It Begins: Obama Threatens Aid Cutoffs For Israel

Obama's Arab-American Special Mid East Envoy George Mitchell finally went public today on PBS and essentially threatened sanctions against Israel and a cutoff of US aid if the Israelis refuse to knuckle under to Obama's demands on behalf of the Palestinians....the creation of Jew -free zones in Judea, Samaria ( AKA the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, along with the loss of Judaism's holiest sites.

Mideast envoy George Mitchell has threatened that the U.S. could freeze aid to Israel if the country fails to advance peace talks, YNetNews.com reported.

Mitchell said the U.S. can legally cut its support for aid to Israel and that all options must remain open, YNet reports, though he clarified on PBS that the U.S. wants to put pressure on both sides in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

The remarks come on the eve of his trip to Israel, aiming to bolster a peace process that failed to get back off the ground during the first year of the Obama administration.

"We think that the negotiation should last no more than two years," Mitchell said in an interview on PBS' "Charlie Rose." "We hope the parties agree. Personally I think it can be done in a shorter period of time."

Actually, if you look the entire transcript, Mitchell was a lot more dishonest and dangerously subtle than that. ( h/t Soccer Dad)

As I predicted a while ago, this was going to happen sooner or later with Barack Hussein Obama as president. He doesn't consider Israel an ally, but an obstruction.You see, the current occupant of the White House wasn't really sleeping through Jeremiah Wright's sermons at Trinity Church.

I particularly liked Mitchell's line about wanting to put pressure on both sides. Since when has Obama ever put any pressure on the Palestinians? Did he ask the Arabs to stop building in East Jerusalem or the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria, AKA the West Bank? Did the US ever lean on the Palestinians to take the terrorists from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade off the Fatah payroll,or to stop making public heroes out of murderers? Uhh, nope.

Nor does Mitchell seem to particularly care about the fact that Hamas would likely take over a Palestinian State in the areas the Obama Administration wants to force Israel to vacate, just as Hamas did in Gaza.

This is not coming out of left field. Obama, in his despicable speeches in Cairo and at the Muslim dominated UN, made it abundantly clear where his sympathies lie.

Accordingly, Obama had the Pentagon change the rules on military aid to Isreal to restrict how the IDF could use it, made blatantly anti-Israel appointments to his cabinet and his advisers, and explicitly violated the Road Map by endorsing the Saudi 'peace' ultimatum and reneging on the Bush Administration's agreement with Israeli PM Ariel Sharon on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria(AKA the West Bank) that were supposed to remain part of Israel in any settlement. He then insisted that Jews were not entitled to build anything in the so-called settlements, including Jerusalem, issuing a statement that the Palestinians need not recognize Israel as a Jewish State.

Th ekicker is that even if Israel knuckles under and creates half a million Jewish refugees, gives up the half of Jerusalem containing its holiest sites and retreats to the indefensible borders ex-Israeli UN ambassador Abba Eban aptly referred to as the Auschwitz lines, it will not be enough for the Arabs. In fact, it will be only the beginning of more demands, because the core issue is Arab unwillingness to live next to Jews in peace and equality.

In contrast, the US has already given $900 million to the Palestinians with no strings attached, spent additional millions building an army for Fatah under General Keith Dayton and made a number of high tech arms sales to the Arab nations..while not making a single major arms sale to Israel since Obama became President.

Nor has Obama expended a fraction of the energy he's exerting jousting with the Israelis to wards dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons program.

President Barack Hussein Obama obviously intends to 'reach out' to the Muslim World by delivering Israel and giving them the Jews.

Actually, the biggest 'stick' the Obama Administration has to use against Israel is not rescinding loan guarantees, which are not actual direct aid from the US but a 'guarantor' arrangement allowing Israel to borrow monies at more favorable rates. Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitzresponded to Mitchell's threat by saying that thus far, Israel has not needed to use the guarantees to repay loans. And he made an additional point as well:

Steinitz added, "Only a few months ago, we reached an agreement with the US Department of the Treasury and Department of State on the loan guarantees for 2010 and 2011. There were no conditions attached. Israel has made, and continues to make, every effort, including difficult gestures, to renew the negotiations. We haven’t received any indication that the guarantees will be used to pressure us."

Minister of Education and Culture Gideon Saar added, "When we're told such things, in the way that they're said, we should make clear that as far as the peace talks are concerned, Israel will act on the basis of its vital interests, and not as a function of its relations with another country.

Saar said that, in his opinion, "The US administration knows that it's the Palestinian Authority that is preventing peace talks by placing prior conditions that did not exist before. Israel has made hard and painful decisions while the Palestinians have done nothing. Israel will not accept prior conditions to the negotiations."

Nor is a major cutback on aid(most of which is spent here) likely for now, because it would have to go through Congress.

The main stick Obama has to use against Israel is in the Muslim dominated UN, where as Mitchell intimated, Obama intends to try to turn Israel into South Africa by having the US vote for sanctions or abstain to isolate Israel and turn it into a pariah state.It's important to remember that one of President Obama's 'innovations' was to take the UN ambassador's position ( now held by Susan Rice) and make it an independent cabinet post reporting directly to him instead of being under the Secretary of State.

The Palestinians, backed by the Muslim bloc and the EU are already working on a binding UN resolution that would ratify an Arab-only Palestinian State along the pre-1967 lines with Jerusalem as its capitol.There's absolutely no doubt that the Obama Administration would either vote for this and subsequent sanctions or simply have the US abstain and allow it to go through.

Given the Obama Administration's disrespect for the US alliance with Israel and its disregard for previous agreements, the above scenario is likely no matter how many concessions Israel makes.

The Israelis, not being stupid likely realize that their traditional relationship with the US is over for now. And they may very well take a much more independent course and seek out a new best friend or two internationally in the near future.

Odd as it sounds, the loss of the American alliance with Israel might end up negatively affecting the US more than Israel. Aside from the many benefits the alliance has given both the US and NATO,this kind of craven, appeasement minded behavior sends a message to America's friends as well as its enemies.

It's a mistake of historic proportions.

UPDATE:Interestingly enough, it turns out that far from being dependent on US aid and loan guarantees, Israel is actually helping the US fund its massive deficit, believe it or not!

It underlines what I said - the chief weapon Obama has to pressure and deligitimize Israel is in the international forum, where he has no congressional oversight and can merely instruct a UN ambassador who reports directly to him.

If he chooses that course, the US will suffer for it in the future.