Juan Cole: What Obama should tell Netanyahu this Week (But won’t)

[marmar]

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –

Far right Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is arriving in Washington, D.C., Monday, and will apparently ask the US to almost double its $3 bn. a year in aid to $5 bn.

Netanyahu has been a constant thorn in the US side and has done absolutely nothing for his supposed ally despite all the crises in the Middle East. The theory that Israel is a strategic asset for America in the region has never been more obviously bankrupt than now. If the major US policy goal is defeat of ISIL, Iran is the best US partner.

Obama launched two attempts to kickstart peace talks between Israel and Palestine, the first spearheaded by George Mitchell and the second by Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu torpedoed them both. He stepped back from a settlement freeze right in the middle of the first round of talks in 2010. He and his cabinet went out of their way to humiliate Kerry during the last round. Netanyahu is very attached to all the Palestinian territory he has stolen and he does not intend to give any of it back (he has pledged no Palestinian state). But the Palestine officials can’t be seen to sign away the future of Palestinian children entirely, and so they had no proposal from the Israeli side that they could take back to their public.

Then there was Netanyahu’s long and viciously fought campaign to undermine Obama’s Iran negotiations, and, indeed, to countermand the president of the United States on US foreign policy. This was the most astonishing interference by another country in American politics since Britain launched the War of 1812 and burned down the White House. .............(more)

http://www.juancole.com/2015/11/obama-should-netanyahu.html

[6chars]

1. Take a chill pill, Juan.

"This was the most astonishing interference by another country in American politics since Britain launched the War of 1812 and burned down the White House."

[grossproffit]

3. Isn't this the same 'man' that referred to the 3 murdered Israeli teens as "squatters?"

[Jefferson23]

4. His statements are here:

In the Deaths of 3 Israeli Teens, Likud Policies are also Implicated

The kidnapping and killing of three Israeli squatter youth whose parents usurped Palestinian land has produced a paroxysm of hatred and calls for reprisals in Israel. Whoever is responsible for it, the killing of the youth was a horrid and inexcusable crime, and the heart of any parent goes out to the bereaved families.

It should be noted that during the Israeli dragnet in the West Bank, some 9 Palestinians, some youth or children, have also been killed, and hundreds arbitrarily arrested. The heart of any parent also goes out to those bereaved families.

http://www.juancole.com/2014/07/israeli-policies-implicated.html

[marmar]

5. Thanks for the context. I figured something was missing.

[Jefferson23]

7. Usually is around these parts, and you're welcome, marmar. n/t

[marmar]

15. Yeah, I don't come here often, and I just went through some threads...

.... there seems to be a standard M.O.

[Jefferson23]

16. Yep. Good to see you though when you do.

[grossproffit]

18. Unbiased sources are very important to some of us.

Sadly, some confuse propaganda with journalism. There is a difference.

[marmar]

20. Uh huh.

[6chars]

6. his quote is disgusting

and his perfunctory statement sympathy and crocodile tears makes him more disgusting.

[grossproffit]

11. Most rational people would agree.

[Jefferson23]

2. He should, I agree:

*Even better, Obama could just let the world community sanction Netanyahu for his violation of the basic human rights of Palestinians under Israeli military rule. These sanctions would then give even the expansionist and grasping Netanyahu cabinet reason to rethink its West Bank and Gaza policies.

[leftynyc]

8. Monkeys would fly out of Pres Obama's ass

before he'd do anything like what Cole is suggesting. Laughable, not to mention delusional, to think otherwise.

[6chars]

9. Obama is pretty clear about supporting Israel

[shira]

13. The problem with these idiotic ideas from Cole...

....is that they're not based on real-world reality. His "solutions" to the problem would arguably make things much worse.

[geek tragedy]

10. No, Obama should take a lesson in candor from (ugh irony) Putin and his support of Assad.

Israel is a client state, and major powers protect and enable their client states. It's how that relationship works.

There's no absurd talk about shared values, human rights, friendship, unshakeable bonds, blah blah blah when Putin acts as Assad's agent. No attempts to dress up a relationship based on geopolitics into one based on some bullshit like "shared values."

So, Obama's doing the smart thing by saying "we're going to arm Israel so no one fucks with it, but if Israel wants to commit slow-motion suicide via its mistreatment of the Palestinians, that is their problem, not ours. Major powers protect client states from external threats; they do not protect client states from themselves." And then refer them to this video:

?rel=0

[shira]

12. Can't help but get dumber reading Juan Cole. He's an idiot. n/t

[King_David]

14. Here's Juan Cole on Bernie Sanders :

http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/president-bernie-sanders.html

[shira]

17. Cole is a real piece of work. From that article...

Gaza rockets, most of them tiny high school science projects, mostly land uselessly in the desert, so that totaling them up into the thousands is a mere propaganda point.

Cole identifies with Hamas, minimizes their war crimes, and therefore defends them.

What a piece of shit.

[grossproffit]

19. Yep.

[leftynyc]

21. That's disgusting

Let him offer to stand underneath one and try and catch it. Sympathizes with hamas? Maybe they'll use a sharp knife to cut his head off for being a supposed liberal because he's so sympathetic.