Has Israel’s prime minister over-reached? Have certain Jews over-reached in protesting the Iran deal? Have they done irreparable damage to Israel’s security by damaging its relationship with America?
Uri Avnery writes: All Israelis agree that the one supreme asset Israel has is its special, unparalleled relationship with the US. It is unique.
Unique and priceless. In military terms, Israel gets the most up-to-date weapon systems, practically for nothing. No less important, Israel cannot conduct any war for more than a few days without an airlift of munitions and spare parts from the US.
But that is only a small element of our national security. Even more important is the knowledge that you cannot threaten Israel without confronting the entire might of the United States. This is a formidable umbrella, the envy of the world.
More than that, every country in the world knows that if you want something from Washington DC, and especially from the US Congress, you better pass through Jerusalem and pay a price. How much is that worth?
And then there is the veto. Not the little veto Obama will use to neutralise a Congress vote against the agreement, but the big veto, the one that blocks every single UN Security Council resolution to censure Israel, even for actions that cry to high heaven. A 49-year-old occupation. Hundreds of thousands of settlers who contravene international law. Almost daily killings.
Condemn Israel? Forget it. Sanctions against Israel? Don’t make us laugh. As long as the almighty US protects Israel, It can do whatever it wants.
All this is now put in question. Perhaps the damage has already been done, like hidden cracks in the foundations of a building. The scale of the damage may become apparent only in coming years.
Another hidden crack is the rift between Israel and a large part of the Jews around the world, especially in the US. Israel claims to be the “nation-state of the Jewish people”. All Jews throughout the world owe it unquestioning allegiance. A mighty apparatus of “Jewish organisations” is policing the vassals. Woe to the Jew who dares to object.
Not anymore. A rift has opened within world Jewry, that probably cannot be repaired. Commanded to choose between their president and Israel, many American Jews prefer their president, or just opt out.
Who is the anti-Semite who has managed to bring all this evil about? No other than the prime minister of Israel himself…
Yet there are great opportunities. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, as well as Egypt, are already hinting that they could cooperate with Israel. In deepest secrecy, of course. Nobody can shake hands openly with Israel as long as the Arab masses see every day on their TV sets the misdeeds of the settlers, the killings of the occupation army, the humiliation of the Palestinian brothers. Like a heavy weight tied to the leg of a swimmer, the occupation prevents us from reacting to the changes in the region.
Lately, there have been ever-stronger rumours about secret negotiations between Netanyahu and Hamas for an eight- or 10-year-long armistice, that would amount to an unofficial peace agreement. It would create a tiny Palestinian mini-state, while isolating even more Mahmoud Abbas and the main body of the Palestinian people, who are committed to the Arab peace plan.
All this for what? For enlarging the settlements and perhaps annexing another part of the West Bank (“Area C”).
So is the man shrewd or just foolish? A magician or just a magician’s apprentice?
