Israel's rightwing shift is giving J Street more room to run in the US. Here's Isaac Luria of J Street interviewing the great Akiva Eldar:
… Labor is not in the mood to become number 3 or 4 in the next coalition… More and more voices are calling on Labor to be opposition. "It's going to be like an oriental bazaar. But at the end of the day I'm afraid that the Israeli center-left doesn't have much to sell." The process will take several weeks. If Livni fails over 3 weeks, then Netanyahu gets 3 weeks.
Lieberman?
"His success reflects the mood in the Israeli public. It shows a lot of xenophobia, lack of trust in the Arabs…. We shouldn't take democracy for granted in Israel. It's still very young and fragile…"
Gaza's effect:
"The message of the left– especially what has happened in Gaza– has paralyzed the Israeli left. Even Meretz felt that they had to support the war at the beginning."
Peace process effect?
I think it's too early to answer…. The answer is waiting for us somewhere in the Oval Office. The next government is not going to voluntarily offer concessions to the Arabs. The pressure is not going to come from the inside… The only way is if it will come from the outside… If it doesn't come from there, nothing is going to happen…. If [Netanyahu] gets a clear message from Obama that he is not going to tolerate… dragging his feet… I think that he will have to take it very seriously. I'm not sure that Obama is not serious about what he said publicly… I think that this right wing ultra right wing government will not survive very long… There is going to be a pricetag [Obama must say]. 'We are wating for you with a full basket of rewards if you go our way. But if you don't, don't expect it to be business as usual.'
Message to Jewish Americans who want two states:
"The Israeli public has decided that they want to give a chance to the right… You have to respect this, but at the same time, United States has clear interests. And if those interests don't meet with the policies of the new government, you have to react as if Israel is a country that needs a guideline… Israel needs to know that the United States has interests in the Middle East that goes beyond it."
"The answer is waiting for us somewhere in the Oval Office. The next government is not going to voluntarily offer concessions to the Arabs. The pressure is not going to come from the inside… The only way is if it will come from the outside… If it doesn't come from there, nothing is going to happen…."
A sad wager, but this is where my money would have to go.
"We shouldn't take democracy for granted in Israel. It's still very young and fragile…"
The incredible chutzpah. You complain that we do not accept the democratically elected Hamas, yet you infer that a minority party that requires a loyalty pledge, not genocide of the arabs, but a loyalty pledge, is cause for an uproar.
If it weren't already proven that you guys have little education, this would be a shanda.
Chris, don't you see? Jews are only to be tolerated to the degree that they reject Jewish nationalism and embrace Arab nationalism
For Phil and his Fillipinas, that's all Jews are good for.
We shouldn't take democracy for granted in Israel. It's still very young and fragile…"
LOL. More like it's nonexistent, and always has been. Until Israel and its supporters realize that "a Jewish state" and democracy are incompatible, the conversation is nonsensical.
A SOG-like fake Charles Keating.
Again, I must object. To be SOG like one must make spelling, punctuation, and subject-verb agreement errors. Not that the real Charles Keating is much better.
David II, well spelling, punctuation and subject-verb agreement errors could all strictly be me, you know.;) Cutting and pasting something that feels highly inelegant or Germanic in a too rash mood leaving all kinds of odds and ends unconnected.
Are you the original David the Second? It's a pleasure!
Well, whoever it is. Good old Charles Keating wouldn't use the insinuating slur in Phil's and our direction. But surely SOG would. I better don't try define SOG-like versus SOG himself, since strictly I have read a lot more or less sexist verbal attacks among the thought patrol mindset.
One can't expect much from the US until Obama's second term – if he gets one. But when that mantra about "the only democracy in the Middle East" is finally clearly shown up as the sham it always was an increasing number of countries outside the US might be forced to reconsider their relations with Israel.
I love America, not the Palestinians. A Hamas terror state is bad for America.
But my central feature are surely the lacunae. The empty spot for the reader's eye to fill in.
Obama will not pressure Israel. Last summer when he groveled before AIPAC he promised the people who fund the Democratic party that he'd never force Israel to make concessions to anyone. Rahn Emmanuel is their White House observer/spokesman/enforcer. To put pressure on Israel, Obama would have to go through and over Emmanuel, which not even Obama can do. No president since Eisenhower has pressured Israel. And if he hadn't previously been the recent victorious Supreme Allied Commander in Europe not even Ike could have pulled it off.
That post in the name of Charles Keating above was actually made by the old culprit, Sword Of Gideon (SOG), the guy who steals people's real names. He stopped using
Charles Keating's for awhile, then he switched to using Jim Haygood's name. He has also used Eva S's a few times. This is his second post in the name of Charles Keating in the last few days. He steals the names of those who bother his way of thinking the most. SOG's real name is Bill Pearlman. He also uses a boatload of fake names–but at least those do not steal somebody's actual identity.
JFK tried to stop Israel's nuclear program. Look what happened to him.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Check out the article there now. It gives a plan on what Obama needs to do.
The latest example of a Bill Pearlman (aka Sword of Gideon, or as we call him "SOG" comment post that uses a fake hand puppet name is the one by "David the Second" responding above to LeaNder, who has been on this blog long enough to smell ID fraud/theft of another regulars real name.
"A Hamas terror state is bad for America."
No it is not. A Hamas 'terror state', even if the notion weren't facile, is irrelevant to America as long as we are not politically and economically subsidizing Israel occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. Hamas exist because, and only because, Israel attempted to colonize Palestinian land in Gaza. Hamas is a local anti-colonial resistance movement, not a global terrorist organization. There is no fundamental American national interest at stake, and Israeli colonial war crimes and intransigent refusal to engage in good-faith peace talks abrogate any moral obligation we may have had to help them.
<" There is no fundamental American national interest at stake, and Israeli colonial war crimes and intransigent refusal to engage in good-faith peace talks abrogate any moral obligation we may have had to help them."
Dayem…why don't leaders listen to brilliant peons like you? Just what we need, Joe Schmoe the candy store ho redefining American interests in the global theater. Priceless. haha!
Suzanne, perhaps you would care to enlighten us brilliant peons as to exactly what we Americans get for our $5+ billion per year? :)