This is probably too good to be true, but what if it is not? Shimon Shiffer, who I am told is one of Israel’s most highly respected journalists, reported in Israel’s largest daily paper Yedioth Achronoth that Obama is laying down the law with the Israelis. And he’s using Rahm Emanuel to do it.
Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; “In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn’t matter to us at all who is prime minister.”
He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place. “Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory,” the paper reports Emanuel as saying. In other words, US sympathy for Israel’s position vis a vis Iran depends on Israel’s willingness to live up to its commitment to get out of the West Bank and permit the establishment of a Palestinian state there, in Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Mr. Shiffer goes on to report that the Obama administration has informed Israel that the president will be ‘out of town’ during next month’s AIPAC meeting in Washington and unavailable to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Shiffer also reports that Netanyahu may cancel his trip to the AIPAC conference and seek a one-on-one meeting with Obama later in the month. But…
“Sources in Washington also said that the Obama administration would not continue the tradition that developed during the Bush administration of hosting Israeli premiers many times during the year, sometimes with just a phone call’s advance notice.”
I hadn’t thought of turning the tables on the Israelis and making our active interest in Iran’s nuclear ambitions contingent on Israel getting out of the occupied territories. This could be nothing more than the overheated imagination of some paranoid Israeli official. But, what if it is true?
This would go beyond my highest expectations. And Rahm’s selection as chief of staff would suddenly start looking a whole lot better. No?
