Follow on TwitterHillary Clinton’s Pandering To Israel Destroys U.S. Credibility On Middle East Peace
U.S. Middle East policy has effectively come full-circle again, as it has done repeatedly for the past forty-plus years. Every blue moon we get a U.S. President who dares to challenge Israel on its ethnic cleansing — as demonstrated by continued Palestinian home demolitions and Jewish-ONLY settlement expansion within the occupied territories (all interconnected by Jewish-ONLY roads). And as usual, the world holds its breath wondering if this U.S. President will have the balls to apply pressure behind his rhetoric and actually force Israel to cease its illegal activities and engage in peace negotiations.
But then a familiar pattern unfolds: The Israel Lobby applies its pressure, Congress obediently issues ridiculously dishonest resolutions, and before long the U.S. Administration sheepishly backs down, changes course, and proceeds to embarrass itself by actually praising Israel for its indefensible conduct.
Rewind to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in March, 2009:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday blasted Israel’s plans to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem as a violation of its international obligations and “unhelpful” to Middle East peace efforts.
“Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the ‘road map’,” Clinton said, referring to the long-stalled peace plan.
“It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem,”
Now let’s revisit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s strong language in May, 2009:
Rebuffing Israel on a key Mideast negotiating issue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the Obama administration wants a complete halt in the growth of Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory, with no exceptions.
President Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions,” Clinton said.
Next, let’s move on to President Obama’s Cairo Speech in June, 2009:
Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. (Applause.) This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.
Fast forward five months later — to this week — as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, backpedals on U.S. Middle East policy, while speaking in Israel:
Having failed to force Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, to meet US demands for a total settlement freeze, Mrs Clinton switched tack during a one-day visit to Jerusalem when she called on both sides to resume peace talks.
“What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements . . . is unprecedented,” Mrs Clinton said…
The comments by Mrs Clinton were in contrast to the previous stance of the Obama Administration, which has pressured Israel to halt all settlement construction. In May, after President Obama’s first meeting with Mr Netanyahu, Mrs Clinton said that the US “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions”.
And the angry response in the Arab world is as one might expect:
Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for Mr Abbas, said: “The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel’s intransigence and America’s back-pedalling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon.”
Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian Authority spokesman, said:
“I believe that the U.S. condones continued settlement expansion. Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn’t help because we have tried this way many times,” Khatib added. “Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation.”
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said:
“If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?”
So it appears Obama has concluded — as did all his predecessors — that going head to head with the Israel Lobby is not worth the political price. So Hillary Clinton does a 180 — yanking the rug out from under President Abbas — thereby ensuring his popularity will plummet further just before the Palestinian elections. She’s also given the right-winged Likud government a strategic ‘out’ from any peace negotiations. Netanyahu is now free to accuse the Palestinians of blocking peace, as Fatah demands that Israel cease its settlement expansion as a precondition for peace negotiations.
Is there any wonder why terrorists in that part of the world are motivated to target American interests, considering that we are essentially Israel’s enabler?
Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist for Harretz, blasts the U.S. Administration in his recent column for always “sucking up to Israel” :
No other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?
But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.
Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don’t change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America’s automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world’s policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.
Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 – which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement – then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched. […]
Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year – Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.
Stephen Walt succinctly describes the mess the United States is helping to create for the state of Israel and for those whom Israel continues to occupy:
The two-state solution was on life-support when Obama took office, and at first it appeared he might make a serious effort to nurse it back to health and make it a reality. At least, that’s what he said he was going to do. Instead, he and his Secretary of State are in the process of pulling out the plug. But what will they do when “two states for two peoples” isn’t an option and everybody finally admits it, and the Palestinians begin to demand equal rights in “greater Israel?” Will the United States support their claims for equality, democracy, and individual rights, or will it continue to defend and subsidize what will then be an apartheid state? Well, if it’s up to our courageous reps in Congress, you know what the answer will be.
Forcing Democratic Politicians To Legislate Progressively
One thing has become crystal clear over these last nine months — the Democrats do not give a rat’s ass about the core concerns of the Progressive movement. On the campaign trail ‘candidate’ Obama said all the right things and with eloquence; with passion. He articulated a whole host of issues important to us, and outlined how best to fix them, and we were in agreement. His vision for change resonated with and inspired tens of millions who had for so long been cynical, apathetic — hopeless — about the U.S. political establishment. He restored their hopes, only to spend his first nine months eradicating them for good. Americans entrusted Obama and the Democrats with the Presidency and a majority in both houses, as well as with a clear mandate to implement the changes they promised. Since then, they’ve done everything possible to undercut us on nearly every critical issue.
