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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |||
| Obama advised to suspend intelligence, military dialogue with Israel | |||
| 2009-04-24 | |||
WASHINGTON -- A leading ally of President Barack Obama and critic of the Israel lobby in the United States has outlined a proposed U.S. campaign to pressure Israel that would suspend the intelligence dialogue between the two countries.
Stephen Walt, a U.S. professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who co-authored with John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago a controversial study on the Israeli lobby in the United States, has drafted recommendations for the Obama administration to pressure the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Any guarantees of Israeli security? **crickets** Walt, regarded as influential in the U.S. diplomatic community, said the campaign should begin by administration criticism of Israel and support for United Nations resolutions that condemn the Jewish state. "U.S. officials could even describe Israel's occupation [of the West Bank] as 'contrary to democracy,' 'unwise,' 'cruel,' or 'unjust,'" Walt wrote in the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy. "Altering the rhetoric would send a clear signal to the Israeli government and its citizens that their government's opposition to a two-state solution was jeopardizing the special relationship."
"Within four years there will be a permanent settlement between Israel and Palestinians," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was quoted by Yediot as saying. "We don't care who the prime minister is." A bit arrogant, doncha think? Walt's report, titled "Can the United States Put Pressure on Israel: A User's Guide." marked the latest recommendations to the Obama administration to revise U.S. policy toward Israel. In March 2009, a report by a bipartisan panel of foreign policy analysts called on the White House to pressure Israel as part of an effort to resolve the U.S. conflict with the Arab world. The book by Walt and Mearshimer, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, generated controversy but also served to validate a growing alternative foreign policy consensus for a new administration elected in large part on the basis of the repudiation of the 43rd U.S. president. But the book was also repudiated by such ideologically opposed former foreign policy officials as former Secretary of State (1982-89) George Shultz and former N.Y. Times correspondent and former President of the Council on Foreign Relations Leslie Gelb. "Anyone who thinks that Jewish groups constitute a homogeneous 'lobby' ought to spend some time dealing with them," Shultz wrote in the U.S. News and World Report. "For example, my decision to open a dialogue with Yasser Arafat after he met certain conditions evoked a wide spectrum of responses from the government of Israel, its political parties, and American Jewish groups who weighed in on one side or the other. ... The United States supports Israel not because of favoritism based on political pressure or influence but because the American people, and their leaders, say that supporting Israel is politically sound and morally just. ... So, on every level, those who blame Israel and its Jewish supporters for U.S. policies they do not support are wrong. They are wrong because, to begin with, support for Israel is in our best interests. They are also wrong because Israel and its supporters have the right to try to influence U.S. policy. And they are wrong because the U.S. government is responsible for the policies it adopts, not any other state or any of the myriad lobbies and groups that battle daily--sometimes with lies -- to win America's support." Leslie Gelb wrote in the New York Times Book Review that the scholarship was shoddy and that the authors were biased. "More troublingly, [Walt and Mearsheimer] dont seriously review the facts of the two most critical issues to Israel and the lobby -- arms sales to Arab states and the question of a Palestinian state -- matters on which the American position has consistently run counter to the so-called all-powerful Jewish lobby. For several decades, administration after administration has sold Saudi Arabia and other Arab states first-rate modern weapons, against the all-out opposition of Israel and the lobby. And make no mistake, these arms have represented genuine security risks to Israel. . . And on the policy issue that has counted most to Israel and the lobby -- preventing the United States from accepting a Palestinian state prior to a negotiated deal between Israel and the Palestinians -- its fair to say Washington has quietly sided with the Palestinians for a long time." Walt warned against any immediate attempt by Obama to reduce the $3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Israel. He said this would result in a battle with the Democratic-controlled Congress. "There's a lot of potential leverage here, but it's probably not the best stick to use, at least not at first," Walt said. "Trying to trim or cut the aid package will trigger an open and undoubtedly ugly confrontation in Congress -- where the influence of AIPAC and other hard-line groups in the Israel lobby is greatest. So that's not where I'd start." But Walt urged Obama to reduce U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel. He said the administration could suspend the dialogue between the Israeli and U.S. intelligence communities as well as that of the Israeli military and the Defense Department. "Today, such a step would surely get the attention of Israel's security establishment," Walt said. And would get the attention of Iran and its proxies.
