Roger Cohen’s latest NYT oped on Israel is a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s shot full of the usual subtle and not-so-subtle pro-Israel bias, eg, claiming Israel is a “vibrant democracy,” and a preposterous castigation of Abbas for having the temerity to demand a UN resolution on settlements. Notice how Cohen uses the word “us,” he identifies with Israelis and not Palestinians. On the other hand, he makes a helpful suggestion: if Obama were to visit Israel and address the Knesset, he might help shift public opinion toward ending the occupation.
One noteworthy line:
“America is Israel’s insurance company and right now we need the C.E.O. to come and tell us, ‘You are not alone,”’ Daniel Ben-Simon, a Knesset member who recently left the Labor Party told me. “We especially need that because Israeli policy is not just a tragedy, it’s almost criminal.”
Translation of this quote, with the addition of the facts, and the removal of self-censorship: “Israel is committing numerous crimes under international law, including War Crimes, the Crime of Apartheid, and repeated violations of the Geneva Conventions. There is no hope that Israel, of its own volition, will reform itself. Only our biggest ally can coax/pressure us to change.”
No mention here, of course, of what stops the biggest ally from having a sane foreign policy on Israel/Palestine…when will The Israel Lobby become part of the mainstream discourse? Nowadays Cohen and Friedman will occasionally say “Israel has a problem,” but when will they say, “We have a problem“?
P.S. – Should Obama ever visit Israel, I wonder if the Israeli right will curse him with a Pulsa diNura, as they allegedly did prior to assassinating Rabin. It would not shock me at all if they made an attempt on Obama’s life, Israeli anti-Obama hate runs rampant.
