(Above, Netanyahu sizes up Obama like a wolf does to a sheep...)
I understand how taxing Obama's days are, how much trouble he has sleeping at night. I feel for him, I really do. I have even tried to cut him some slack lately. I am sorry to say, Mr. President, slack time is OVER.
Today in the New York Times Op-Ed section, Aluf Benn, the editor at large of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote an extremely insightful piece. I am sure that you read it, but in the event you didn't, here is the link http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/opinion/28benn.html?_r=1 .
The main point of Mr. Benn is that Obama does not get it. He does not understand the Israeli mentality and while his intentions are good and his focus has been on reaching out to the broader Muslim and Arab worlds in attempts to foster even broader discussions, he continues to overlook the only ally The United States has in the region. Israel.
In striking this course, Obama has assumed, I believe, that Rahm Emanuel (given his close ties with Israel and his apparent "super Jew status" would be able to help guide policy--and this has already shown to be a strategic blunder. Emanuel and the Administration, again...say it with me...."don't understand the Israeli mentality."
How do I? Who the F am I to espouse this type of knowledge? That is why I found the aforesaid article so insightful. That IS the mentality.
I think if you mix in some insight as to who Benjamin Netanyahu is...and what continues to make the clock tick, well it is a pretty easy conclusion to come to.
- Israel is facing extinction. Period. The End. It is that simple.
- Israel has the capability to blow all of Persia off of the map. Period. The End.
- Israel cannot and will not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons.
- Israel will strike first. Period. The End.
Now let's go back to my earlier statements about not getting the mentality.
This particular paragraph from Benn's article can summarize where American policy makers are missing the boat:
"Third, Mr. Obama seems to have confused American Jews with Israelis. We are close emotionally and politically, but we are different. We speak Hebrew and not English, we live in the Middle East and have separate historical narratives. Mr. Obama’s stop at Buchenwald and his strong rejection of Holocaust denial, immediately after his Cairo speech, appealed to American Jews but fell flat in Israel. Here we are taught that Zionist determination and struggle — not guilt over the Holocaust — brought Jews a homeland. Mr. Obama’s speech, which linked Israel’s existence to the Jewish tragedy, infuriated many Israelis who sensed its closeness to the narrative of enemies like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad."
In further understanding Netanyahu, we need a brief history lesson, starting with Entebbe:
(July 3–4, 1976), rescue by an Israeli commando squad of 103 hostages from a French jet airliner hijacked en route from Israel to France. After stopping at Athens, the airliner was hijacked on June 27 by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Red Army Faction (a West German radical leftist group) and flown to Entebbe, Ugan., where they were joined by additional accomplices. At Entebbe, the hijackers freed those of the 258 passengers who did not appear to be Israeli or Jewish and held the rest hostage for the release of 53 militants imprisoned in Israel, Kenya, West Germany, and elsewhere. In response, Israel, on July 3, dispatched four Hercules C-130H cargo planes carrying 100–200 soldiers and escorted by Phantom jet fighters. After flying some 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Israel to Uganda, the Israeli force rescued the hostages within an hour after landing. All seven of the militants were killed, and 11 MiG fighters supplied to Uganda by the Soviet Union were destroyed; the Israelis lost one soldier and three hostages during the operation. On the return trip the Israeli planes met an awaiting hospital plane and refueled at Nairobi, Kenya.
Wanna guess who the one Israeli Soldier lost was? Go on....try....guess.... Jonathan Netanyahu. That will help shape your vision of oh....security, fighting terrorism, preserving your independence...well you get my point. Netanyahu will not sit by and watch Iran complete their nuclear tests, trials and ultimately complete their nuclear programs.
Here is a link to an article written by Jeff Goldberg writing for the Atlantic (whatever that is..)http://http//jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/rahm_emanuel_and_israel.php
Goldberg more than insinuates that he an Emanuel are friends. He also talks about how Emanuel will stand up to Netanyahu. Ha! Just before Netanyahu was sworn in as Prime Minister, he made the following statement to the same Jeff Goldberg:
“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”
History teaches Jews that threats against their collective existence should be taken seriously, and, if possible, preempted, he suggested.
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A MAN WHO IS GOING TO GIVE ONE INCH ON THIS SUBJECT? Does it sound like he is going to wait or take a first strike approach.
Any conclusion other than, Israel will take matters into her own hands preemptively, is wishful thinking and extremely faulty logic.
As an aside, that dope Jeff Goldberg, Big Ass writer for The Atlantic, agreed with Netanyahu's comments! Laughable. You can check out the hypocrite at http://santitafarella.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/benjamin-netanyahu-to-barack-obama-stop-iran-nukes-or-i-will/ .
(Not willing to go this far, YET)F IRAN!
--The Angry Trader.
