Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes he is coming to a very different Washington this week. From his perspective, past visits have all been marred by that "pesky" Palestinian issue. On one occasion he was pressed to recognize the need for a "two-state" solution. Then he was chided about his settlement expansion program. And just one year ago, he was reminded that the 1967 borders were the basis for a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
As is his style, the prime minister dealt with each of these "annoyances." He maneuvered, he dissembled, he harangued, and, when all else failed, the Israeli leader turned to his allies in the U.S. Congress who rather forcefully defended his stand against their own president. But Netanyahu now hopes that all of this unpleasantness is a thing of the past.
With fires raging in Syria and with the drums of war beating incessantly over Iran, the prime minister comes to town believing that the Palestinian question has been all but forgotten. He comes bearing not an olive branch, but a match with which he hopes to ignite a firestorm.
With Palestine and peace off the table, it is Iran that will be the focus of this visit. Netanyahu's host, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is supporting legislation that paves the way for a U.S. confrontation with Iran. Sponsored by a bi-partisan group of Senators, led by Joseph Lieberman, Lindsay Graham, and Robert Casey, the bill would push the Administration to reject any Iranian nuclear enrichment program, while eliminating as an option, mere "containment," of Iran's program. Says Graham of his resolution, "All options must be on the table when it comes to Iran -- except for one, and that is containment." The logic involved behind this bill is as remarkable as the precedent it creates. I cannot recall an instance where the Congress authorized or came as close as this to limiting the options of the Administration to pursue any option other than war, without the president asking for it or, as is most often the case, pushing for it. AIPAC, and the LIKUD, which have wanted this confrontation for more than a decade, are closer than ever to realizing their ambition. This, Netanyahu must be thinking, is what friends are for.
And so it is that the tables appear to have been turned in the Washington that will greet the Israeli leader. He will not be pressured to do what he has long been loathe to do -- address Palestinian rights. Now he will be in the driver's seat, pressuring President Obama to once and for all forsake diplomacy as a tactic or containment as a strategic option, and join Israel in the march to war with Iran.
Expect an outbreak of war fever at AIPAC's annual policy conference that begins on Sunday. It will be "all Iran, all the time." They will make the case, push the case, and then dispatch their lobbyists to the Hill to broaden the already substantial sponsorship enjoyed for their supported bill.
Attention now turns to President Obama who will speak at the beginning of the policy conference. With the Republican presidential aspirants (with the exception of Ron Paul) leading the war chorus and criticizing Obama's "softness," and with even many of his Democratic allies in the Congress joining in, the president is feeling the heat. Arab critics already feel that Obama "gave away the store" last September at the United Nations. But the Israelis are continuing to press the president for more, not less.
Israel's supporters have been fuming over the White House's recent efforts to pour cold water on their threats of war. Netanyahu is particularly upset with warnings by senior Administration officials regarding the potentially devastating consequences of a military strike against Iran or concerns raised by U.S. military officials about the effectiveness of an Israeli attack. They want a clear message of support from the president for their push to end diplomacy, isolate, and then punish Iran. They want Obama to embrace the "red lines" they have drawn up regarding Iran's nuclear program and to join them in ratcheting up the rhetoric against Iran. And they do not want any reminders from Obama of the matter they are working hard to forget. They do not want criticism of Israel's ever expanding settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, or of demolitions of Palestinian homes and new repression in the occupied lands -- all of which have intensified in recent weeks (almost as a "dare" to the U.S. president).
Israel's American supporters, and the prime minister they have embraced, want the smoke-screen of Iran and election year politicking to block out any mention of the issue they want to just go away. They are hoping that this visit will be unlike any of the others that have come before.
Follow James Zogby on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AAIUSA
Have all forms of negotiations been tried & failed? Have all sanctions been applied? Remember Iraq, folks & do we really want to be part of starting what could be WW3 or at the very least cause gas prices to go over $5 in a heartbeat, thus helping to tank our economy.
The GOP of course are all for total support of Isreal.......
