Israel Matzav

A win-win strategy for Netanyahu

Caroline Glick has a new strategy for Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Since taking office, Obama has only supported Israel against the Palestinians twice. The first time was last December. After months of deliberate ambiguity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the administration opposes the Palestinian plan to unilaterally declare independence.

Then last month the administration grudgingly vetoed the Palestinian-Lebanese draft Security Council resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

In both cases, the administration’s actions were not the result of Israeli appeasement, but of massive congressional pressure. Congress issued bipartisan calls demanding that the administration torpedo both of these anti-Israel initiatives.

What this this shows is that Netanyahu’s strategy for contending with Obama is fundamentally misconstrued and misdirected. Obama will not be moved by Israeli concessions. The only way to stop Obama from moving forward on his anti- Israel policy course is to work through Congress.

And the most effective way to work through Congress is for Netanyahu to abandon his current course and tell the truth about the nature of the Palestinians, their rejection of Israel, their anti- Americanism and their support for jihadist terror.

At the same time, Netanyahu must speak unambiguously about Israel’s national rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, our required security borders, and about why US national security requires a strong Israel.

The stronger the case Netanyahu makes for Israel, the more support Israel will receive from the Congress. And the more support Israel receives from the Congress, the more Obama will be compelled to temper his anti-Israel agenda.

When this article was published on Friday, I thought there was no chance that Obama would do it. But since Friday night's terror attack, we see a few steps in this direction. The government has decided to publish the pictures of the attack, which until now have just floated around the blogosphere. It has decided to authorize new housing in Judea and Samaria however tentatively.

Is this the start of a new policy? Let's hope that it is - as slim as that hope seems to be.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Caroline Glick, Ehud Barak

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:59 AM