More and more folks are talking about reducing aid to Israel. Senator Rand Paul has suggested it, to give Israel more autonomy. Yesterday a Zionist writer suggested a small cut in part to make Israel act more “responsibly” in its region. The recommendations reminded me that the last time I saw Yossi Gurvitz, he described US sanctions on Israel as the “helicopter on the Saigon embassy roof” moment — that moment when the client state realizes it’s being abandoned by the empire, and all hell breaks loose, as it did in Saigon in 1975.
I asked Gurvitz if a cut in aid would be such a moment. He wrote:
Not just yet, I think. This would be seen as just another blow by Obama on Netanyahu. I think a “helicopter on the roof” moment would be when the US would decline to use its veto in the UN Security Council. Particularly if the Palestinians use their new status as a way to indict Israeli officers and officials. Should that happen – the chance for that are, of course, vanishingly small – I think many Israeli politicians and officials would be themselves looking for helicopters. Sincerely, Yossi
“Helicopters on the roof” — what a wonderful image. (But would China rescue Israel? Great arms manufacturers!) Has Obama named another replacement UN Ambassador yet? Someone who — in a proper case, of course — would be embarrassed to use a veto?
More and more folks are talking about reducing aid to Israel.
Add Netanyahu to that list. At his first address to Congress near the beginning of his first terms in office, Netanyahu declared he would wean Israel off US aid.
Of course, he got the applause. Meanwhile, economic journalists back in Israel (such as Haaretz’s Nehemiah Strassler) mocked Netanyahu’s proposal as unrealistic.
He didn’t mean it anyway.
“Its gonna taco homes”
You see, a wise Latino was cruising down the blvd. in his 64 Chevy Impala drop-top – that is a convertible for you squares (ehm! Mooser) when he came across an idiot chopping the top off of a full sized American sedan to convert it into a drop-top.
The Latino guy shouted at the idiot – “Homes its gonna taco”. He could have explained to him that the vehicle is not designed to be a convertible and cutting the top off with a chainsaw will compromise the structural integrity of the car – making it unsafe and possibly making it taco at the top.
Israel is gonna taco homes!
What will be most astonishing is how many of Israel’s American supports, many of them fanatic, who led the way to that moment – but without their own blood, sweat and tears on the line. No, they’re armchair warriors.
One day Israel will wake up as the world has abandoned it, and it’s American supporters will just lament it in their neocon rags and go on with life.
I think Obama would actually be doing Israel a service, if he stopped the foolish US policy of blocking any UNSC resolution the ISRAEL LOBBY dislikes.