's everyone's fault but ours.
And the offensive questions about the US government, OUR government, that we heard over and over! Were we sorry we voted for Obama? Would we still vote for Obama? Did we not now realize what an evil anti-semite Obama was? Had we noticed he was black and that his father was Muslim? Was he really born in the USA? Isn't he a Muslim too? (we would not care if he was) Why not vote for another like the great and brave hero Bush whom they so adored?
I was very offended because my vote is MY business and certainly not the business of Israelis or any other foreigners. There is an underlying racism to many of the Obama comments and to the offensive language, now more common, one hears there about Arabs.
In their arrogance, many Israelis and regrettably some American Jews, seem to believe that Americans should vote depending on what suits the purposes of the Israeli government as if we existed as a country solely to prop them up. Funny but when I read lists of the issues that Americans list as concerning them most I don't recall Israel being on it ever.
We were dismayed by all of this and we both felt that we were in a country that is paranoid and self-obsessed.
Despite the 2.6 billion in aid from the US each year there is a sense that the US never does enough.The message to Americans seems to be - send more money, shut up and leave us alone to do exactly as we please regardless of the consequences to others and don't expect any gratitude either.
It was a relief to be back spending a few days in London and then to get back home to the US which, birthers, tea-partiers and others not withstanding, had never seemed more sane and open and enjoyable to be in.
My friends are fed-up and exasperated at the constant settlement activity and were appalled by the Gaza war. Despite the despicable attempts at censorship by right-wing groups here,more people are speaking out and educated Americans know exactly what is going on over there. Our kids, just like many young Israelis , are appalled at the settler brutality and the inhumanity at the checkpoints and are not sympathetic to Israel at all.
If Israel was a young person and not a young country its friends would be planning an intervention to confront it about its destructive behavior and try to make it understand that it was unsustainable and had to stop at once.