Israel is waiting for Palin

[Donald Ian Rankin]

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=180788

Israel is waiting for Palin
By LARRY DERFNER
07/08/2010 07:54

When these gung-ho Israelis try to plot the future, what do they have in mind for a happy ending? Simple: The Republican Party’s return to power.


Israel’s worldwide “loyal opposition” is asking: Where is this country going? Where is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu going? Where is this government’s policy headed? Do they think they can go on with the occupation forever, do they plan to fight the whole world forever? What is their goal and how do they expect to get there? When these gung-ho Israelis try to plot the future, what do they have in mind for a happy ending?

Simple: The Republican Party’s return to power. The happy ending they envision is this: The Republicans retake the White House and Congress so Bibi, the settlers and the whole Israeli Right can do whatever the hell they want and America will back them up, no questions asked.

This strategy came into focus clearly enough with Netanyahu’s victorious visit to the White House this week. Everyone knows President Barack Obama and his administration can’t stand Netanyahu or his policies, but Obama had to smile and pretend because he’s scared stiff of giving the Republicans more ammunition for the November elections.

Look at what’s happening: The prime minister of Israel is holding the president of the United States at bay, bending him to his will, because he’s got the Republicans behind him.


(more at link)


I think Derfner is entirely correct - as it becomes more and more obviously impossible to justify support for Israel's government and policies from a liberal/left wing/progressive/sane standpoint, it will increasingly become a partisan issue in the US; people who are liberal on other issue are going to have to decide which they care about more. The one thing I don't agree with him on is his lack of pessimism - I think a Republican/Israeli coalition is entirely capable of taking on the rest of the world.

[bluestateguy]

1. Strikes me as false

Just does not pass the smell test.

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. very interesting article

snip:

But if Netanyahu and the gang think a President Sarah Palin or a President Newt Gingrich and all their yahoos in Congress can make the world safe for West Bank settlements, or for the blockade of Gaza, or for Israeli militarism in general, they’re wrong. The Republicans are the American equivalent of the Likud, and vice versa.

They both see the world in terms of us vs. them, they both hate Muslims and liberals, they both see war with one Muslim enemy after another as the only way to solve their problems, they’re both clueless about how to make peace or stability and, thus, the only friends they have in the world are each other.

snip:


The message is working well and it’s cost Obama a lot of support – mainly among Jews but also among middle-of-the-road gentiles. And it is, indeed, forcing Americans who love Israel – including those who don’t hate Muslims and liberals – to choose sides. For this wing of the pro-Israel community, the choice goes like this: Either you’re against Palin, Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Pastor John Hagee and all the other Republicans who just love the direction Israel’s going in, or you’re for the Netanyahu government’s policies – you can’t be both.

Put another way: Either you want Israel to remain a part of the democratic world, or you want to change the Likud-led, Republican-backed, belligerent, separatist direction it’s going in – you can’t have both.



http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=180788

[LeftishBrit]

3. Very interesting article - though it's not *all* of Israel that is 'waiting for Palin'

But there is definite collaboration between the American Right and the Right of other countries, including Israel (and the UK of course).

Not to mention a sick, dysfunctional mutual reinforcement and escalation between the Israeli Right and the Palestinian Right.

'I think a Republican/Israeli coalition is entirely capable of taking on the rest of the world.'

I am not entirely sure in the end. There are fundamental differences between the predominant forces of the American (and to a lesser extent British) Right and the Israeli Right, which may irretrievably weaken such a coalition in the end. The main forces of the American Right are neocon-imperialist: they want to control as much of the world as possible, hate some foreigners, and encourage and use others as long as they are useful to them. Israel definitely comes into that category: it is a strategic ally, once against the Soviet Union, now against Iran, and a key player in America's military-industrial complex. A smaller American Right faction are xenophobic-isolationist: they hate foreigners; have no interest in 'foreign entanglements' far away or in building an Empire, but are hyperhawkish over any real or imagined threat near their own borders; and are obsessed with 'unAmerican' 'enemies within' and any possible foreign influences, often to the point of racism. Most American xenophobic-isolationists are anti-Israel (the most extreme are frankly antisemitic), or at least against American involvement with Israel.

Israeli right-wingers tend to be xenophobic-isolationists and the tendency seems to be increasing, especially since Avigdor Lieberman (the Hebrew translation of 'Pat Buchanan') was appointed as Foreign Secretary. They will go along with the Americans much of the time, due to financial dependence, and to America being one of their few explicit allies in the UN. But they are deeply suspicious of foreigners, and to some extent this includes Americans. If the mutual interests of Americans and Israelis begin to diverge more than they have been doing so far, then I suspect that the clash between the American RW imperialists and the Israeli RW xenophobes may interfere with maintaining an effective coalition.

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Excellent overview and summary of 'how things now work. (nt, you painted the whole scene well.)

(edit out unwanted keypunch)

[azurnoir]

4. Israel is IMO not so much for Sarah as it is to be rid of "Barry"

Smiles and ambiguity
The White House has pulled a 180 with regard to Netanyahu, coddling the prime minister instead of ostracizing him. Are Bibi and Barry now the best of pals, or just engaging in realpolitik?

http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/week-s-end/smiles-and-ambiguity-1.300929

and IMO they will have help with that endeavor too, from both sides of the aisle