Netanyahu Disses Obama Big Time

[Mr. Ected]

President Obama stood on the White House lawn yesterday and urged Israelis and Palestinians to take concrete steps toward the two-state solution.

The Netanyahu government's response in today's Washington Post: only if you deal with Iran first!

That is, obviously, a big loud "no," considering that one of the main reasons Obama is pushing the two-state solution now is to help us deal with Iran. Netanyahu knows that. But he doesn't care. - M.J. Rosenberg


The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehran's rising influence in the region, according to top government officials familiar with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's developing policy on the issue.

"It's a crucial condition if we want to move forward," said Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon, a member of the Israeli parliament and former ambassador to the United States. "If we want to have a real political process with the Palestinians, then you can't have the Iranians undermining and sabotaging."

The emerging Israeli position, a significant change from that of previous governments, presents a challenge for President Obama, who has made quick progress on Palestinian statehood a key foreign policy goal. Obama is also trying to begin engagement with Iran as part of a broad effort to slow its nuclear program and curtail its growing strength in the Middle East.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103998.html?hpid=topnews

[cali]

1. yes, this is outrageous and unconscionable.

It's blackmail, using the Palestinians as pawns.

[Tempest]

3. It's not unexpected though

Israel has never seriously considered a two party state solution.

And now that Obama plans to push for it, Israel has found an excuse not to join the negotiations.

[cali]

8. I actually disagree

but I think it's fair to say that they aren't considering a two state solution now.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. Israel has - under Rabin.

Since the likudniks killed Rabin, there's been no statesman to take his place. Only howling monkeys like Nutty-yahoo and fattened former war criminals like Sharon. Israel seriously needs a couple of years in time-out to reflect on its behavior. This latest Nutty-yahoo term will be a good time for that.

[On the Road]

12. If Israel Doesn't Go for a Two-State Solution,

Obama should push a one-state solution as an alternative -- a state encompassing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, with equal political political and voting rights for all.

That should get Israel back on the two-state track in a hurry.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Just as the Arabs have done for years.

The current Israeli leadership is not going to be easy to work with on any level.

[Stellabella]

2. Netanyahu has no soul.

Or heart.

[Mr. Ected]

4. Dick Cheney's Long Lost Fraternal Twin?

Hmmm.

[Stellabella]

15. Makes sense to me.

[lsewpershad]

5. Who the hell this Gnat thinks he is?

It is time to seriously reconsider our no strings attached aid to Israel.

[Blue Meany]

6. It won't happen, of course, but the US should cut off aid

to Israel until it begins to negotiate in good faith and in a context in which Palestinaians and Israelis are equals. This would mean the creation of an economically-viable Palestinian state--not the ever-shrinking bantustans that currently exsit--or a single secular state in which Palestinaians and Israelis are full citizens.

[HereSince1628]

7. You back the flag of 5 pointed stars, or you back a flag with a star with different numbered points

The leader of Israel has his agenda. The US has its agenda. These agendas are not required to overlap.

The US is not required to pay money to support the military of an antagonistic foreign power.

All the folks at the east end of the Mediterranean need to ponder what they gamble when they piss-off the US.

[islandgirl808]

10. are the israelis on board with their pm?

or is he in the same vein as the last pres we had?

[Sebastian Doyle]

13. There are similarities

Both use fear to gain pollitical power. Both are genocidal lunatics. And NuttyYahoo even had a hand in drafting the PNAC agenda which became the Chimpministration's foreign policy.

PNAC's "first draft" was an Israeli manifest called "A Clean Break" which Perle, Feith, Wuermser and other neocon tools wrote along with Netanyahu and other Likudists in the mid 90's.

[PA Democrat]

14. To quote former President Bill Clinton on Netanyahu, Who the f*** does he think he is?

Who's the f***ing superpower here?" This was after Bill Clinton first met the newly elected prime minister back in 1996.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7918089.stm