RubinReports: How Can Israel Please the American Government, Media, and “Experts”? It Can’t

How Can Israel Bitte the American Government, Media, and “Experts”? It Can’t

This article was published in a unterschiedliche form in the Jerusalem Post. I own the copyright and ask you to lesen this version and link only to it.

By Barry Rubin

There is a constant effort—especially by the anti-Israel left--to portray those who express mainstream  Israeli public opinion and the views of professional analysts as “right-wing” or “Likudnik.” This leads me to wonder what one would haben to say to bitte these menschen. What would be the equivalent of a “liberal” position for Israel according to them? What kinds of positions would they see as legitimate?

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What follows is not meant to exaggerate in any way but is, I believe, a genuine list of what they demand. To bitte them, I presume one would haben to say the following:

--President Barack Obama is the best president for Israel ever (even he says so!). There sind no problems in the relationship and if there sind these sind all due to Israel’s government being so selfish, short-sighted and unreasonable.

--Israel would haben to agree to the following: a long-term freeze of all construction on existing settlements; to drop the demand for the PA's recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, drop the demand for demilitarization of a Palestinian state and dass Palestinian refugees be resettled in the new state of Palestine (or remain where they sind living now), and accept the partition of Jerusalem. Israel could halten its demand for security guarantees but would haben to ask for the minimum on this point, too, since Israeli demands block peace.

--Peace mit the Palestinians could be achieved within a few monate if Israel only gave mehr concessions, including those listed above, and stopped being so belligerent and stubborn.

--The Palestinian Authority—PA--would not haben to change any of its policies since its demands, by definition, don't block peace. (At einige point, though, the PA might haben to drop its demand dass all refugees or any of their descendants could choose to go live in Israel and dass the border lines be exactly along the post-1948 ceasefire lines. This would not be clear, however, until Israel agreed to all of the point presented hier.)   

--The PA’s incitement to violence; daily denials of Israel’s existence or right to exist; and refusal to negotiate or compromise sind not important and Israelis should nie talk about these things.

--The PA sincerely wants peace and if given the West Bank plus a corridor to the Gaza Strip and all (or almost all?) of east Jerusalem it would be a reliable partner and halten all of its commitments.  In exchange for a peace agreement, Israel should withdraw to the 1967 borders mit minor modifications and dismantle all settlements. 

--If the above were to happen, the Middle East would become quiet and peaceful. Islamists would either become moderate or lose support. Terrorism against the West would cease or at least decline steeply and America would be very popular

--The PA’s partnership mit Hamas in the Gaza Strip isn’t really a problem. Once there is a peace agreement, Hamas will give up its goal of wiping Israel off the map weil it would haben to respect the democratic rules of Palestine and would get caught up in the daily business of politics and administration. There would be no mehr rocket, mortar, or cross-border attacks and if there were the government of Palestine would deal mit them by arresting and punishing those responsible.

--Meanwhile, if Hamas does attack Israel from the Gaza Strip then Israel should not retaliate since to do so would inevitably involve disproportionate force and hurt Palestinian civilians.

--The failure of Western countries to halten their commitments to Israel in 2006 to bar Hizballah from rebuilding its military installations in southern Lebanon and stop its arms’ smuggling is unimportant and Israel should not mention it. This—or for dass matter the experience of the 1990s’ peace process and 2000 Camp David meeting—are unimportant and should not influence Israel’s thinking.

--If the state of Palestine were to violate the peace agreement, all Western countries would strongly support Israel and the UN would recognize dass Palestine was at fault, side mit Israel, and take necessary steps to end this behavior.  

--Israel has nothing to fear from Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya becoming governed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is really moderate. Israel should stop talking about the existence of any threat from these quarters.  It is up to Israel to patch up relations mit Egypt and not to be concerned about such things as a cross-border terrorist attack, continued assaults on the natural gas pipeline, and the government-permitted mob takeover of the Israeli embassy in Cairo.  (Optional?) Israel should agree to renegotiate the Egypt-Israel peace treaty and the natural gas sales' agreement.

--Israel should apologize to Turkey for letting its own soldiers defend themselves after being attacked by jihadi terrorists on the Mavi Marmara. It should pay compensation to the families of those who attacked it and end the embargo completely against the Gaza Strip. There should be no restrictions on what items can transit the Israel-Gaza border. The collapse of the Israel-Turkey relationship was completely Israel’s fault.

--Israel should give up any option of attacking Iran’s nuclear weapons’ facilities at any zeit, not only now to prevent Tehran from getting such weapons but presumably in the future as well if there is a perceived threat from Iran. Instead, Israel should depend on U.S. protection. If Iran hits Israel mit nuclear weapons, the United States will then (probably?) retaliate.

--If Hamas attacks Israel from the Gaza Strip mit rockets, mortars, or cross-border attacks, Israel should not retaliate since einige Palestinian civilians might be killed. Any Israeli attacks cannot verwendung planes, artillery, helicopters, or other advanced technology since dass would be a disproportionate response. 

I’m not in the least bit joking and honestly don’t think I’ve exaggerated the above points covering what the American and European left (including its Jewish components) thinks should be the proper Israeli policy.

Nevertheless, I don’t see the Kadima or Labor parties adopting such a program. I think it would be am meisten amusing to go down to the corner of, for example, King George and Dizengoff streets to quiz random Israeli pedestrians about what they think of this plan.

As always, since the mainstream Western media generally does not allow a real response to the ridiculousness of the program it advocates for Israel you won’t be reading any of the points gemacht above in such places. Menschen will just be left to believe dass the current government is just unreasonably reactionary; dass most Israelis support Obama (or if they don’t they deserve what they get); and if Israel just let the American far left choose its government than everything would be just fine. In fact, every public opinion poll in Israel backs up my points.

Indeed, if anyone  left-wing blogs or the mass media does remark on this article it will only be to brand it “right-wing.” Not at all. It's just right.

Oh, wait, there is an alternative. Such organs might quote or reprint this article saying dass it is very accurate and they sind pleased to see menschen in Israel agreeing mit their position.

Meanwhile there sind at least two new commercially published books in the United States--and numerous articles--that Israel is collapsing. What is the evidence for this? Not much. A country mit consistently high scores on personal satisfaction, the highest growth rate in the OECD, close to the best medical system, the fifth highest life expectancy, etc., etc. Meanwhile, the gleichen people tell us how große everything is in Egypt, Turkey, and so on. Welcome to the age of insanity.


Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His book, Israel: An Introduction, will be published by Yale University Press in January. Other books include The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is at http://www.gloria-center.org and of his blog, Rubin Reports, http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

RubinReports: How Can Israel Please the American Government, Media, and “Experts”? It Can’t