After the president's speech to the UN, our senior analyst wonders why US leaders continue to pander to a foreign power.
Marwan Bishara
Al-Jazeera
"Obama is the "the first Jewish President". That's the title of New York magazine's lead article, written by John Heilemann and quoting a major Obama fundraiser. Listening to Obama speak at the United Nations on Wednesday many would nod in agreement, not less in Palestine and the Arab world.
The US President has embraced the rejectionist Israeli position on the question of international recognition of an independent Palestinian state. But that's not a Jewish position. It's a radical Zionist position. Many Jews, including US and Israeli Jews, do not embrace such extremist views.
But the fact that Obama surpassed his predecessor George W Bush, the most radical supporter of Israel among all US Presidents, has left everyone in Israel dumbstruck. The latest Zionist US president sounded like Israel's own founding fathers.
Never have they heard a US president read straight from the papers of the Israeli government.
Propaganda passes for history
You would think after six decades of dispossession, four decades of occupation and two decades of peace processes that President Obama would recognise a political and moral discrepancy that needs fixing. That he would underline, not undermine, his own words uttered in Cairo a year and a half ago about the need for Israel to stop its illegal settlements in Palestine. That he would underline, not undermine his own projection- read promise- from the same podium last September of a Palestinian state within a year, meaning this week. That he would underline, not undermine, his own rhetoric about freedom in the Arab region.Or that he would underline, not undermine, his own opening emphasis about a peace based on withdrawal, not more of the same logic of war.
Alas, President Obama undermined his entire "change we can believe in" slogan.His narrative is inspired by the worst of Israel's official propaganda. Indeed, much of it is cut and pasted from their playbook. He spoke of historical "facts" that have long been repudiated by Israeli historians, and of truths that are nothing more than one sided interpretations of a political situation.....
It's politics, stupid
Every other commentator in town would like to remind you not to expect much action from a US president on Israel during an election year.As Heilemann illustrates in his article, Obama's career was built on his relationships with generous Jewish contributors in Chicago. Indeed, the guy who brought the most money to the Democratic Party over the last several decades became Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel. Today, he's the mayor of Chicago.
But it's not only about money. It's also about crucial support in Congress over urgent domestic issues that could make or break the Obama presidency. And the Israeli lobby, AIPAC, can make the president's life miserable over the course of the next year.
Now, I understand all of that. But what I don't understand is why it is accepted as a fait accompli! As the nature of politics! Take it or leave! If this is the case, then let's at least call a spade a spade; and out the US administration(s) for being what so many seem to say it is: not Jewish or Zionist, rather hypocritical.....
The joke is on everyone
Why should the Palestinians be held victims to US politics while being held hostage to Israeli politics for the last six decades. Why should most Israelis continue to live in a garrison state incapable of normalising relations with their neighbors? Why should Americans watch as their politicians are held hostage to a foreign power and its influential supporters?....
Today's Arabs are bitter and angry at US-Israeli complicity in Palestine and they won’t be as easily bounded or bribed as their fallen dictatorships. "
Marwan Bishara
Al-Jazeera
"Obama is the "the first Jewish President". That's the title of New York magazine's lead article, written by John Heilemann and quoting a major Obama fundraiser. Listening to Obama speak at the United Nations on Wednesday many would nod in agreement, not less in Palestine and the Arab world.
The US President has embraced the rejectionist Israeli position on the question of international recognition of an independent Palestinian state. But that's not a Jewish position. It's a radical Zionist position. Many Jews, including US and Israeli Jews, do not embrace such extremist views.
But the fact that Obama surpassed his predecessor George W Bush, the most radical supporter of Israel among all US Presidents, has left everyone in Israel dumbstruck. The latest Zionist US president sounded like Israel's own founding fathers.
Never have they heard a US president read straight from the papers of the Israeli government.
Propaganda passes for history
You would think after six decades of dispossession, four decades of occupation and two decades of peace processes that President Obama would recognise a political and moral discrepancy that needs fixing. That he would underline, not undermine, his own words uttered in Cairo a year and a half ago about the need for Israel to stop its illegal settlements in Palestine. That he would underline, not undermine his own projection- read promise- from the same podium last September of a Palestinian state within a year, meaning this week. That he would underline, not undermine, his own rhetoric about freedom in the Arab region.Or that he would underline, not undermine, his own opening emphasis about a peace based on withdrawal, not more of the same logic of war.
Alas, President Obama undermined his entire "change we can believe in" slogan.His narrative is inspired by the worst of Israel's official propaganda. Indeed, much of it is cut and pasted from their playbook. He spoke of historical "facts" that have long been repudiated by Israeli historians, and of truths that are nothing more than one sided interpretations of a political situation.....
It's politics, stupid
Every other commentator in town would like to remind you not to expect much action from a US president on Israel during an election year.As Heilemann illustrates in his article, Obama's career was built on his relationships with generous Jewish contributors in Chicago. Indeed, the guy who brought the most money to the Democratic Party over the last several decades became Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel. Today, he's the mayor of Chicago.
But it's not only about money. It's also about crucial support in Congress over urgent domestic issues that could make or break the Obama presidency. And the Israeli lobby, AIPAC, can make the president's life miserable over the course of the next year.
Now, I understand all of that. But what I don't understand is why it is accepted as a fait accompli! As the nature of politics! Take it or leave! If this is the case, then let's at least call a spade a spade; and out the US administration(s) for being what so many seem to say it is: not Jewish or Zionist, rather hypocritical.....
The joke is on everyone
Why should the Palestinians be held victims to US politics while being held hostage to Israeli politics for the last six decades. Why should most Israelis continue to live in a garrison state incapable of normalising relations with their neighbors? Why should Americans watch as their politicians are held hostage to a foreign power and its influential supporters?....
Today's Arabs are bitter and angry at US-Israeli complicity in Palestine and they won’t be as easily bounded or bribed as their fallen dictatorships. "
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