For the past 30 years we have been told by idiot savants and self proclaimed experts that unless Israel surrendered everything to the PLO, she will be overwhelmed by the alleged Palestinian birthrate. That argument has time and again been proven to be a crock. As the author points out – Israel does not rule the West Bank or Gaza so the “time bomb” is a straw man argument. Palestinians are maximalists and imperialists and there is no appeasing them at all as every humanitarian concession is considered to be an act of weakness. As for Rahm Emanuel, he is a classic Cook County thug who actually is not ruling out running for president in 2016 and would sell Israel out in a heart beat despite his fathers Israel connections and background.
by Barry Rubin
You know President Barack Obama understands he’s got problems with Israel (and with its supporters in the United States) when he trots out Rahm Emanuel to write an op-ed in defense of his alleged love for Israel.
Emanuel may have been born to an Israeli father and had his son’s bar mitzva in Jerusalem, but to have him attest to Obama’s credentials on Israel is like having Mel Gibson act as a spokesman for Australia, or Arnold Schwarzenegger for Austria, or Dominique Strauss-Kahn for France’s tourism board. In other words, it’s totally meaningless and even – for those who know something about the individuals involved – counterproductive.
There are, however, two important things it tells us about Obama and his administration: First, they are detached from reality enough to think this is a clever idea. Rather than going to someone actually recognized as being pro-Israel or active in Jewish affairs, he turned to a political crony disliked by both communities.
Despite the near-fanatical support for Obama by the majority of American Jews, he is totally deaf to their concerns and feelings.
Second, it shows that Obama always prefers a cheap public relations gesture to a substantive policy action.
[…]
Why is the “demography” in the region against the two-state solution? Because there are more Palestinians? Who cares? That has absolutely zero political impact.
Israel does not rule the Gaza Strip. Hamas does.
Israel does not rule the people of the West Bank (as opposed to territory there without any people living in it). Fatah does.
Hello? That’s been the basic situation now for 17 years. (Not the Hamas part, the Palestinian Authority aspect.) So what if the Palestinian population doubles, triples, quadruples? That has no effect on Israel’s status as a democratic state.
There is something interesting going on here. Unlike the peace process rhetoric of the 1993-2000 period, nobody dares to talk about how wonderful life for Israel would be if it turned over all the territory captured in 1967 and accepted a Palestinian state. They can only say that things will be worse if it doesn’t.
People in Israel don’t believe this, and for good reason.
[…]
It is delusional.
Read the rest: Rahm Emanuel? Really?
Tags: Barry Rubin