The problem is much bigger than Obama ‘the candidate’ VS Obama ‘the president’. The problem is endemic to this two-party system — a system which ensures that voting against the ‘token’ Democrat — and instead for a third-party candidate — often yields something far worse: a neo-con. This setup provides an insidious Democratic party monopoly on the entire left-of center-spectrum and the Republicans the same monopoly for anyone to the right of center. It insulates each party’s candidates from the wrath of their respective electorates, thereby allowing the politicians to undermine the citizenry at every turn. This fortress around the two parties creates a haven for moneyed special-interest groups to thrive within: to legally bribe our candidates, and to ensure that all legislation is written to serve their best interests, even when their interests conflict with those of the American people.
These days, most Progressives have a ‘line of thinking’ that goes something like this:
“Well, my candidate has broken every campaign promise he ever made, so we’re grappling with the realization that we’re not going to get real change. But, having said that, Obama and the Democrats are still far better than Bush, McCain-Palin, and the other Republicans. And for that matter, Obama will surely be better than any serious contender (meaning one of the two-party contenders) he’ll face three years from now.”
All true, yet consider this: Obama and the Democrats are well-aware of this ‘line of thinking’. It’s why we aren’t getting a robust public option. It’s why Guantanamo Bay is still open, and our troops are still in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s why Obama has done everything in his power to stamp out any investigations of — and even block the release of any information on — the crimes committed by the Bush Administration. This ‘line of thinking’ has given Obama the ‘Audacity’ to cut back-door deals with the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries — effectively undermining a robust public option, and stripping the government the right to negotiate drug prices downwards — all before actual health reform negotiations had even begun. He promised transparency in the health reform process, then proceeded to hide it all from public scrutiny. Because Obama knows that — as a Democratic party candidate — he will always remain the ‘lesser of two evils’ in his constituency’s eyes. He knows we’re never going to risk putting another George W. Bush in power. We are essentially ‘in the bag’, as far as he and his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s political estimations are concerned.
There is an old saying: ‘Sometimes it has to get worse, before it can get better’. At some point, Progressives will have to vote against the Democratic Party to force the party’s interests to become aligned with our own. Yes, this strategy will probably yield some horrible Republican politicians in the short term — as the Democratic Party’s ‘wake-up-call’ costs them their comfortable majority — but it will send a very clear message to them: they are no longer insulated from the wrath of their progressive base. They will learn that there is a bite behind the bark.
Progressives need to stop following blindly — like sheep — behind Democratic candidates. We should ONLY vote for Democrats who have advocated for our interests. If the Democratic Candidate has legislated against our interests, and there exists no third party candidate who shares our ideals, then we should just stay at home. We do this, and I guarantee that by the following election cycle, the Democratic party will reawaken as a new progressive entity. And only then will we achieve real change.
Why Obama’s Policies Put Wall Street’s Interests Ahead Of Main Street’s
Dan Froomkin at Huffington Post connects the dots:
Many of [Obama’s] chief financial advisers have pocketed extraordinary amount of money from banks and Wall Street, and presumably intend to do so again. They are part of the banker class, and their loyalties have been bought and paid for.
Examples?
Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers:
was paid $5.2 million for his part-time work for a massive hedge fund in 2008. He also took in more than $2.7 million in fees for speaking engagements at such places as Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs — including one visit alone that netted him $135,000 from Goldman Sachs.
Deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, Michael Froman:
received $7.4 million from Citigroup between January 2008 and January 2009 — including a year-end bonus of $2.25 million that he received just days before coming to work at the White House for a man who was at that very moment calling just such bonuses “shameful”.
Froomkin breaks down the speaking fees and millions made by each of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides as recent as this year. It really is a corrupted pack of wolves that Obama has put together to guard the hen house: READ MORE HERE
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Obama’s ‘Lobbyist Ban’: A White House ‘Aspiration’ To Remain Unenforced
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The President’s Eloquent Words Are Beginning to Ring Hollow
After eight tumultuous years of deceit, incompetence, and ideological extremism emanating from the White House the entire world eagerly embraced the ushering in of the new American President and all the hope that his victory embodied. I vividly recall the night Obama won: watching him give another spectacular speech on television, the tears of happiness filling the eyes of tens of […]
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