In effect, Zogby's anti-Israel rants preach only to the converted. That lefty line forms to the right.
as any reasonable person would want....
Zogby only brings up the other pov of this ME$$....
in fact an easy 90% of the world agrees with him...
that the Israeli's are the main aggressors and
subject the West Bank to daily repression...
including of Christians ...
There is a simple solution - rather than throwing good money after bad, congress can take up an enabling act to make it the 51st, or the 52nd, or the nth state of the Union.
$ 15 Billion......not only money but their
imports are treated as if made in the
good old USA...[ maybe the dual citizens
helping them here can't tell the difference...
why do we allow them who admit loyality
to a different country in our CIA, White House,
Congress, etc. ? ]
In fact one of them will likely be the GOP
US Senate candidate in Ohio.....and of course
want another neocon war asap...
I'd say that, as seen from the US perspective, it would be much more important for the US President to speak to China's leaders on a regular basis. After all, who's holding the US debt? Who's the bigges up & coming economic contender? Vying with the US for oil supplies, raw materials and influence? Not to mention India or Brazil.
CIVICS POP QUIZ: Which repressive governments have employed the following tactics:
1 - Attack citizens right to practice their religion or demeaning religion in general.
2 - Subjugate the country's founding documents guaranteeing freedom from tyranny.
3 - Disarm the people.
4 - Use of government resources to suppress political opponents.
5.- Employ organized labor as a political tool.
6 - Promote class warfare to gain support of the lazy, envious and weak-of-mind.
7 - Make people dependent on government largess to help secure their vote.
8 - Extensive use of the media for propaganda; supporting half-truths, distortions and outright lies.
____________________________
A. Castros Cuba
B. Stalins Russia
C. Hitlers Germany
D. Obamas America
E. All of the above .....
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/04/obama-to-aipac-gop-using-israel-as-political-wedge/?test=latestnews#comment#ixzz1oAKQenxO
if israel is selfish enough to bomb iran and disrupt the world economy let them without our help. the world is onto israel remember when ahmadinejad spoke at the un the us a few of our allies left, but when bibi, spoke the line to the exit was very long. once again the neocons, left over fr bush are banging the war drums. if we go along and gas goes to 12. they will blame obama, is we don't, the evangelinutters will have a field day about the bible and some such nonsense and gas will go to 12.
Why should the U.S. be impartial on that issue? Israel is a friend, and in some ways is seen as a client state. We should be more supportive of the Israelis than the Palestinians.
(Yes, folks, the same practice of giving questionable, analomous 'evidence' extreme weight, and verifiable, consistent evidence almost none has resulted in the government of the US reversing the importance, threat level, and policy approach for those two issues)
NPT seriously? Every country would violate the NPT and acquire illegal nuclear weapons.
There is no paranoia per say. Iran has threatened Israel on several occasions that it would wipe Israel off the face of time. The fact that you see Iran as a peace loving country than is moving its nuclear facilities 90m underground for energy purposes just makes me want to laugh out loud.
Iran is the prime culprit for terrorism and you fail to recognize them as such. Either way, Israel will feel the heat from Iran. Oh wait, Israel has been feeling the heat since the 1980's but Im sure you have some miracle excuse why Iran's sponsorship of terrorism against Israel is acceptable.
Israeli propaganda has been a remarkable success saving them from being discarded along with all of the other US cold war relics. Israeli propagandists understood long before most American politicians the ease with which the culturally and geographically illiterate can be lead. And now it seems they and their patriotic lap dogs in the US congress are betting on the very short attention span and economic illiteracy.
It's times like these, in fact it if this time, now, that the world desperately needs the US president to be more than a poll driven celebrity. Stop this insanity. Tell the useful American id iots the truth.
I was lucky as I was in Troop E Ft Mead, Md. Troop D and F went to Viet. I was sent to Germany with a simple office job Redeployment and other hospital activites. And with only 4 days to go found myself facing Soviet tanks on the Berlin border...still sweating that one standing there with a brief case in hand with boat ticket :>).