[Vision2020] Bibi's Blunders, His Bombs, and the Israeli Election

[Nicholas Gier]

Dear Visionaries,

Here is my biweekly column for those who do not take the Daily News.  After
getting his necessary right-wing votes, Bibi is already now backtracking
from his rejection of the 2-state solution.

His anti-Arab comments also worked for him, just as Willy Horton worked for
Bush, Sr. in 1988.  Israel has always boasted that it gives more rights to
their Arabs than Arab countries do, but there are still restrictions and
some jobs are closed to them.

The Arab List still came in third in total votes, but they refuse to form
coalitions with any other party because all the others still wish to
violate international law by building permanent settlements on land
acquired by war.

nfg

*Bibi’s Blunder, His Bombs, and the Israeli Election*

By Nick Gier, the Palouse Pundit

The day that Republicans were falling all over themselves applauding
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s speech to Congress,
25,000 Israelis were protesting against him in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu called for snap elections two years’ early after his right-wing
coalition fell apart, and he thought that a hard-hitting speech to Congress
about the Iran nuclear threat would assure his victory. Pre-election polls
showed, however, that his center-left opponents, led by the Labor Party’s
Isaac Herzog, were five seats ahead of Netanyahu's Likud Party.

In an attempt to solidify Israeli's right-wing parties, Netanyahu declared
that he would not support a Palestinian state as it would become a haven
for Islamic militants. This undermines the tw0-state solution, which the U.
S. has assumed for all Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Netanyahu's fear mongering worked. The Likud Party surged ahead, gaining 30
seats to the Labor Party's 24. Netanyahu still has to cobble together
another 31 seats in order form a new coalition government in the 120-seat
Knessett. Until he does, he is not yet Israel's leader.

Netanyahu and 47 Senate Republicans have threatened the delicate
negotiations about Iran’s nuclear programs. Secretary of State John Kerry
needs the continued support of Britain, China, France, Russia, and Germany,
who agreed to let the U. S. lead the negotiations and have placed strict
economic sanctions on Iran. Most of the world’s leaders share Israeli fears
about a nuclear Iran, but the consensus of both Israeli and American
intelligence is that it is not currently building a nuclear bomb.

European talks with Iran were going nowhere until the Obama administration
took over. Netanyahu took issue with those who criticized his speech before
he delivered it, but he thought nothing of condemning a deal with Iran
before it has been announced.

The issue of trust was always focused on the Iranian government, but now it
has shifted. Can the rest of the world trust Obama to lead, when the
Republicans have challenged his constitutional prerogative to negotiate
international agreements? Obama is correct to say that the GOP gambit may
have encouraged Iran’s hard liners to dig in their heels.

Iran is currently a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
and has allowed inspections for years, and these will continue indefinitely
under any new agreement. Writing for *The Atlantic*, James Fallows reports
that Iran has reduced its stockpile of enriched uranium, and current
negotiations contain a promise to dramatically reduce the number of
centrifuges for enrichment. Iran is also expected to permanently modify
“the heavy water reactor at Arak so it produces near zero plutonium.”

Israel has not signed the NPT and has never allowed the presence of
international inspectors. It also has refused to acknowledge that it has at
least 80 nuclear weapons, which can be launched by submarines, jet bombers,
and guided missiles. (U.S. officials have been fired for disclosing these
facts.) Israel could destroy all of Iran’s major cities and military
installations within an hour. Even the most radical Iranian cleric would
think twice before proposing a nuclear war with Israel.

The official Israeli position on nuclear weapons is therefore a lie:
“Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the
Middle East. Israel supports a Middle East free of all weapons of mass
destruction following the attainment of peace.”

Two former Israeli Defense Force chiefs—Lt. Generals Dan Halutz and Benny
Gantz—do not believe that Iran poses an existential threat; indeed, they
believe that Netanyahu’s exaggerations have made the situation worse. Gantz
believes that Iran is a rational actor and would not envisage nuclear war
with Israel.

Like on most domestic issues, the GOP’s hard position on Iran is not
supported by the American people. A University of Maryland poll reveals
that 61 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of Democrats support Obama’s
attempts to negotiate with Iran.

 Netanyahu claims that he has the greatest respect for President Obama and
the office he holds. If that is so, why did not he insist that that his
invitation come from the president himself? He also declared that his trip
was not politically motivated, but it is obvious that the speech was for
his American supporters and for the Israeli voters back home. He may have
won the election, but he has reduced any chance for peace with the
Palestinians. In addition he may have damaged America’s long-standing
bipartisan support for Israel.

Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
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