Now we are talking about jeopardizing the lives of our troops. Our military picks equipment for its forces from Israel based upon performance. "Obama could instruct Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to slow or decrease these purchases, which would send an unmistakable signal that it was no longer business-as-usual," Walt said. "Given the battering Israel's economy has taken in the current global recession, this step would get noticed too. And most of these measures could be implemented by the Executive Branch alone, thereby outflanking die-hard defenders of the special relationship in Congress." That also means lessening the links of cooperation between the US Military and the IDF. We do share information and tactics for mutual survival against a common enemy. The ramifications of Obama's policies are far ranging and serious, if not deadly. | |||
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #15 All of us here are exceptions, Frank. As I said, I'm going to start this trickling into the Jewish community, as will no doubt others here. My Congressional Representative is John Boehner, who may still lead the House branch of the Republican party. If someone could forward this to Rush Limbaugh or someone appropriate at Fox News, life could get very interesting, indeed. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-04-24 23:38 |
| #14 TW - you are an exception, and one that I doubt voted for our Teleprompter Jesus. I know there are a few more like you. My question is for the overall American Juice population, who vote Democrat. I know that if the O'dministration proposed rules leading to the death and destruction of Vatican City, I might have something to say (and do) about it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-04-24 22:18 |
| #13 *crickets*, Frank? You say that, knowing who posts here? You are capable of considerably better analysis than that, my dear. I've watched you over the years, and I know. Now the first question we must address before discussing the presence or absence of crickets is, who is aware of Professor Walt's recommendations. I am accustomed to reading the news here at Rantburg before seeing it in the popular press, like the rest of the Rantburgers and quite unlike the rest of the country. I plan on forwarding this article to a few friends and my Congresscritters, as no doubt will some here. We'll see what happens -- President Obama tends to respond to the loudest of his customer base at any given moment, and he does things differently when he knows those whose votes he want are watching. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-04-24 22:02 |
| #12 how many weeks before the O'Man has his commies and muzzies do their KrystalNacht? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-04-24 20:56 |
| #11 This arrogant SOB's gonna get us all killed. He'll be smirking when his co-religionists nuke Tel Aviv, but guess what Barack-0? DC is next on their list. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-04-24 19:26 |
| #10 What a hell of a week for Obama and his liberal base: - Anyone who pays taxes, voices opposition to more taxes is a teabagger. - Labels veterans right wing extemists. - Says he is going to prosecute Bush officials. - Releases information that damages the CIA. - Plans to release pictures "showing troops pointing guns at terrorists", etc., etc.. |
| Posted by: Tea Partier 2009-04-24 18:53 |
| #9 If the Big O administration is stupid enough to implement this leftist agenda, there will be serious repercussions to this country. Israel will do what it needs to do to ensure its security, with or without the US. If aid, military and intel contacts are cut off with the US, the Israelis will develop further trade and military relationships with India, Russia, and China that will work to their benefit, both economically and securitywise. This will include sales of military equipment, systems hardware and software that the Chicoms and Russia would love to have, and that the Israelis got from the US, but are presently constrained by their relationship with the US from sharing. Talk about shooting your foot off to pay dues to your leftist handlers. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-04-24 18:48 |
| #8 Zorba - I hope so, and as a Catholic, I stand by them in their self-defense |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-04-24 18:04 |
| #7 I stopped reading after "Stephen Walt". |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-04-24 17:59 |
| #6 Frank, as you know, both the U.S. and Israel are loaded with post-modernist, post-Zionist lefties who still believe in peace with the Arabs but even they are not prepared to risk another Jewish Holocaust. Regardless, when the Jews say “never again”, they mean it. Israel will act based on her own intelligence data — long before Obama realizes that his kinder, gentler approach to tyrants is a loser. |
| Posted by: Zorba Craising6734 2009-04-24 17:38 |
| #5 Same advice Samantha Power gave him before he allegedly threw her under the 'bus', only she also advocated giving 50B to the Palestinians. |
| Posted by: Zorba Craising6734 2009-04-24 17:33 |
| #4 Basing your foreign policy on the advice of a Harvard professor - oh yeah, that'll work. |
| Posted by: Cynicism Inc 2009-04-24 17:32 |
| #3 where is the outrage among the American Juice beholdened to the Democrat party? *crickets* |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-04-24 17:20 |
| #2 He is going to get sombody killed around here. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-04-24 17:11 |
| #1 I suspect that Israel provides its fair share of intelligance information. Emasculating the CIA and turning off Israel at the same time is stupid. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-04-24 17:07 |