>“First – I know this is a crazy, radical idea — when America asks Israel to do something that in no way touches on its vital security but would actually enhance it, there is only one right answer: ‘Yes.’ It is a measure of how spoiled Israel has become that after billions and billions of dollars in US aid and 300,000 settlers already ensconced in the West Bank, Israel feels no compunction about spurning an American request for a longer settlement freeze — the only purpose of which is to help the United States help Israel reach a secure peace with the Palestinians
First of all here is Friedman trying to incite Americans against Israel with this portrayal of Israel as simply taking from America and unwilling to return the favor of American generosity. As has been pointed out repeatedly here and elsewhere, U.S. "aid" to Israel isn't simply altruistic but are actually loans that the U.S. provides Israel on the condition that Israel purchases from America. Secondly the reason Israel turned down the offer is that Obama has proven he cannot be trusted since he has already not lived up to agreements made with Israel. Notably the 2004 Bush letter and the administration publicly admonishing Israel for building permits for Jewish housing in Jerusalem although the agreed upon freeze was not to include Jerusalem.
Israel today really is behaving like a spoiled child. Please spare me the nonsense that President Obama is anti-Israel. At a time when the president has made it one of his top priorities to build a global coalition to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon, he took the very logical view that if he could advance the peace process in the Middle East it would give him much greater leverage to get the Europeans and UN behind tougher sanctions on Iran…Given what Obama has done, and is trying to do, it is hardly an act of hostility for him to ask Israel to continue its now-expired 10-month partial moratorium on settlement-building in the West Bank in order to take away any excuse from the Palestinians to avoid peace talks.”
What does it say about the moral depravity of Europe and the UN that in order to get them behind stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel needs to be served on a silver platter? Why wouldn't any sane person want the islamic jihadist regime in Iran to be prevented from acquiring nukes? Why must there be an incentive provided for their cooperation? Doesn't Europe at least care about its own self-preservation?
1 comments:
Barry Rubin has written on the "test" thing, if Israel is stupid enough to buy Friedman's advice, there is no limit to the number of "tests" Israel will be urged to get the PA to meet to "prove" its peace-making bonafides. The latter doesn't actually have any and we've been down this road before. And nothing would have prevented Friedman from demanding another extension of a freeze by the time it expired.
Its a charade meant to allow the Palestinians to avoid having to negotiate. As long as they can stall while innocent Jews suffer, they don't have to. Which is exactly the point.
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