The Jewish Delusion (Part II)

A few weeks ago I wrote about the self-deception of American Jews
when it comes to the Obama administration's approach to Israel. That Jews are deluded into thinking that Obama's Israel policy is benign was crystallized in the reaction of liberal Jews to Rahm Emanuel's selection as President Obama's Chief of Staff. It was said that Emanuel's pro-Israel credentials were "impeccable," and thus he would temper any inclination on Obama's part to pressure Israel unduly vis a vis the conflict with the Palestinians.

Events have quickly shown just how misplaced the Jews' faith in Emanuel is. Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came for his first audience before His Holiness Barack Obama, the Omniscient. It must have been humiliating for the experienced pol Netanyahu, in his second turn as his nation's leader, to bow and scrape to the young, callow yet arrogant fellow who now leads the country that has heretofore been Israel's closest ally and protector. Netanyahu's effusive praise for Obama's intelligence and leadership at the post-meeting press conference illustrated what a political pro Bibi really is, for only a professional could make such sickening sycophantism sound sincere.

A close read of the transcript of the press conference reveals just how large the chasm between Obama's agenda and geopolitical reality is. While both leaders acknowledged the threat that Iranian nukes would pose to Israel, the Middle east and the U.S., it was clear that the Iranian problem is secondary to Obama's desire for a Palestinian state. In answering a reporter's question about linkage of the Palestinian-Israeli "peace process" to stopping the Iranian nuclear program, Obama said, "to the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians -- between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with the potential Iranian threat."

Much was made also about Obama laying out a negotiating timetable with Iran. But according to Caroline Glick of The Jerusalem Post, talk of a timetable is a red herring designed to sucker Israel into non-action until it is too late. Obama's timetable would extend until December or January the appeasement negotiations with Iran, after which would begin the fruitless effort to win approval of international trade sanctions against Iran. By the time this effort is seen to be a dead end, Iran's nuclear program might well be unstoppable.

Thus, Obama's statements can be seen as either hopelessly naive (believing the absurdity that if Israel will only give away its security for the sake of a Palestinian state Iran will stand down) or craftily manipulative (holding Israel's fear of Iran as a sword of Damocles over it in order to force Israel into untenable territorial concessions). Whichever it is, the result is the same--a potentially fatal reversal of the priorities which common sense dictates should command the world's attention.

In other words, a relentless and successful effort to stop Iran's nuclear aspirations in its tracks is a prerequisite to ridding Fatah and Iran's proxies Hamas and Hezbullah of the belief that it could ever hope to vanquish Israel, which in turn is a sine qua non of Israel having the breathing space to actually consider "taking risks" for peace.

As for Bibi Netanyahu, according to Glick he survived his close encounter of the weird kind with Obama, in that he "succeeded in evading the policy traps Obama set for him. Netanyahu reserved Israel's right to act independently against Iran and he conceded nothing on the Palestinian issue." Indeed, late reports indicate that Bibi has already defied Obama's call for a building freeze in the West Bank. While for now Israel won't build new settlements, Bibi refuses to halt expansion of existing ones within "natural boundaries."

But this only sets the stage for a titanic battle of political will between Israel and the U.S. that Israel cannot win without deft maneuvering. Glick suggests that Bibi take steps to mitigate Obama's upcoming June 4th Cairo speech in which he will lay out his vision of Middle East peace by first announcing a new Israeli plan. In essence, the Glick-Bibi plan would call for immediate dialog between Israel and the Arab League or the Islamic Conference with a view towards quick normalization of Pan-Arab relations with Israel. This would be followed by implementation of a joint program for combatting terrorism, which in turn would lead to final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Of course Glick has no pretensions of success here. The point is to lay something on the table before Obama's June 4th speech that calls on the so-called "moderate" Arab states to put up or shut up. King Abdullah of Jordan and Obama both claim that the Arabs are willing to accept Israel. So why not test their seriousness with a serious offer to immediately conclude a recognition pact while at the same time press the case for action against Iran.

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A more fundamental problem then the posture of the Obama administration vis a vis Israel is, according to journalist Aaron Klein, the political, social and religious dynamics within Israel herself. Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for Worldnetdaily, has written an essay called "The Late Great State of Israel," excerpted from his book of the same name. Klein concludes that there is an ongoing war between Israel's secular governing elites (Netanyahu included) and the national religious Jews who comprise the vast majority of the almost 500,000 "settlers" who live in towns and cities and enclaves in the West Bank:

Few have any idea how the country is being torn apart by an Israeli war against the "national religious" - a battle of Jew versus Jew in which those in power who want the country to resemble a secular, Europeanized state suppress a significant segment of the population that wants to keep Israel a Jewish country defined by its profoundly Jewish history, traditions, and character.

This ideological battle led to a succession of disasters in Israel since 2005, when Israel uprooted 9,000 of its citizens from their homes in Gaza, ho then saw how their beautiful villages were turned into wastelands by the Palestinians who took over. The 2006 defeat in Lebanon followed by the inconclusive incursion in Gaza in 2009 has left Israel on the brink of national disaster, with a governing elite "hell-bent on pursuing the same failed policies that have resulted time and again in large numbers of Jewish deaths and the handover of strategic land to terrorists, fueling a worldwide perception of Jewish weakness."

Klein wrote his book not as prophecy but as a warning against complacency and self-delusion. He intends the book to stimulate debate and action to change the disastrous policies that have led Israel into an existential crisis. Israel's leaders have led the country into a "calamitous downward spiral" that will be difficult to reverse. Says Klein, "while the Psalms reassure us that 'the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,' the current leaders of Israel are fast giving away the land and strength with which the Jews have been blessed."

It is a sobering essay and its thesis heartbreaking to contemplate. But Mr. Klein, obviously a believer in the G-d of Israel, concludes with a mixture of hope and angst:

I trust and believe that Israel will ultimately survive - against all odds and in spite of the threats from within and without - only through the grace of God. But for now, things don't look good.