Opinion

March 4, 2011

Obama’s message to Israel

by Leonard Fein

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There’s a growing clamor for President Obama to visit Israel (and, presumably, once in Jerusalem, Ramallah as well).  But there’s a bit of a problem in imagining such a visit: What would the president say?

He would, presumably, deliver a very elegant speech; that’s one of his great skills.  But beyond reassuring the Israelis of America’s “unshakable” commitment to Israel’s security and chastising them for their inflexibility on settlements, what is there for him to say? Pretty words, even moving words, no doubt.  But useful words, words as a prelude to . . . to what?  On the issue of settlements, the Obama administration has tried different approaches, including reason, public chilliness and bribery.  None of these worked, and now the administration has undermined its own seriousness by voting at the UN Security Council against its own policies.  And on the much larger issue of peace, a dead battery.  Although Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently rumored to be preparing a new peace initiative, perhaps even some restrictions on new settlement construction, there is every reason to suppose these actions will be no more than a ploy, formulated to ensure Palestinian rejection, hence to enable Israel to continue its baseless plea that it has “no partner” for peace.

The White House is convinced that Israel’s leadership is in fact intransigent.  That does not make them “anti-Israel;” that makes them, at last, realistic – hence stymied.

How does one encourage American efforts to revive a meaningful peace process?  One way is by now traditional: Convince the Administration that it is in America’s interest to make peace happen.  But the truth is that the Administration already knows that.  The fierce urgency of now has bumped directly into the dour and destructive obstinacy of Netanyahu, Lieberman et al.  Bumped into, and rendered hors de combat.

But the fierce urgency of now is not simply one of Martin Luther King’s more memorable phrases; midnight does approach.

Even though Palestine has so far been left to the side by the heroic masses of the current Arab uprisings, the profound, inspiring and unsettling changes under way in the Arab world may yet give lethal expression to the widespread Arab animus towards Israel, a hatred that will not dissipate until there is a viable Palestinian state – which is to say, until there is justice for Palestinians.  And beyond such necessarily contingent predictions, there remains the obdurate fact of Israel’s frenetic efforts to render Jerusalem indivisible, thereby effectively wrecking any prospect of a serious two-state solution. Regarding Jerusalem, the clock is ticking.  Two or three years from now,  we will be reminded of the full context of Dr. King’s words, delivered in a Riverside Church speech on Vietnam: “We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today.  We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now . . . Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’”

There is, so far as I can tell, only one other potential game-changer, itself perhaps only a hair more likely than a renewal of Obama administration efforts.  Were there a sustained and massive call by Israelis themselves for a resumption of negotiation, for a final and binding resolution to the conflict, not only would the White House and the State Department pay grateful attention; even the doyens of the American Jewish community might finally speak a truth most of them recognize but are too tied up in knots to speak clearly.  (The colossal failure of Jewish leadership in the face of the dangers we face is not less serious than it was during the 1930s.  It is less their rich donors who inhibit them, more their insistence on infantilizing the people they presume to lead.  They fear we cannot be trusted with the truth.)

What makes it unlikely that the long-awaited mobilization within Israel will at last happen, that such demonstrations as the ongoing weekly protest at Sheikh Jarrach will attract not 300 people or even 3000 people but 30,000 people, is that Israel’s population consists of a series of enclaves, and the potential for an aroused citizenry depends critically on the notoriously insulated Tel Aviv region.  Attend: Once you subtract from Israel’s Jewish population (5.7 million) the haredim, who stand resolutely outside the political debate, and the religious nationalists, who are adamant hawks, and the bulk of the Russians who have arrived since 1990, who are in the main far to the right, you’re left with roughly 3 million Jews.  Of these, a decisive majority live in the Greater Tel Aviv area.  (Another 21 percent of Israelis – 1.6 million – are Palestinian, whose voice on the issue of peace would not be taken seriously.) Of those 3 million Jews, more than half live in the Greater Tel Aviv region.  Some of these are among the haredim, more still among the Russians, leaving, say, 2 million.  Alas, on the issue of peace, they are today’s Jews of silence.  They are not likely to take a page from the Cairo or Tunis books, nor even from Israel’s own history books; their gaze is towards the Mediterranean, not Eastward to the Jordan.

So not only too late, but also too few?  That cannot be, cannot be allowed to be.

Here’s a thought: Let President Obama address the generation he so successfully inspired as a candidate, delving in depth into the role young people have played and can play as agents of change.  That is how our war in Vietnam was ended; that is how Tunisia and Egypt were liberated.  Let his speech be broadcast live at colleges and universities all over the world – including all the colleges and universities in Israel and in the West Bank.  The message?  No, not that “you,too, must take to the streets.”  Instead: “The future of freedom, dignity, life itself depends on you.”  Because, in truth, it does.

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Thanks for the great words. I pray for the peace in the Holy Land.

Comment by Najat on 3/04/11 at 6:36 pm

Fein ,you’re a disgrace to your Jewish blood.
You’re a posterboy of the Left-Wing “Jewicidal”.
Your ancestors are obviously “rolling over” in disgust.

Comment by Timberwolf104 on 3/04/11 at 7:38 pm

Nice thought. Thank you for the good will. Enjoy!

Comment by Sovereign on 3/04/11 at 8:43 pm

there are at least two opposite points ov vue
the one is to consider Israel should give up a part of Jerusalem and to let Palestinian"refugees” to “return”
and that ALL the settlements are illegal,the other is
to consider that Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and of Israel and that there is no reason to share it ,that there is no reason for accept any “return
of refugees” to Israel if there would be a Palestinian state and that it is absurd to consider building in east
Jerusalem as “illegal”.

