Israel abandoned
A month ago, I reported that the Obama administration had determined that it would not veto resolutions attacking Israel at the United Nations. Reuters reports that the United States' cooperation in passing a Security Council resolution condemning the 'acts' involved in the Mavi Marmara incident confirm the new policy. Under Obama, the United States seeks to reclaim its role as an impartial Middle East peace broker which critics say it lost during the previous administration of George W. Bush.The Nuclear Proliferation Treaty resolution last week (which focused on Israel and ignored Iran) can be seen in the same light.
"Israel became used to unconditional support of the United States during eight years of the Bush administration," said Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
She said Bush's "extreme position" makes even mild criticism appear dramatic to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet.
However, Washington continues to block what it sees as efforts to use the United Nations as a forum for bashing Israel -- which one U.S. official told Reuters was "nine out of 10 initiatives regarding Israel in New York."
Obama has also pushed hard to get a fourth round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, which Israel sees as its top security threats. A vote on new Iran sanctions is expected this week.
"There have been slight changes (in U.S.-Israeli ties), but they've caused a disproportionate reaction on the part of Israel," said Ottaway. "We haven't seen any drastic changes."
Last week the United States backed a Security Council statement on Israel's commando raid on an aid flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine people on one of the ships were killed in the action.
The statement regretted the loss of life and demanded a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards.
Washington, U.N. diplomats and U.S. officials said, worked hard to dilute the text so the 15-nation council did not call for an independent investigation and to ensure it did not explicitly criticize Israel.
This is sure to make Israel all the more eager to make 'peace' with its neighbors (/not). And it likely pleases Leftist American Jews who want to see Israel slammed.
What could go wrong?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:40 PM
5 Comments:
Is Israel abandoned or has its government caused its special status "no matter what" to be lost?
All interesting quesitons worth discussing indepth.
Go to my item Question: Why debating Israel is taboo?? http://blootstellen.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/question-why-is-debating-israel-taboo/
Give me your opinion.
Cheers
Donny vdH
Rotterdam
Israel must assume and act as if it stands alone against a hostile world. Make common cause with countries of similar interests and ideals: India, Australia, New Zealand. Don't rely upon a single country. Be independent in all aspects.
Assume that the US under Barak Obama will become a borderline enemy. BO is doing incalcuable damage to this country, and we will never recover our former position. Other leaders have taken the measure of him, found him to be a useless empty suit, and are now grabbing at their own bits of hegemony. Instead of peace, we get conflict thanks to his innate weakness, and tremendous arrogance. He thinks he is smarter than everyone else ... but he is not and everyone but him knows this.
As we slide into the sunset of our power, Israel needs to stand alone, take its own interests into account, form its own alliances, and be out from the shadow of the US.
Kranky,
NOT New Zealand.
http://nwodaily.com/2010/06/the-uns-choice-to-head-investigation-of-gaza-flotilla-not-goldstone-but-a-set-up-nonetheless/
The new US stand is not likely to make Israel very forthcoming on the mooted Gaza Flotilla Of Fools investigation as well on the proximity talks. Few in Israel want their government to go out of its way to please Obama - and it doesn't appear to understand it doesn't have to make life easier for a President who doesn't like the Jewish State much.
What could go wrong indeed
@Carl
Oy vey.
Israel needs to proceed in relations with multi-country groups as if it is always cast in a negative light due to imagined misdeeds, regardless of its actual deeds. It needs to assume that all such groups are by nature, hostile.
Further, it needs to work to show the inherent contradictions, the innate hypocrisy of such organizations; their pronouncements, and their actions. So rather than being on the defensive all the time, Israel needs to go on the offensive relative to the UN, and all other multi-national groups that gang up on it.
Silence in the face of this onslaught is tantamount to an admission of guilt for whatever misdeed is alleged. Rather than willfully accepting such idiocy, Israel needs to bring each country that is open to potential re-thinking of their policies and positions, examples from their own founding, formation, and evolution, of all that they blame Israel for. Show them that it is hypocritical to suggest living up to a level that they themselves do not. Offer them the chance to come out of the dark side, and for those countries not smart enough to do this, hint that Israel will help the relevant groups wronged by the country to seek redress in appropriate venues.
That is, if they want to leave this particular crop for harvest, they have to reap what they have sown. But the crop has to be bitter, and painful for them, so that they understand exactly what it is they are demanding others live up to.
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