From the category archives:

Obama

Marty Peretz, Arabist

by Philip Weiss on March 12, 2010 · 8 comments

Marty Peretz consults his ouija board, and urges on the Judaization of East Jerusalem:

"I believe that the great rabbi in the skies has not instructed Israel to force history to stand still. So let me be direct: The Palestinians have only themselves to blame on Jerusalem, as on other disputed matters."

and learns some secrets about Obama too:


"He is, as I have said a few times, a third worlder. We will see how America will do with our true friends sidelined. …it is increasingly clear that the president feels more connection to the Palestinians specifically and the Arabs generally than he does to the Israelis (and just possibly more connection to Muslims than to Jews, to Islam than to Judaism and Jewishness.)"

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Biden to Bibi: You are endangering us

by Philip Weiss on March 11, 2010 · 43 comments

The Netanyahu insult to Joe Biden is the greatest thing that ever happened. It has woken a lot of people up, maybe including Joe Biden, who is streetsmart, and will allow the mainstream press in the US to finally question the special relationship and what it is doing to the American interest. You say I’m smoking something. Here is Laura Rozen at Politico:

People who heard what Biden said [to Netanyahu behind closed doors] were stunned. “This is starting to get dangerous for us,” Biden castigated his interlocutors. “What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace.”

The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel’s actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism.

Fox News gets the story here: Biden trip is filled with snubs, cold shoulders and mishaps. Foxman likens Biden to Mearsheimer and Walt. Exactly. Mearsheimer and Walt were right. This is not in our interest to be supporting ethnic cleansing!

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Netanyahu steals more land, so Biden is late for dinner

by Philip Weiss10 March 2010

I felt nauseated when I heard that the big gesture by Joe Biden, in response to Israel announcing more settlements on his arrival in Jerusalem, was being late to dinner. Paul Woodward nails it:

The administration either needs to threaten to apply real pressure on the Israeli government, or, if it wants to confine itself to [...]

12 comments

Lord almighty, MSM covers dissing of Biden

by Anonymous10 March 2010

Notice how the mainstream press (Time Magazine) dissed the Israeli government and Bibi. This is new. Change that we can believe in (We hope):
Guardian:

It doesn’t seem to realise it, but Israel cannot afford to keep on behaving in this disobliging manner towards its friends. Whether it is blatant disregard for international rules concerning the protection [...]

29 comments

Lobby’s purchase of Republican Campbell recalls its purchase of Obama

by Philip Weiss9 March 2010

Alison Weir of If Americans Knew has published a piece on Tom Campbell’s back pages–the former California congressman who is now running for Senate. Note that Campbell obviously had realist bona fides back in the day, but has utterly abandoned his pro-Palestinian position. Campbell’s collapse is remarkably similar to Obama’s progress during the same period. [...]

7 comments

J Street says Obama is serious (but Israeli Foreign Ministry shrugs)

by Bruce Wolman9 March 2010

J Street and the Israeli Foreign Ministry offer contrasting reactions to the just announced Israeli-Palestinian "proximity talks" – indirect talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians with the United States serving as the go-between. By summer we should know for certain which organization has a better read of Obama Administration policies.
Isaac Luria of J Street [...]

42 comments

Obama’s Cheney

by Philip Weiss8 March 2010

Greenwald on Rahm:

One related point about the spate of "Obama-should-have-followed-Rahm’s-centrist-advice" articles that have appeared of late: if you really think about it, it’s quite extraordinary to watch a Chief of Staff openly undermine the President by spawning numerous stories claiming that the President is failing because he’s been repeatedly rejecting his Chief of Staff’s [...]

14 comments

Sunstein augured Obama’s strategy back in ‘04

by Anonymous4 March 2010

I suspect chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and regulatory czar Cass Sunstein have become the advisers that Obama follows most closely. For Emanuel, look at the New York Times story today on his almost completed agreement with S.C. Senator Lindsey Graham: closing Guantanamo in exchange for making military tribunals the norm, and the invention of [...]

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Haaretz: In Iranian-Israeli brinksmanship, Obama is powerless

by Bruce Wolman3 March 2010

Aluf Benn in this morning’s Ha’aretz describes an increasingly dangerous poker game being played out over Iran’s nuclear program. With war now being threatened, "the stakes are constantly rising with the expectations that one of the players will recognize his weakness, blink and leave the table."
Player one, the Prime Minister of Israel has certainly upped [...]

38 comments

Rahm: gone, or invincible

by Bruce Wolman23 February 2010

I leaned towards this interpretation also: Rahm is on his way out, and uses stenographer Dana Milbank in the Washington Post to issue a parting shot at Obama’s insider team. Or else the lobby makes him feel invincible, which would be very bad for Obama’s future.

121 comments

Jim Baker says Netanyahu smelled Obama’s ‘weakness’

by Philip Weiss23 February 2010

Jim Lobe picks up Jim Baker interview at National Journal. Note my favorite point, that Obama is reversing US policy on settlements. I wonder where the hell our policy has been for decades? What is policy without some means of enforcement, or sanctions? Oh yes and he says "apartheid." Don’t forget how many people accused [...]

23 comments

Is conservative nod to Ron Paul an indication that Republicans will divide on The issue?

by Philip Weiss21 February 2010

Note the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll giving Texas Rep Ron Paul a clear lead for the group’s presidential endorsement over Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.
And note Mike Huckabee ripping the straw poll, and the  group for being libertarian.
Huckabee has spent a lot of time in Israel. Ron Paul is one of the [...]

33 comments

ZOA calls for a (much) different kind of academic boycott

by Alex Kane20 February 2010

About ten days ago, 11 students at the University of California, Irvine were arrested after repeatedly interrupting Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren’s speech at their campus. The students face potential disciplinary action from their school for the protest.
Now, the right-wing Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is calling on potential students [...]

28 comments

Baird calls on Obama to honor his promise to Palestinians and break the blockade

by Philip Weiss19 February 2010

Fabulous statement by outgoing-Washington congressman Brian Baird today after his third visit in the last year to Gaza. He calls on Obama to break the Gaza blockade to honor his promises to the Palestinian people. Excerpt:

President Obama in his June 2009 Cairo address, Secretary of State Clinton in numerous statements and the international community all [...]

6 comments