In Tough Love From Israel's Friends, Jeff Jacoby writes about friends of Israel that are speaking out forcefully--against what she is doing. He writes about the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think tank. After years of supporting Israel's right to defend itself against her enemies, they have come out with a new television ad (view here) that says Israel's withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and Gaza has played into the hands of terrorists and Olmert's Convergence Plan will do more of the same--"for Israel and for us."
Jacoby quotes Joseph Farah's article, I give up on Israel, which describes Olmert's plan as a "national retreat," and "appeasement of the global jihad," and the Disengagement as an "unmitigated disaster."
Jacoby also quotes an article from the Wall Street Journal by former CIA director James Woolsey that a West Bank Terrorist State, resulting from Olmert's Convergence Plan would be a threat to Jordan as well as Israel--and "Israeli concessions will also make the US look weak."
And that is the key to the tough love that Jacoby writes about--the actions that Israel is ready to take, and have taken, affect the US as well.
Others have noted this new realization as well. Back in April, IMRA quoted from an article in Geostratetgy-Direct (subscription required) that Bush has mixed feelings about Olmert and Sharon. While Israel has cooperated with the US:
At the same time, Bush and some of his aides have been quietly concerned over the image of Israel as a country ready to withdraw in the face of terrorism. Privately, leading aides and strategists believe that Israel's hesitancy to fight Hamas, Hizbullah and other terrorist groups could encourage Al Qaida and those sworn to defeat the United States. They also see Israel's failure to defeat Palestinian insurgents as encouraging Iran's belligerency.With all of this, there might be good news as well. That is what David Bedein says in an interview with A7 Radio's "Weekend Edition" with Tamar Yonah and Malkah Fleisher
Here is a short excerpt of the interview (3.40 minutes):
In the interview, Bedein claims that for Canada and the US, the days of appeasement are over. They want Israel to be strong. Hamas coming to power back in January was a wake-up call to Western intelligence agencies. There is an expectation both in the US and Canada that Israel is going to find a way to resist the Palestinian Authority's attempt to destroy her and the West. The agenda is to stand strong, and Olmert is not the kind of leader they are looking for.
Bedein is Bureau Chief of the Israel Resource News Agency, which has recent articles that hint at this change in attitude. There is an article about Canada--where Bedein spoke with Jason Kenney, the prime minister's parliamentary secretary about measures Canada can take to reform the UNRWA--and an article about the US, where there is an amendment in the works that would condition U.S. funding of UNRWA on an independent audit.
David Bedein writes:
As long as Israel's security alone was the issue, the US looked towards it's own concerns first and not necessarily with Israel's best interests at heart. But now there is a conflation of interests, even the survival, of the West and Israel, and if Bedein is correct, the US and Israel may never have been more allies than now.Marvin and Bernard Kalb, in their seminal book, "Kissinger", written in 1976, report that in 1968 the new Israeli ambassador and recently retired Israeli commander in chief, Yitzhak Rabin, accompanied US presidential candidate Richard Nixon to view the Golan Heights, recently captured from the Syrians.
Peering down from Syrian gun positions that were trained on the farmers in Israel's Hula Valley, Nixon observed that, "If I were an Israeli, I would never give up the Golan". Rabin smiled from ear to ear. "Mr. Rabin, what I said was that 'if I was an Israeli'. I am not an Israeli".
Crossposted at Israpundit
Technorati Tags: Israel, Olmert, Disengagement, US and UNRWA and Hamas and Palestinians and Terrorism.
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