WarSclerotic

Obama’s ‘You’re not alone’ red light for Israel – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

With regard to Iranian nuclear facilities, Obama is unequivocal: This is a global problem requiring American leadership. Israel is indeed under threat, but it is not alone. And woe betides Israel if Netanyahu pursues his goal despite an emphatic ‘no’ from Washington.

Obama’s speechwriters, or possibly computer software, interspersed all the right terms and important names in the public verbiage uttered during his visit: Holocaust and revival; Yad Vashem and Iron Dome; Ben-Gurion, Begin and Rabin; Moses and Joshua; and the generations of the Netanyahu family. If Benjamin Netanyahu appeared before the United States Congress and AIPAC to speak to Americans in their own language, sweeping the customary applause, Obama appeared before Israelis in their homes, speaking Hebrew words, just like Paul McCartney saying “Good evening Tel Aviv” in Hebrew to a melting crowd. All that was missing was some local slang.

Aside from the style, the words delivered in the natives’ language were meant to convey content. When John Kennedy identified with West Berlin, under constant threat of Soviet conquest, by saying “Ich bin ein Berliner,” he delivered a political message. When Obama says “Atem lo levad” ‏(you are not alone‏) the words carry a dual message. On one hand, these are words a mother might say to a child, meaning not just that she is there to protect him, but that there are others around, so leave something for your siblings as well.

On the eve of the Six-Day War, Foreign Minister Abba Eban was dispatched to Washington to assess how the Johnson Administration would respond to an Israeli military retaliation to the Egyptian challenge posed by the closing of the Straights of Tiran and the removal of the UN observers. Eban’s counterpart Dean Rusk summarized the American position in a forceful, seemingly polite sentence: “If you don’t act alone, you won’t remain alone.” In other words, if independent and sovereign Israel will disregard other players by taking unilateral action, it will bear sole responsibility for the consequences.

It took several more days and lame international processes for things to look different in early June 1967 compared to May, as well as a further visit by Mossad chief Meir Amit. He brought back some insights, reflecting more of an interpretation than a commitment, signaling American resignation to an Israeli military response.

Six months after the war, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol met President Lyndon Johnson at the LBJ Ranch in Texas. A prominent member of the Israeli delegation there was Israel Air Force commander Motti Hod. The air force and its commander had won their glory on the morning of June 5 using mainly French Mirage jets, in Operation Moked. In doing so Israel ignored French President Charles De Gaulle, who also demanded that Israel not forget that it was not alone in the world. A French embargo soon followed Israel’s actions. Hod’s main mission in Texas was to convince the Americans to overcome their long-standing reluctance to become Israel’s main weapons providers, and to supply its air force with the most advanced jet of the time, the Phantom.

Without Phantom jets, said Hod, Israel would be too weak in crisis situations to allow itself to forego a preemptive strike. The meaning of these words was that with Phantoms Israel would refrain from striking first, and sustain opening attacks by Arab armies while responding only subsequently. This may have led to Golda Meir’s understanding on the morning of October 6, 1973, that the political circumstances, rather than an American demand, preclude Israel from launching a preemptive strike on Egypt and Syria.

All subsequent operations ‏(or lack thereof‏), such as the strikes against the Iraqi reactor in 1981, the first Lebanon war in 1982, the Gulf War in 1991 and the Syrian reactor in 2007, teach us that Israel can act only with American acquiescence, or in an atmosphere of murkiness in which it can later claim that the messages were not clear. In other words, a green, or green-amber light is essential, not a red light. With regard to Iranian nuclear facilities, Obama is unequivocal: This is a global problem requiring American leadership. Israel is indeed under threat, but it is not alone. And woe betides Israel if Netanyahu pursues his goal despite an emphatic “no” from Washington.

This entry was posted on March 24, 2013 at 2:49 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.