Israel Matzav

NYTimes blames 'peace process' failure for Israel's vulnerability to Iranian nukes

It wasn't enough that the New York Times editorial board came out against granting Israel bunker busters - probably the only remaining effective way to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. They also had to throw in this.

America has a responsibility to help ensure the security of Israel and the gulf allies and to see that Iran adheres to the deal. But this cannot be done if Congress imposes restrictions that cause the agreement to implode or prevent the administration from taking advantage of openings to cooperate with Iran. Congress can be most helpful by creating its own process for rigorously monitoring how the accord is implemented.

The focus on America’s obligations often ignores the responsibility Israel and the gulf states have for regional security. Saudi Arabia shares much blame for the rise of extremist groups, while Israel undermines stability by failing to negotiate peace with the Palestinians.

In the end, what’s most important for Israel’s security is the relationship with the United States. Those ties were put at risk by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congressional Republicans, who polarized the debate over the Iran deal. A crucial sense of trust needs to be rebuilt. It is unclear that this can happen soon, no matter how many promises of aid and cooperation America makes to Israel.

Congressional monitoring is meaningless with a President who is determined to implement his will irrespective of Congress. Obama has and will continue to ignore the law and Congressional prerogatives. He may stymie a vote on monitoring as he did with a vote on the deal itself.

Israel has not 'failed to negotiate peace' with the 'Palestinians.' It is the 'Palestinians' who have walked away over and over and over again. Netanyahu continues to offer negotiations 'without preconditions,' but those will never happen so long as the 'Palestinians' continue to believe - with Obama's and Kerry's encouragement - that they ought to be compensated just for coming to the table (like Iran was).

It's not Netanyahu and the Republicans - the Times' favorite whipping boys - who put Israel's relationship with the US at risk. It's Obama. Obama has been determined to gut the US-Israel relationship since the day he took office - long before Iran agreed to come to the table. No trust can be rebuilt with Obama. Our only hope is that trust can be rebuilt with the next President before it's too late. And that's why you see Israel coordinating strategy on Syria with the Russians.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, Middle East peace process, Syria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:43 PM