Wednesday, March 18, 2009
This is from a couple of days ago, but I haven't seen anything more of it. Interesting: Israel's visiting chief of staff finds doors closed in Obama's Washington
Last year, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi had no problem setting up meetings with top officials in the U.S. government.
On his current trip to Washington, Ashkenazi sought to meet the administration of President Barack Obama, but most officials were unavailable.
Diplomatic sources said Ashkenazi failed to obtain access to any Cabinet member, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Israeli military chief, who sought to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat, won't even meet his counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"The administration is sending a very clear message to Israel, and this is we want to talk about Palestine and not Iran," a diplomat who has been following U.S.-Israel relations said...
...diplomatic sources said the administration made it clear that nobody in a policy-making position was available to sit with Ashkenazi. This included the president, Vice President Joseph Biden, Gates, National Intelligence director Dennis Blair or Mullen.
Ashkenazi has obtained a meeting with National Security Advisor James Jones. But the sources said the meeting would focus on U.S. demands for Israel to ease military restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
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, p.44
Sol - are you really surprised?
Here's a key graph:
More pressure. No understanding. More sellout. No strategy.
We're going backwards and aside from the center/right blogosphere, no one's noticing or caring.
Seems nothing has changed from this article by Dore Gold:
THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP: MOUNTING MISPERCEPTIONS IN WASHINGTON
THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP
Back in February 1989, in his first interview as Secretary of State, James Baker explained to Time magazine that diplomacy was like a turkey hunt. Paraphrasing: "You have got to fatten up the turkeys. I have this assistant who puts out the feed, he fattens up the turkeys, you get them good and fat, and then you shoot them." When asked what country he had in mind, he answered "Israel!"
But the sources said the meeting would focus on U.S. demands for Israel to ease military restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
but Israel is not in the Gaza Strip!
And Palestinian rockets which continue falling in Israel?
AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I guess Israel is supposed to help create a state sworn to the destruction of Israel.
Does this make sense?
Does anybody actually believe, without going through the steps necessary to actually reconcile all the warring parties, the so-called "peace process" has a fighting chance of succeeding?
Nobody wants to listen to what people are actually saying, indeed terrorism against Israelis isn't even considered "terrorism"; it is a Liberation Struggle or something.
Nobody gives a rat's patootie about the people in Israel, I guess folks would be happier if they'd stop hiding in bomb shelters and get killed more often or if a powerful missile would hit Tel Aviv and knock down an office tower.
I am getting mad.
This is absurd, and infuriating.
But then, why should Israel expected to be treated better by the Obama Administration than any of America's other allies?