Topic:
I was inspired (perhaps I should say provoked) to write this piece by something U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden said in his speech to the recent J Street National Conference in Washington DC.
Following the interim agreement with Iran the next six months will tell us whether or not the American-led Zionist lobby and Zionism itself has played its last card and lost. If it does lose President Obama will be free to use the leverage he has to try to cause Israel to be serious about peace on terms almost all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could accept (and which would not pose any threat to the wellbeing and security of those Jews now living in Palestine that became Israel and who wanted to stay). The stakes could not be higher.
The answer to my headline question could be, not necessarily would be, "Yes" IF President Obama was prepared to put America's own best interests first and use as necessary all the leverage he has to oblige Israel to accept that peace with the Palestinians requires a complete end to its occupation of the West Bank. With East Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state or, preferably, Jerusalem an undivided, open city and the capital of two states, Israel back to its 1967 pre-war frontiers subject only to minor and mutually agreed border modifications is an Israel the Palestinians could and would make peace with. But...
Way back in October 2001, a prominent and widely respected liberal London rabbi, Dr. David Goldberg, made what I thought at the time was the most remarkable statement ever made by a Jew in the 53 years that had passed since the creation, mainly by terrorism and ethnic cleansing, of the Zionist (not Jewish) state of Israel. He said that Israel's "colonization" of Palestine had left many Jews "questioning their unconditional support for Israel." Then this: "It may be time for Judaism and Zionism to go their separate ways."
A recent public opinion poll asked Americans which of two options they would favour if a two-state solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict was no longer on the table. (It is in the rhetoric of leaders and diplomats but not in reality). The two options were:
Am I alone in thinking that on a daily basis President Obama is beginning to sound more and more like George "Dubya" Bush when he was talking tough about protecting Americans at home by fighting wars abroad?
President Obama declared, "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow." That’s not a true statement. It’s missing five words. The truth required him to say all nations “with the exception of Israel."
I don't go all the way with the cynicism of the American (economics professor Thomas DiLorenzo) who expressed surprise that President Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "after killing only so few people";
What is it, really, that most endangers Israel's future? A nuclear armed Iran? No.
When I wrote Part 1 of this article (published by the Charger November 4) I was, of course, aware that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of President Obama speaking truth to the power of Jewish America as it was represented at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America.
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