According to some unnamed sources, newly retired SecDef Robert Gates apparently opened fire on Israel , referring to them as 'an ungrateful ally'. And of course,the usual suspects throughout the blogosphere picked up on it, most notably Obama defender sine pari Jeffrey Goldberg in his new sinecure at Bloomberg News:
Goldberg quotes the usual 'unnamed senior officials':
Gates argued to the president directly that Netanyahu is not only ungrateful, but also endangering his country by refusing to grapple with Israel’s growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces if it keeps control of the West Bank. According to these sources, Gates’s analysis met with no resistance from other members of the committee. {...}
Dislike of Netanyahu has deepened in a way that could ultimately be dangerous for Israel. Time after time, the White House has taken Israel’s side in international disputes -- over the UN’s Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza; over Israel’s confrontation with the pro-Hamas Turkish “flotilla,” in which nine people were killed; and on many other issues.
Yet the Netanyahu government does little to dispel the notion among its right-wing supporters that the Obama administration is at best a wavering friend. This is self- evidently foolish, especially at a time when Israel faces an existential threat from its menacing neighbor Iran.
*chuckle* Assuming Gates actually said this, and with Goldberg you never know, I wouldn't be at all surprised. Let's examine some inconvenient facts, shall we?
Robert Gates took over as Secretary of Defense in Bush's second term, precisely the time the Bush Administration's relationship with Israel changed for the worst.
Gates is an old Arab ally who was a recipient of what we'll call 'The Arab government pension augmentation plan' before he got back into government...you know, six figure fees for speeches and 'consultation', that sort of thing for services rendered while serving in government. He'll certainly go right back to it now that he's retired and if in fact he said it, this screed might very well be his first new assignment.
Gates talking about the danger to Israel from Iran is particularly hypocritical and obnoxious if he indeed mentioned it, because Robert Gates was one of the chief opponents in the Bush Administration along with Condi Rice of supporting a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear sites when it would have been far more feasible, involved less collateral damage and been far more effective.
Not only did Gates and Rice successfully stop the US from carrying out that mission, but they were instrumental in blocking US support for Israel doing it...and that was well before Netanyahu took over. Their animus even extended to unsuccessful opposition to the Israelis taking out an illegal nuke site in Syria.
In fact, Gates' appeasement mentality has gotten even more blatant, which is precisely why President Obama wanted him on the team.
Gates has always been a huge proponent of increased arms sales to his old friends the Saudis, and Rice and Gates also enthusiastically endorsed the Saudi 'Peace' ultimatum to Israel. In short, Robert Gates has never exactly been a huge fan of Israel, to be polite about it.
Characterizing Israel as 'an ungrateful ally' in view of what the US gains from the US/Israel relationship as opposed to what it gives is also as demonstrably wrong factually as the phony 'demographics' argument for trying to force Israel back to indefensible borders, which Goldberg has apparently swallowed and claims Gates has too.
I also have to laugh at anyone characterizing the Obama Administration's attitude towards Israel as friendly. That particular point is disproved on its face by referring to Israel as 'an ungrateful ally' for behaving like a nation with its own valid needs and interests instead of a colony. The nerve of those Jews!
President Obama had the Pentagon change the rules on military aid to restrict how the IDF could use it, made blatantly anti-Israel appointments to his cabinet and his advisers,. He explicitly violated the Road Map by endorsing the Saudi 'peace' ultimatum and reneging on the Bush Administration's agreement with former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria(AKA the West Bank) that were part of the guaranties President Bush gave Sharon for signing on to the Roadmap and retreating from Gaza.
The Obama Administration has given unprecedented aid to Hamas, pressured Israel to make one-sided and unsafe concessions to both Fatah and Syria, botched the peace negotiations by getting the Palestinians to up the ante unrealistically and attempted to humiliate the country's democratically elected leader.
I wouldn't exactly call these the actions of a friend, would you?
Like a lot of other figures on the Left, Goldberg's wet dream is a left-leaning Israel run by Tzipi Livni that asks 'how high?' whenever President Obams says jump, gives up all of Judea and Samaria including East Jerusalem and cringes hoping that the appeasement strategy of land for peace works, even though it never has.
It isn't going to happen, simply because the Israelis aren't suicidal. But that doesn't stop some people from pleasuring themselves with the fantasy.
Actually I'd say it is the United States that has been ungrateful. America gets far more from Israel than it gives. America has benefited tremendously from the relationship epecially in terms of useful intellegence against enemies and Israel acts as a buffer between the US and its Arab enemies. While America has benefited tremendously from the alliance, its hard to see how Israle has benefited.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not Israel is endangering its country is for Israel's business, not America's or its leaders. If America were to act this way toward another country but Israel, the media would skewer American government officials for their "imperial" actions. When Israel is treated in this manner, not only do they not skewer Amerian government officials, they praise them!!
Israel's demographic issues are not the concern of Mr. Gates. This is the concern of Israel. America's chief concern needs to be its national defense and growing its economy. Worrying about Israel's demographic situation is a waste of precious resources for America. Israel is in a much better position to do that than America is.
A true ally of Israel would stay out of Israel's way and would withdraw all support from the Palestinians or at least make it conditional much like the aid Israel receives. Doing this would place the parties on a much more equal footting and would make the negotiated settlement for a two stae solution we claim to want much more likley to achieve. Right now the Palestinians have such a lopsided advantage that there is no real incentive for them to negotiate in good faith.
What is clear is Israel CANNOT agree to the formation of an independent and soverign Palestinian state that will pose an existential threat to them. If such a state were to be formed now based upon current conditions, the state would pos an existential threat to Israel.
Would the US have agrred to restore soverigntry to Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan while these countries could still harm them? Of course not!! The PA and Hamas pose a greater threat to Israel than Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan ever posed to America.
Finally, a military strike by the US against Iran was never a real possibility, however, an Iranian military strike against the American mainland or American interests around the world has always been a real possibilty. The media and other powerful American officials have worked tirelessly to undercut any possibility of a military solution by America to the Iranian problem. By doing this the poor fools have undercut a valuable avenue that America might have had to represent its national security interests. Furthermore, by doing this they've placed the people they are supposed to representing in even graver danger than they already were in!! Truly disgraceful!!!
If Obama were truly pro Israel (what a crock)
ReplyDeletethen he would ask Gates to apologize or even
declare that that is not his opinion.......
But Gates' declaration demonstrates exactly why
he was chosen to be a part of Obama's cabinet.