Israel Matzav

Why Obama can't convince Israelis

Jonathan Tobin nails it in explaining why Israelis just aren't going to do what President Obama wants them to do (Hat Tip: American Power).

In response, the N.Y. Times endorses the Israeli Left’s appeal for Obama to speak directly to the Israeli people by going over the head of their democratically elected government to convince them that he is in a better position to know what is good for Israel.

Ironically, this call for an Obama rhetorical special to win over skeptical Israelis speaks to the fatal flaw in the reasoning of both the administration and its cheering section among daily editorial writers. The reason Israelis reject Obama’s pressure to make concessions is that they know — even if the president doesn’t — that there is currently no Palestinian peace partner with whom one can make peace.

The reason the Israeli Left has been so discredited is that Palestinians have consistently shattered its lofty plans. Neither Fatah nor Hamas has any desire to sign a peace deal with Israel, as the last decade has proved over and over again. Moreover, Israelis know all too well that land given up may well be converted into a terrorist launching pad in the same manner, as was the case in Gaza. While the majority of Israelis would not just freeze settlements but even destroy most of them in exchange for real peace, making more concessions in exchange for more terror and insecurity makes no sense. And that is a fact that no amount of U.S. pressure or Obama rhetoric can obscure.

With this particular President, there's more to it than mistrust of the 'Palestinians.' There's also personal mistrust of Obama.

When President Obama stood up in Cairo and adopted the 'Palestinian' narrative that the State of Israel has a right to exist because of the Holocaust, we cringed. When he equated Jewish suffering in the Holocaust to the suffering of 'Palestinian refugees,' we became physically ill. And when he sent Secretary of State Clinton and a succession of State Department spokespeople out to deny that the Bush administration had ever agreed to allow us to build in the eastern half of Jerusalem and in the 'settlement blocs,' we branded him and his administration liars who are not to be trusted.

He's done nothing on any score to change our assessment. And until he does, there's no point in his coming here to talk to us, unless he wants to provoke demonstrations that will dwarf all the tea parties in the US and further strengthen Netanyahu.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:47 PM