Obama Confronts The Israeli Lobby
In the latest round of confrontations with the hard-right Israeli government and their Washington-based AIPAC sycophants, Obama has pursued a deceptively forceful manner in dealing with Middle East policy.
As the Freeman appointment proved, you cannot take on the Israel lobby in broad daylight. They are too powerful, too controlling, too knee-jerk in their hysteria to be confronted in a manner that says unequivocally “you are no longer in the drivers seat”.
Instead, as Obama has done, the Israel Lobby must be confronted with smiles, with assurances of fairness and dignity for all life, and refrains for peace and prosperity for both Israel and Palestine. But the refrains are now a twist on old platitudes — peace no longer means Israel inflicting an apartheid state on Palestine, prosperity no longer means increasing settlements for Jewish fanatics in the West Bank, peace no longer means an eager belligerence to wage war on civilians. Most Americans agree on a 2 state solution and humane co-existence until that point, so what serious person could publicly disagree if Obama sincerely pursues it. Obama’s words on ‘peace and prosperity’ are refreshing because they no longer serve merely as an empty vessel through which Israel cashes its blank check from American power.
I see hope in the new direction of America’s Middle East policy. We are finally getting serious about insisting on the removal of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Though it is preemptive to say progress will be made, Obama’s progressive steps in reasserting American sovereignty over its own foreign policy are steps in the right direction towards a two-state solution.
See Also: Is Obama Taking on the Israel Lobby?, Israel’s Nukes [Sullivan], Israel’s Nukes [Klein], and Shitty Little Terrorist State To Assume Exalted Status,