Comment by ralph on 3/05/11 at 2:00 am

You been visiting Charley Sheen? The words of Obama are pure BS. Example: He’s going to walk the picket line with the union people for one instance. The Israelis have much to fear from him and his sidekick Clinton. Remember her dodging bullets when she got off her plane. Rudy Guiliani just back from Israel said the Israelis are for the first time fearful of this President and his administration. Now, go back and suck up to Obama.

Comment by sam corwin on 3/05/11 at 5:03 am

Remember Sec/ State Hillary Clinton and reset button that the State Dept could not translate correctly to amusement of most Russians and the world.  Remember John Kerry recommendation that US establish direct relations with Syria.  Notice that Iran will be holding joint military exercises w/  Syria

Russia never changes…Criminal element is in charge…  secret organs of the Soviet remain dominant.

Syria never changes.  Nuclear ambitions remain ( latest satellite intelligence info) its chem weapons develop
remains ,its missile develop remains. Its support of Hezbollah remains.

Comment by HOWARD LAITIN on 3/05/11 at 11:50 am

OBAMA (advised by RASHID KHALIDI)
never changes: Hope dominates over experience and reality. And Israel is urged to “take even more risk for peace.” And that come from people who live in the safety of the United States.… Not under the shadow of missiles from Gaza, Lebanon, or with the constant threat from terrorists.

Comment by HOWARD LAITIN on 3/05/11 at 11:59 am

Actually, american jewish people are a liability to our state: Israel. 1) Egypt has bombed and cut the gaz supply, it wont be restored 2) Egypt called back an Imam that has called before one millions people In Cairo to whipe out Israel 3) Egypt allow 2 iranian ships to cross the suez canal 4) 90% of egyptians consider they are the slaves of camp David. Need more? Keep $giving to Obama.  ...Haverim.

Comment by eli from Israel on 3/05/11 at 1:14 pm

Eli: Bravo on your first line on liability to Israel. People who don’t live there (If they want top comment on how to deal with the arabs) have the opportunity to move there and be heard. Other than that they should (If they want to help) keep their opinions to themselves, donate money to Israel or just shut up. Being an American, I can truly say that Obama is a loser, with no “Batzem.”

Comment by sam corwin on 3/05/11 at 10:36 pm

A disgusting perspective, to turn your people over to their enemies. 
Israel has made sacrifices, concessions and offerings, so for it is the MUSLIMS that are intransigent, not the Israelis.  How dare a Jewish writer in a Jewish paper misrepresent the facts and take the side of sociopathic murders against the Jewish people. Even the bloodthirsty arafat didn’t make Jewusalem an issue like obama and his apoloist fein. 
Jews need to take a stand, everyone knows the plo was founded in 1961 to destroy Israel, nothing has changed except the courage of quisling Jews like fein.
Shame on the Journal for posting him, and shame on him for his lack of honor for his own people.
?

Comment by Lou on 3/06/11 at 9:16 pm

Fein is a “righteous”, as antisemitic people are. I have nothing against they are so “good”. They dont know what they are talking about: A pipe bomb exploded yesterday in Jerusalem, ripping off the arm of a sanitation worker, near Gilo, near Bethlehem. A bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem brutally set on fire. No one hurt. Egypt is opening the Gaza border. Missiles are pouring on south since a few days.
Oblabla goal may be noble(?) but he his perceived as weak by the islamists. Hastening arabs to war. Either he is evil minded, or a lousy newbie. His one sided angelism is weakening democracies. The question is not “what” but “how”. All the best to the american friends

Comment by eli from Israel on 3/07/11 at 2:39 am

Now this is for little Fein:
Your cold fish cutting in slice of my country and this attempt of separation of its people, along with this ridiculous attempt to find people “like you” in Tel Aviv area tells how distant you are from jews and judaism: Yehud from “Yachad” “Together”, that same spiritual property carved in THE jewish heart, which IS Israel. All those “sliced” people, haredi, russian, ethiopians, hawks, kids, you name them, they all together fight hell for Israel. Dai!

Comment by eli from Israel on 3/07/11 at 3:03 am

Eli, well said! Finally. It’s time for more Israelis to speak up about all these American Jews who know, from their remote location, how to save Israelis from themselves. But Eli, keep in mind, not all of us are Mr. Fein. We are sick of it too, and we are aware of the immense damage they are inflicting.

Comment by Mini on 3/07/11 at 11:51 am

Mr. Fein, chill down. What we have seen in Egypt so far is an old military guy who had wanted to leave the dictatorship to his son, being replaced by a new military guy. Egypt has changed, but not for the better. Load this: Have you heard of Amira Haas? She is a notorious pro-Palestinian writer who lives in Ramallah and writes in Haaretz. In today’s Haaretz, she writes from Cairo how no Egyptian journalist and editor wanted to talk to her because she writes for Haaretz. This is the new Egypt. Got it?
 
As far as your lines about MLK, give me a break. He belongs to a place and an era that has nothing to do with Israelis.

Comment by Avi on 3/07/11 at 12:09 pm

Singing praises to Obama shows the signs of “Selective hearing.” The man says one thing and years later says the opposite. It becomes evident that the man is in over his head, can’t lead and finds it easier to chastise his friends and kiss ass to our enemies. He and Hillary are no friends to Israel. Why doesn’t the US have it’s embassy in Jerusalem?  Appease your arab brothers, it’s easier that way. The Israelis have no confidence in this man’s word and more and more Americans are finding that out daily. Worst and most dangerous President we ever had and it’s too bad he’s black.  He could have done a lot for his people.

Comment by sam corwin on 3/08/11 at 1:03 am

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