Donald Trump’s desire to wash his hands of the Middle East resonated with an American public and helped him win the election, says Philip Gordon, a former Middle East adviser to President Obama. British PM Theresa May echoed that point this week; but the US press is diminishing the story.
“As long as Israel is under threat, as long as Israel is not secure,” there will not be a divorce between American and Israeli Jews, says Abe Foxman. “If there is peace– that’s when you are going to deal with the issue of divorce.” So is that why Israel is always at war?
Donald Trump seems to have cold feet about moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, with his spokesperson saying he will consult “stakeholders” in a “decision-making process.”
Obama failed to establish a Palestinian state but his success against Netanyahu on the Iran deal and last minute abstention on the UN Security Council resolution against settlements have fostered the international campaign for equal rights in Israel and Palestine.
At the 92d Street Y, David Makovsky says SJP has its roots in Hamas and JVP doesn’t work with SJP, and other falsehoods about the Palestinian solidarity movement; and the pity is that his opponents are never invited to rebut him. The Jewish community used to be smart. Now Zionism dumbs down everything it touches.
Donald Trump has now named his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a senior adviser, notably on Middle East and Israel issues. Ten years ago, Kushner fired Philip Weiss from the New York Observer after Weiss started reporting on the Israeli occupation. Weiss reflects on his experience with Kushner and what it could mean for his upcoming White House role.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Netanyahu three or four times as often as to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to former State Dep’t aide David Makovsky
Journalist Eli Lake has been unhinged by the UN resolution against Israeli settlements that Obama allowed to go through, and has been accusing Obama of cowardice and hatred, invoking biblical claims to Jerusalem and attacking writers who disagree with him as terrorists
‘We tried everything,’ White House aide Ben Rhodes says, in explaining Obama decision to allow UN Security Council resolution against settlements. He says Obama and John Kerry repeatedly warned Netanyahu about Israel’s “international isolation” but Netanyahu chose to ignore the warnings.
Donald Trump is giving ISIS a recruiting tool by nominating an extremist supporter of settlers as ambassador to Israel in David Friedman. Hatred of the U.S. will increase if the Arab world comes to believe that the U.S. is abandoning the Palestinians.