Goldberg: Obama wants Livni in coalition

[oberliner]

US President Barack Obama’s administration’s recent pressure on Israel is designed to force Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to add Kadima to his coalition instead of Israel Beiteinu or Shas, influential American columnist Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in a story published on Tuesday.

In a column in The Atlantic magazine titled “What Obama is Actually Trying to Do in Israel,” Goldberg, who is close to Obama, said the president wanted to cause a rupture in Netanyahu’s coalition that would necessitate bringing in Kadima. He said he spoke about the matter with officials in the White House.

“I’ve been on the phone with many of the usual suspects (White House and otherwise), and I think it’s fair to say that Obama is not trying to destroy America’s relations withIsrael ; he’s trying to organize Tzipi Livni’s campaign for prime minister, or at least for her inclusion in a broad-based centrist government,” Goldberg wrote.

“I’m not actually suggesting that the White House is directly meddling in internal Israeli politics, but it’s clear to everyone – at the White House, at the State Department, at Goldblog – that no progress will be made on any front if Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right party, Israel Beiteinu, and Eli Yishai’s fundamentalist Shas Party, remain in Netanyahu’s surpassingly fragile coalition.”

Livni’s spokesman declined to comment about the column, but Kadima MK Shlomo Molla, who is her close ally, warned Obama and his advisers against interfering in Israeli politics.

“We don’t need Obama’s help,” Molla said. “But we agree that the current coalition is bad for Israel and for US-Israel relations and that if Livni was working with Obama, there would be much more trust from the White House.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=171259

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. ...and violent military occupation and settlement expansion as usual for Palestinians.

[Chulanowa]

2. Well, you'll get that with any coalition you could dream up in Israel

Which kinda puts Palestinian "tactics" into perspective.

[oberliner]

4. Livni supports two-states living side by side at peace with one another

If she was calling the shots in Israel, there would be significantly more hope of making that dream a reality especially considering Obama's commitment to the peace process.

[Violet_Crumble]

5. She was also responsible for OCL...

Just about anyone could do more than Nutty's doing to get the peace process going...

[oberliner]

6. Olmert was responsible for OCL

I think it would be interesting to give Livni a chance to lead the government (her party did after all win the most seats in the last elections). I get the sense that she and Obama would be on the same page with respect to a lot of these issues.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. A few thoughts . . .

I really doubt that Obama, or his top aides, would ever even consider intruding on an ally's internal politics to the degree that he/they could destroy one coalition and create another.

Israel's internal politics are messy enough without any outside help.

It sounds like Goldman is trying to make excuses for Israel, laying the groundwork for blaming Obama for Israel's failings, and ignoring the mess that Bibi has gotten his country into by distracting people from the real issues.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Obama Administration has a record of interference in other nations

a record that overshadows Bush/Cheney in its aggressiveness.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Haven't we learned our lessons about regime change?

As much as I dislike the current government in Israel, it is their government and our government has no more business instigating a "coup" over there than it did in Honduras and Venezuela.

[shira]

9. it's okay if it's just Israel whose regime the USA is changing

:eyes:

[azurnoir]

10. and just is the US going to force regime change in Israel

are we going to invade or what, Israel is an independent country free to choose its allies, if the US is so hostile then let Israel cut us loose and find other allies it is free to do so

[shira]

11. red herring fallacy - no response necessary

[azurnoir]

12. Truth hurts huh my point was that the US can not force a regime

change in Israel are you going to claim that certain ProIsrael lobbies here will try to influence Obama's remaining President? the red herring is your faux outrage