How Barack Beat Bibi

[Swede]

-snip-

The spat between America and Israel is hurting Netanyahu more than Obama. Peter Beinart on the fallout in the Mideast.

Israel’s diplomatic war with the United States will likely end the same way its real war ended last year in Gaza: ambiguously. There will be no white flags or mission accomplished signs, just a slight tilt in the balance of power, a modest moving of the trench lines. Those lines aren’t fully demarcated yet, but in important ways the outcome is already clear: Barack Obama has won.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-18/how-barack-beat-bibi/?cid=hp:mainpromo2

[monmouth]

1. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a terse call from Mrs.

Clinton either. She knows how to state her case very well. I do think however, because she's female there's an underlying part on their end to not take her seriously. Bibi does this at his own peril IMO...

[daa]

2. Right, Netanyahu is NOT building another 1600

settlements with OUR money. Obama said no settlements and he caved. Do you think AIPAC gives a shit about a phone call from Mrs. Clinton?

[whathehell]

3. And you think AIPAC is all there is?

Ummm..I think you should "broaden your frame", especially in light of the growing number of Anti-AIPAC Jewish groups.

[IndianaGreen]

4. You got it backwards!

Bibi is playing Obama for a fool, just as every previous Israeli PM has played the US for the past 40 years.

Settlements will continue to be build, and the US will continue to enable Israel unconditionally.

[Jefferson23]

6. Not so fast on that imo. Obama has the one thing no other

presiding president has ever had, the report from Petraeus. How and when he uses it, is up to him. And Bibi knows it too.

[IndianaGreen]

7. ADL attacked Petraeus today

and Bibi is not afraid of Obama. People that live under a constant existential threat are not going to be intimidated by an American politician.

[Jefferson23]

8. Of course ADL attacked Petraeus, that is what is so important to take notice.

The hypocrisy is quite rich in his press release, and to counter this, there have already been articles written by mainstream supporters
of Israel who have taken a dim view of Israel. The American conversation is changing on this topic. Things are just getting started, and as I said, the Petraeus report is there, and it is not going away. How Obama uses it, is up to him.

Just as the Goldstone report will not go away, as much as Israel would like it to.

[classysassy]

9. Maybe

we should stop the flow of american tax to Israel.

[classysassy]

10. american tax money

[northernlights]

5. the balance of power has shifted?

Right. Whatever.

Why do we give them our money and war machines again?

[4lbs]

11. If the US is going to give $3 billion annually to Israel in federal aid, it's only appropriate that

it gives the same amount annually to the Palestinians.

Then no one can say that Israel and Palestine aren't being treated equally well by the U.S.