David Horovitz in the Jerusalem Post on the battle for Europe. Israel is losing Europe. But it’s got the U.S., forever. The UN vote for a Palestinian state will be a “train wreck” that leads to greater boycott. And Obama should have handled Netanyahu better, to try and head off the European rage toward Israel… How should he have finessed Netanyahu? Oh, by not pressing Israel as he did in his 1967 remarks. Oh my. thanks to Blankfort.
A solitary heckler apart, the prime minister won the kind of adulatory reception in Congress 10 days ago that he could not dream of receiving in any sizable political forum in Israel. He wouldn’t feel that kind of love at a big gathering of his own Likud Party, never mind his parliament, where he is lucky if he can get through a few sentences without hostile interruption…
An overwhelming GA vote in favor of Palestine may well be unavoidable. A UNGA vote in support of Palestine backed by “responsible” European nations would be a blow to Israel of a whole different order.
It would be seen as legitimizing a radically intensified boycott and sanctions effort. It would be interpreted by extremists here as providing something of a green light for violence and terrorism against Israel. It would bolster momentum for legal warfare against Israel, including via the International Criminal Court in The Hague. (If the Palestinians are seen as a state, not merely by predictably sympathetic nations but by “fair-minded” nations too, the ICC would be more likely to seek to acquire jurisdiction for prosecuting alleged Israeli crimes in the West Bank, including as relates to settlements.) And it would emphatically bolster mass, unarmed “Arab Spring”-style protests – the kind Israel failed to face down on a small scale two weeks ago, and the kind it may well already begin to encounter on a larger scale from Sunday.
None of this is to say that Netanyahu failed Israel with that virtuoso performance before Congress last Tuesday. That speech – with its emphasis on the Jewish connection to Judea and Samaria, and on Palestinian statehood not hinging on Israeli compromise but on Arab recognition of Israeli legitimacy – set out contextual basics with passion, dexterity, clarity and flair.
But it did not free the prime minister of the obligation to use astute diplomacy to head off the September “train wreck.” It did not free him of the obligation to show, not just to tell, that Israel is ready for peace, and that it is the Palestinians who are not.
Obama and his hierarchy should have consulted more effectively with Netanyahu and his hierarchy ahead of the State Department bombshell speech.
