Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Mideast
Policy gave a speech the other day, parts of which were published on the
website of the Institute on February 9, 2016 under the title: “The
Trump-Netanyahu Meeting in the Context of Emerging U.S. Middle East Policy”.
Satloff says that Netanyahu will soon be in Washington , and will meet with President Trump at which
time the two will discuss the Middle East . He
promises to draw on the President's record and “identify four strategic
objectives in his U.S. Middle East policy.” One of the objectives relates to
the Israeli occupation of Palestine .
But guess what Satloff does the moment that he mentions Israel . He
breaks his promise. Instead of telling what Trump may be thinking, he tells
what he thinks Trump ought to think. Look at this condensed passage:
“For Israel ,
the new relationship is certain to be robust; it has the potential to develop
into the sort of friendship enjoyed by Clinton and Rabin. But the paradox is
that Israel 's strategic need
from Washington
goes far beyond the bilateral relationship. What Israel really needs is a
reassertion of American leadership. Is President Trump willing to be a captain
of a team that entails deepening U.S. involvement in the region?”
If you're surprised to see Satloff ask America to get deeply involved in the Middle East when the Jews were telling it to buzz off not
long ago, you should know that the Israelis have gone through this cycle many
times before. When they get into trouble, they want America to come and protect them.
When they feel confident, they tell America to buzz off. Now that they
want America
back, what are they worried about?
The short answer is that the Jews are worried about Iran . But there
is something else – the occupation of Palestine
– for which they want America
back in the region. First, let's see what Satloff says about Iran : “The top priority for Netanyahu is to
educate the president on the priority of confronting the Iran threat and
to focus US-Israel cooperation on that effort. The challenge is to do this
without confronting the president's commitment to prioritize the destruction of
IS”.
Second, now that Satloff has educated the President, let's
see what he says about Palestine :
“A priority for Netanyahu is to reach understanding with
trump on the peace process and settlement activity … To meet the political objectives;
an agreement would need to allow Netanyahu to return to Israel with a victory so he can
withstand the pressure from his right wing to approve settlement plans whose
intent is to prevent a peace accord. George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon reached
such an agreement. It would require the Trump team to draw on historical memory
and diplomatic expertise they may not have on staff”.
What Satloff has done is admit that the settlers who are
gang raping the Palestinian motherland have always intended “to prevent a peace
accord” from happening. Netanyahu is so beholden to them – for whatever reason
– he needs Trump to give him a victory he can use to placate those primitive
savages. As to the kind of victory Netanyahu needs, there is nothing to it,
says Satloff, because George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon had one. Is that so? Well
then, why do they need another one? And by the way, what did the first one
accomplish? Did they get the peace accord they are promising now? Or is this
another Jewish promise to get something they intend to pocket and then bite the
hand that gave it to them?
And of course, there is also the matter of Jerusalem . To persuade Trump that he should
help Netanyahu there too, Satloff begins by classifying the rape gangsters he
is confronting as (1) the ordinary ones he just talked about and (2) the “more
extreme members of his coalition.” He says he wants the American embassy moved
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem , and promises that
doing so will benefit America
too. How is that, you ask?
Well, can you imagine George Orwell falling into the rabbit
hole and trying to send a message to the real world above? He would sound like
this: “An embassy move would likely be accompanied by a US expression of appreciation for Israel 's agreement that the permanent status of Jerusalem will be determined in negotiations, the outcome
of which the United States
will support.” I kid you not; this is Satloff's message to Trump.