Netanyahu Wags America By Tail: The
Futility Of Counting On America To Achieve Peace And
Justice
07 March 2012By Khaled Amayreh
In his trip to Washington, Israel's premier acted
more like the US president than his host, Barack Obama,
writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem
Despite Barack Obama's desperate efforts to retain
a semblance of American national dignity in the face
of encroaching Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, it seems that the latter succeeded in
getting most if not all of what he wanted from a
visibly insecure president who appears convinced that
it will be hard for him to stay in the White House
without grovelling at Israel's feet.
Netanyahu went to Washington in a pugnacious, even
insolent mood, to achieve two main goals: first, to
cajole and if necessary bully the Obama administration
to take more proactive measures against Iran; second,
to see to it that the Palestinian issue is put on the
back burner for many months, if not years, to come.
As expected, Netanyahu praised the wide-ranging
sanctions imposed so far on Iran. However, he told his
host that Israel was her own master. His unspoken
meaning was, "If you don't bomb Iran, we will."
Obama invoked all the sacrosanct mantras fit for the
occasion. Speaking before the AIPAC (American Israel
Public Affairs Committee) convention, he reiterated
his ironclad commitment to Israel's security and
maintaining its qualitative edge over the entire Arab
world combined.
On Iran, he denied any suggestion that the US would
settle for a policy of containment in case Iran
succeeded in manufacturing a nuclear weapon. Obama
said the US would not allow Iran to possess nuclear
weapons, period.
Not even an allusion or a distant hint was made to
Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal, which according
to reliable sources amounts to 250-300 nuclear
weapons, with their delivery systems.
Obama did say his administration was still committed
to the cause of peace between Israel and the
Palestinians. But it was clear that Obama's words in
this regard were meant for public relations
consumption, especially abroad, and had more to do
with portraying his administration as maintaining some
independence from Israel than with any genuine
commitment to force Israel to pay the price for peace,
including Israel's withdrawal from the territories it
occupied in 1967.
The American president went far, even to the degree of
sycophancy in heaping praise on Israel and its
leaders. The hypocrisy was highlighted when Obama
bestowed the Medal of Freedom, America's highest
civilian honour, on Israeli President Shimon Peres.
But Peres is a war criminal. In 1996, as prime
minister following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin,
he ordered the Israeli army to bombard a UN
peacekeeping force headquarters in Southern Lebanon
where hundreds of Lebanese civilians had sought refuge
from Israel's bombing of their villages. The
bombardment, which according to the UN was carried out
deliberately and with forethought, killed over 100
civilians, mostly children and women. Gruesome images
of decapitated children were shown all over the world.
Not a fleeting apology or mea culpa was issued by
Peres. So much for America's moral commitment to
Israel's security.
In addition to securing American commitment to attack
Iran if all else fails to change Tehran's stance,
Netanyahu seems to have marginalised the Palestinian
issue in Washington's eyes, at least for the remainder
of Obama's current term in the White House.
Netanyahu's invocation of Auschwitz and his brazen
comparisons between the situation facing Israel now
and that faced by European Jewry during the Nazi era
will guarantee that the US president refrains from
exerting meaningful pressure on Israel over the
Palestinian issue.
The logic of the matter is like this. If Obama is
reluctant to raise secondary issues like settlement
expansion in the West Bank or arresting thousands of
Palestinian activists for years without charge or
trial, it is improbable to imagine he will force an
increasingly Talmudic-minded Israel to withdraw from
the occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem,
and allow for the establishment of a true, viable
Palestinian state.
In truth, Obama, even if he knows in the bottom of his
heart that Netanyahu is a pathological liar, he
wouldn't dare challenge the Israeli premier's
mendacity. This cowardice is what makes Netanyahu
believe that his words are accepted by listeners,
including those who know well that his words are lies.
Netanyahu claimed in his speech before AIPAC that
Arabs only have equality and freedom in Israel and
that the latter is the only place Christians can
worship freely in the Middle East.
In the words of one British observer, Netanyahu's
speech was a glided threat to Congress members in the
audience (50 per cent of them) whilst a "war for
Dummies presentation to the Zionists".
"I honestly don't have the skilled vocabulary to
explain his lies and snide insults to anyone capable
of independent thought," remarked the British author
and intellectual.
It is uncertain what impact an American-Israeli war on
Iran would have on the Palestinian problem. However,
it is probably safe to assume that any war would kill
whatever meagre prospects remain for salvaging a peace
deal between Israel and the Palestinians, even though
Hamas, an erstwhile ally of Iran, said it would take
no part in any possible war between Iran and Israel.
A few years ago, it was rumoured that former Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Shimon Peres during a
cabinet session: "Don't worry about American pressure
on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America and
the stupid Americans know it."
A few days ago, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid wrote
that in his speech before AIPAC, Netanyahu sounded as
if he, not Obama, was the real president of the United
States.
Doesn't this underscore the futility of counting on
America to achieve peace and justice for the
Palestinians?
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments