There was a time that the idea of nearly 60 Democrats boycotting a speech to Congress by the prime minister of Israel would have been unimaginable. Democrats were the staunchest supporters of the creation and defense of the Jewish state. Republicans were once lukewarm. Now, Democrats increasingly side against Israel, while Republicans are nearly unanimous in support. So how did we get here? Part of it is pique. Some of the speech snubbers are nObama loyalists angry at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to scuttle President nObama’s pending nuclear deal with Iran. And as John Judis observed, part of it is rooted in political shifts in Israel and the U.S. and resultant changes in lobbying efforts and gamesmanship on both sides. But that still doesn’t fully explain why so many Democrats would risk a backlash from Jewish voters and supporters, who are overwhelmingly Democratic. The answer lies not with the politics of Jewish Americans, but those of Christians.
[WaPo: “In November 1945, [President Harry Truman] offered this riposte to American diplomats cautioning him against embracing the cause of Zionism: ‘I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism: I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents.’”] -Fox News
[In the latest Gallup poll, 45 percent of Americans view the Israeli leader favorably, up 10 points since 2012 and tying the highest rating recorded by Gallup over Netanyahu’s tenures.]
“America’s bond with Israel is stronger than the politics of the moment…This is an important message at an important time and the Prime Minister is the perfect person to deliver it.” –Speaker backstabber John Boehner says in a new video previewing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress. -Fox News
RYAN & CO. LOOK TO REASSURE JUSTICES ON nOBAMACARE
Paul Ryan, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, along with Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. and Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., add another layer to the GOP plan to cover nObamaCare beneficiaries if Supreme Court justices opt to blow up the law. The budget hawks proposal comes in a WSJ op-ed and meshes with other proposals floated by Senate Republicans in recent days. -Fox News
NHjournal: “Following up its radio ad buy announced last week, the conservative issues group Crossroads GPS [today] will launch a $50,000 digital ad buy again criticizing Gov. Maggie Hassan [D-N.H.,] for a proposed budget it says includes ‘more spending, higher taxes, and no real innovation.’ Crossroads last week became the second out-of-state group to attack Hassan, who is viewed as a possible contender for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, [R-N.H.]…. The new digital ad will be seen on Facebook, Twitter and search engine web sites, Crossroads said. Its script is similar to the radio ad, charging Hassan proposed a tax that ‘would hit lower income people hardest’ and ‘sizeable increases in business taxes.’” -Fox News
“Nobody is asking for America to go to war. What the Israelis are asking, what a lot of Americans are asking – including the majority of Republicans – is real sanctions and to give the Israelis the green light to defend themselves. They have never asked for Americans to go to war on their behalf and they are not asking that today.”—Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch here. -Fox News
(Theodore Shoebat) - John Allen, a retired US general who works as nObama’s envoy to the international coalition that is combating ISIS, has made it very clear that the nObama administration will defend Syrian rebels, who are all Muslim jihadists, once they are in combat...He also made it clear that the US plans on training 15,000 of these jihadists over the next 3 years. As we read from the report: All of these terrorists will take the US training and protection as a means to their evil end: the destruction of Christianity and the establishment for an Islamic state in the Middle East. With that said, America right now has one of the most wicked governments in the world. They are empowering all of the Islamic world to pursue jihadism, and for this does it have an ocean of Christian blood on its hands. http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/03/obama-administration-we-will-defend-muslim-jihadists-if-they-are-attacked/
At the U.N., the Palestinians and Europeans will press forward after the March 17 Israeli election, submitting draft United Nations Security Council resolutions that they postponed at the request of Secretary of State Hanoi John F. Kerry. They are pressuring the administration to join this effort to impose terms on Israel, and not to veto.
In the Iran talks, there either will or won't be a framework agreement by the March 31 target date, and either way there will be a clash between friends of Israel and the nObama administration - either about the terms of the agreement, or about intensified sanctions in the absence of an agreement.
At the International Criminal Court (ICC), the "State of Palestine" will achieve full membership on April 1, opening the way for potential war crimes complaints against Israel. By June, the total VAT and clearance revenues that the government of Israel is withholding from the Palestinian Authority will approach $1 billion. The United States and other patrons of the PA will argue that the resulting debt and unpaid salaries to civil servants and security forces are bringing the PA to the point of collapse. Yet, at the same time, the nObama Administration will be required by law to suspend $400 million in U.S. budgetary assistance to the PA.
And the deadlock between the PA and Hamas that has impeded reconstruction of Gaza is likely to bring the enclave to a boiling point in about the same time frame. Some will blame Israel. After the Israeli election, a new package of sanctions against settlement products will be announced by the European Union.
Israel will not have a fully functioning government for some weeks after the voting takes place on March 17, because, based on past experience, assembling a multiparty coalition to empower a viable government is not likely to be completed until about May 15. Most polls indicate that the next government will be headed by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, but there is uncertainty whether he will head a narrow government of the right and religious or a wider coalition including elements of the center-left. A deadlock is also possible, resulting in greater delays before control of the key ministries and the guidelines of the new government are decided.
In Washington, shortly after March 17, President nObama will be making a series of fateful decisions affecting Israel, while the Jewish state is absorbed in sorting out its internal decision-making structure. Mr. nObama and Mr. Hanoi Kerry are likely to press Israel to turn over to the PA hundreds of millions in escrowed clearance revenues, at the very moment that the PA is seeking prosecution of Israel at the ICC and going to the Security Council in an effort to impose Arab demands on Israel.
Mr. nObama may sign an accord that leaves Iran with 6,500 centrifuges, against the opposition of his most important Mideast allies in Israel and the Gulf states, even if a majority in Congress opposes the agreement. If there is no Iran agreement, Mr. nObama may still veto the Kirk-Menendez Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, arguing that it will impede his "Plan B" policy of keeping the Joint Plan of Action as a de facto long term interim arrangement.
At the United Nations, France plans to submit a resolution in cooperation with Germany and the U.K., because, in the words of Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, "pressure is required from the international community to help both sides ... take the ultimate step." It will propose "Clear parameters for resolving the conflict adopted by the international community in advance" and a firm timetable to "provide the basis for future negotiations." France is looking for a compromise resolution "which everyone can get behind" because the Americans have already said that they will veto the Arab draft.
The E-3 draft calls for a comprehensive agreement "no later than 24 months after ... this resolution" instead of the 12 months in the Arab draft. It calls for "full phased withdrawal of Israeli security forces" from the West Bank and Gaza, but deletes the Arab draft's demand that this be completed by the end of 2017. It "looks forward to welcoming Palestine as a full member of the United Nations," but deletes the Arab draft's conclusion that this must occur by the end of 2017. While the Arab draft demands a resolution of the refugee question "on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative and resolution 194," the E-3 draft requires only a "fair and realistic" solution. And the French draft recalls that General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 called for a "Jewish state," while the Arab draft studiously avoids this phrase.
The administration has not commented publicly about the French E-3 draft. But some observers believe that Mr. nObama may allow it to pass or even vote for it, possibly using the U.S. vote as bait for American changes.
But even with changes, the French draft endorses principles that will be problematic for the government of Israel: e.g., that borders should be "based on 4 June 1967 with mutually agreed limited equivalent land swaps"; that Israeli communities in eastern Jerusalem and the hills of Judea and Samaria "have no legal validity" and that Jerusalem should be the "shared" capital of two states.
Most importantly, allowing a decision on this issue at the United Nations Security Council would be a victory for those who want the Great Powers to decide the outcome instead of leaving it to bilateral direct negotiations, a longstanding demand of the Arabs consistently opposed by Israel and, until now, by the United States.
The bottom line: Mr. nObama has more opportunity to inflame U.S.-Israel relations on core issues in the next few months, than in any previous period since his ascent to the presidency.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0315/wrong_israeli_controversy.php3
Comments