By Stan Goodenough
May 05, 2009
US President Barack Obama appears to be settinng course for a major confrontation with the Israeli people and government.
Reports from both sides of the Atlantic indicate that the new American president plans to show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the people who elected him, just who calls the shots.
Tuesday Ha'aretz disclosed the ominous contents of "a classified telegram received in Jerusalem a few days ago" in which Obama's National Security Adviser, General James Jones, advised an unnamed European foreign minister that "unlike the Bush administration, Obama will be 'forceful' with Israel."
"The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question," Jones wrote. "We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush."
Earlier this week, AIPAC donors were informed that, when Netanyahu visits Washington on May 18, Obama will "firmly and decisively" let the Israeli know that the US' is determined to see the implementation of the "two-state-solution."
So warned White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as reported by Ynetnews.
This so-called solution has the Jewish nation hand over its historical homeland and strategic high ground for the creation of a new state called Palestine.
As a bonus Israel will also receive promises of peace from the Arab states.
After 18 years of being pushed down this two-state road - taking unparalleled risks with its security and getting more war and terror in return - Israel's new government has called it a dead end.
Nonetheless, Emanuel insisted, the two-state-solution remains "the only solution," and Israel has arrived at "its moment of truth."
Furthermore, if Israel wants to see the Iranian nuclear threat effectively confronted, it needs to ensure progress on the Israeli-"Palestinian" front.
This was also the position spelled out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on April 24:
"For Israel to get the strong support it is looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can't stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and peace efforts. They go hand-in-hand," she said.
In other words, the new America's message to Israel is: Resist our will, and we'll allow Tehran to continue its quest for an atomic bomb to fire at you.
Similar blackmailing techniques were employed by the US to coerce Israel into attending the 1991 International Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid.
Said the Israeli news service DEBKAfile Sunday, Netanyahu “can expect the full force of a bludgeon to be wielded" against him in the White House.
Leading Republican politician Newt Gingrich added his alarm call in an interview with The Jerusalem Post Monday:
"They are systematically setting up the most decisive confrontation that we've ever seen.
"There's almost an eagerness to take on the Israeli government to make a point with the Arab world," he said.
And Ha'aretz Tuesday quoted Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who warned that there was "a chance for the most serious dispute between the US and Israel in the entire 61 years of relations between [Israel and America]."