Israel Matzav

It's come to this

On Wednesday, I reported that Mossad Chief Meir Dagan had told the Knesset that Israel was becoming 'less of a strategic asset' (or less of an asset and more of a burden in Haaretz's telling) to the United States. Dagan's remarks were a warm-up for this New York Times article on Sunday (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

But once Mr. Cordesman had dispensed with what in the newspaper world is called the “to-be-sure” paragraphs, he laid out a dispassionate argument that has gained increased traction in Washington — both inside the Obama administration (including the Pentagon, White House and State Department) and outside, during forums, policy breakfasts, even a seder in Bethesda. Recent Israeli governments, particularly the one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Cordesman argued, have ignored the national security concerns of its biggest benefactor, the United States, and instead have taken steps that damage American interests abroad.

“The depth of America’s moral commitment does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset,” Mr. Cordesman wrote, in commentary for the centrist Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he is the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in strategy. “It is time Israel realized that it has obligations to the United States, as well as the United States to Israel, and that it become far more careful about the extent to which it tests the limits of U.S. patience and exploits the support of American Jews.”

I would argue that it's not American Jews who are the prime mover behind American support for Israel. The prime movers behind American support for Israel are Christians and others who feel the the shared values between the United States and Israel far more strongly than a lot of unaffiliated and intermarried American Jews. The prime movers behind American support for Israel are Christians and others who feel the the shared values between the United States and Israel far more strongly than an administration that is far more interested in degrading the United States and cozying up to the Muslim world than in promoting an American image of strength. Of course, those Americans may as well be foreigners to the New York Times.

The list of recent moves by the Netanyahu government that potentially threaten American interests has grown steadily, many foreign policy experts argue. The violence that broke out when Israeli commandos stormed aboard a Gaza flotilla last week chilled American relations with a key Muslim ally, Turkey. The Gaza fight also makes it more difficult for America to rally a coalition that includes Arab and Muslim states against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Mr. Netanyahu’s refusal to stop Jewish housing construction in Arab East Jerusalem also strains American ties with Arab allies. It also makes reaching an eventual peace deal, which many administration officials believe is critical to America’s broader interests in the Muslim world, even more difficult.

If they are suggesting that Israel should trust the Obama administration enough to effectively commit national suicide in order to place the United States in the good graces of the Muslim world, they're dreaming. That's just not going to happen. The days of the Jews who won the World's admiration by going quietly to the gas chambers are over. Those Jews thought the World would save them. Today, we know that only God can save us. And God isn't a mulatto who orates from between Greek columns in a sports stadium.

The good news is that even some Democrats appear to be awakening to the reality that the Obama administration is bad for the Jews.

Some Democrats are alarmed about the shift in thinking too. Representative Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, said he spent two hours at the White House with Mr. Obama and a group of other Jewish lawmakers two weeks ago, “expressing my concerns repeatedly and emphatically.” Questioning Israel as a strategic asset, he said, “seeks to blame Israel for difficulties in the Middle East, but it’s not Israel’s fault that you have an ineffective Palestinian leadership incapable of striking a deal. It’s not Israel’s fault that you have intransigent Arab regimes unwilling to push the Palestinians into negotiations. Those are the ugly truths.”

Surprisingly, even Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass), who has visited Gaza and Syria (the latter three times) since Obama took office, told Jake Tapper on ABC's This Week Sunday that Israel is still a strategic asset.

Senator John Kerry told me on This Week that he doesn't believe Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States. In the wake of the Israeli showdown with the Turkish flotilla, the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, said "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden." Senator Kerry, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told me "there are obviously tensions with repect to certain policies" but that "Israel "has every right in the world to make certain that weapons are not being smuggled in after the thousands of rockets that have been fired on it from Gaza."

Batten down the hatches folks. Based on the Carter administration, this is about the time that those foreign policies of weakness come home to roost (Hat Tip: Instapundit).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:41 PM