This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
If President Obama agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House yesterday that “Iran’s conciliatory words have to be matched by real actions – transparent, verifiable, meaningful actions. Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction,” the President should apply the same principle to Israel: “Israel’s conciliatory words have to be matched by real actions – transparent, verifiable, meaningful actions. Israel is committed to Palestine’s destruction.”
It’s so obvious. I doubt the thought escaped our clever President.
On Iran, President Obama continued: “We have to have actions that give the international community confidence that in fact they are meeting their international obligations fully and they are not in a position to have a nuclear weapon. We have to test diplomacy. We have to see if in fact they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms and international law and international requirements and resolutions.” The President might just as well have been referring to Israel. The only change would be – “have a nuclear weapon.” Israel has quite a few already.
Sanctions are as sanctions go. In the past, I have argued for military intervention to drive Israel back to its 1967 borders. Perhaps I jumped the gun. The United States should impose sanctions on Israel first. Sanctions would be lifted when Israel abides by “international norms and international law and international requirements and resolutions.”
US government sponsored BDS. Imagine Samanatha Power announcing that at the UN right before Netanyahu speaks today.
Think what threatening Israel with sanctions would do for America’s standing in the world. To begin, it would level the playing field and place Israel, AIPAC and, yes, J Street on notice. The extended honeymoon for these various Jewish establishments is over. Rhetorical posturing is out. It’s time to get serious.
Time to get serious about Egypt, too. Egypt’s military is now cleaning out any and all dissenters to its martial law overreach and its treatment of prisoners, including Westerners, is abominable.
On Syria, why isn’t the Russian-American alliance working to end the bloodshed rather than concentrating on the bogus issue of chemical weapons?
The list goes on and on.
Today, however, Netanyahu will up the rhetoric to hide the reality of Israeli expansion and its brutality against Palestinians. Since Netanyahu knows the international score the question is obvious: How does he and Israel get away with this subterfuge? How long can such deception last?
I don’t think Israel can sell “we love peace” for much longer since it is blatantly obvious nobody anywhere near power in Zionism is interested in 2 states.
And “poor us” isn’t going to work much longer either, not to mention “we are just like you” which is also patently bullshit.
Why wouldnt the deception last? People in general are ignorant, they buy those lies by netanyahu.
>> On Iran, President Obama continued: “We have to have actions that give the international community confidence that in fact they are meeting their international obligations fully …
On Israel: “We have to have actions that give the international community confidence that in fact they are meeting their international obligations fully … ”
On the U.S. itself: “We have to have actions that give the international community confidence that in fact we are meeting our international obligations fully … ”
C’mon, Barry, you can do it!
(No, he can’t. Actually, he can. But he won’t.)
The United States bottom line always seems to be our way or the highway, so that when Susan Rice said on the CNN interview several days ago “the US position on Syria is Assad must go” means regime change, totally in breach of International Law, but then not unusual for the exceptional nation. Then in reply to this question on Iran “Is it the position that the United States that Iran cannot enrich uranium?”
RICE: “Well, Fareed, those words were chosen very deliberately. The United States has not spoken about a right of Iran to enrich. We have said that, as a member of the NPT, in the context of Iran meeting its international obligations.
That means fulfilling it’s responsibilities under the IAEA resolutions as well as the U.N. Security Council resolutions”.
Of course the UNSC Resolutions call for Iran to cease enrichment, I foresee the US being totally unreasonable here and for negotiations to break down over the right to enrichment on Iranian soil, as for easing sanctions, forget it those sanctions are in place until Iran cries uncle.
I am listening to this criminal on AJ.
Thoroughly vomit inducing hasbara and lies.
Hard to listen to him.