Netanyahu is labeled a coward for failing to make any moves towards peace with Palestinians and Sunni nations for fear he might lose an election. Predictably Netanyahu jumps at this opportunity and announces that he won't make "any concessions" because of the valid criticism — knowing full well he's never made any concessions and never will.
—Ronald David Jackson
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| Photo by Middle East Children's Alliance. |
Israeli-American relations have apparently hit a new low, with unnamed but senior members of the Obama administration referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “coward” and “chickens**t” in interviews with Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist with good access to both governments.
As Goldberg reports:
“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” the official said, expanding the definition of what a chickens**t the Israeli prime minister looks like. “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”
Well, amen.
Israeli officials have reacted to the story by demanding that those who were quoted be identified and fired, and that an apology be issued. The Obama White House has done none of that, merely noting that such statements by U.S. officials are “inappropriate and counterproductive.”
These increasingly bitter exchanges between the Obama and Netanyahu governments were touched off by announcement of yet another round of settlement expansions, including into historically Arab areas of East Jerusalem and deep into the West Bank, in areas that would form the core of any Palestinian state. They continue a long string of such announcements. Every such expansion amounts to a repudiation of a two-state solution to the dispute between Israel and Palestine. Every such expansion amounts to a public rejection of official U.S. policy going back as far as the Nixon administration.
It’s time that such announcements had consequences. In recent months, Netanyahu has taken to public whining that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated, with fewer and fewer friends. Well, if you repeatedly act in total disregard of international opinion and international law, and against the ardent advice of your closest and just about only remaining ally, yes, you will become more isolated. Among human beings as among nations, that’s how such things work.
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