Israel Matzav

The 'marriage counselor'

In Sunday's New York Times, the inimitable Thomas Friedman tries to play 'marriage counselor' between the Obama administration and Israelis. Here's his bottom line (Hat Tip: David F).

Bottom line: Israelis need to understand this is not the Bush administration anymore, where they had the run of the White House; they have a real problem with America on settlements. Mr. Obama needs to understand that on Arab-Israel affairs, the less you say and the more you do, the better off you are. Every word in this conflict has its own history. Get the deal done — a settlement moratorium for some normalization — and that breakthrough will do the talking.

Israelis well realize that this is not the Bush administration. If it were the Bush administration, we would not have to worry about a President who sees the need to distance himself from Israel.

While other American Presidents have opposed the settlement enterprise, no previous President other than Jimmy Carter has characterized the 'settlements' as illegal. Both the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations acknowledged that the 1949 armistice lines are no longer relevant, and envisioned Israel retaining control of Jewish areas of Jerusalem and of 'settlement blocs.' Clinton put that in writing through the proposals he made to end the conflict. Bush put it in writing by agreeing to allow Israel to continue building in 'east' Jerusalem and in the 'settlement blocs,' a writing that the Obama administration disingenuously ignores (while demanding that Netanyahu live up to previous Israeli governments' commitments).

While it may be true that we have a 'real problem with America on settlements,' it would be far more accurate to say that we have a 'real problem with the Obama administration on settlements' and on other matters as well. The fact that Israel's Left has been silenced by the crudeness and one-sidedness of Obama's demands on Israel - as shown by an op-ed by Aluf Benn in the New York Times this week, which Caroline Glick characterized as a cry for help from Israel's Left - shows that it's not the 'settlers' who are being blamed by Israel, but the Obama administration. When only 6% of the country believes the President is pro-Israel, we're not the only ones with a problem.

As to Friedman's solution - 'just get it done' - it was made clear over the weekend that Israel is not the only party that's unwilling to get this particular deal done. But most Israelis are not willing to get it done on the terms proposed by Friedman and Obama. We'd sooner continue the marital spat than endanger our lives and forfeit our country's future.

Sorry Mr. Marriage Counselor, but this marriage is beyond saving. This marriage needs a separation until Obama is no longer in office, and then we can hit the 'reset button' with a new - hopefully more pro-Israel - President.

And by the way, if you want to know what real Israelis are thinking, you need to read something other than Haaretz.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:09 PM