Americans and Their Duplicitous Word Games

6 Tamuz 5778

The current US and Israeli administrations like to say they are so close that there is "no daylight [visible] between them," but that's not exactly true, as the following two examples demonstrate.

US envoy scolds Israeli MKs for demanding US recognition of Golan — report

US Ambassador David Friedman reportedly told Israeli lawmakers they were “ungrateful” for demanding that Washington follow up on its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel with an official US acknowledgement of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

...The report quoted him as saying that Israelis do not understand that the US has global interests unrelated to the Jewish state, while Israeli politicians have only a domestic agenda.

In private conversations, Friedman allegedly told the politicians that, instead of being grateful after the US recognized Jerusalem and made the momentous move of its embassy to the city, the Israelis immediately asked for more, displaying what he termed “ingratitude.”

Someone recently said to me that once N. Korea and Iran have agreed to give up their nuclear ambitions, Israel will then be on the hot seat.

Trump signed secret pledge to safeguard Israeli nukes — report

US President Donald Trump has reportedly signed a secret letter pledging not to strong-arm the Jewish state into relinquishing its nuclear weapons.

The US president’s backing came after Israel’s ambassador to the United States reportedly pressured the administration last year, raising the ire of American officials.

The rare moment of tension between the Israeli government and Trump White House in February 2017 came a month after Trump entered office and was said to devolve into yelling and profanity, according to a report by The New Yorker on Monday.

...The feeling in the White House, added a former aide, was that “there is a lot of good will, but don’t take advantage of us.”

Despite the initial tensions, Trump would go on to sign the letter, the report said.

Although Israel saw the letters as guaranteeing the US would not pressure Israel on its nuclear arms, US officials said the document was not unequivocal in its language.

“It was not a blanket ‘We’ll never ask Israel to give up its nuclear weapons.’ It was more, ‘We accepted the Israeli argument that they’re not going to disarm under current conditions in the Middle East,” the New Yorker quoted a former US official as saying.

Daniel Pipes recently wrote the following...

Pipes: U.S. Embassy Move May Bring Regrets

...What was the strategic thinking behind the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem?

There are two different interpretations. The common one is that this is Donald Trump fulfilling his campaign promise. It fits in with a positive understanding of Israel’s value, building the U.S.-Israel relationship. I disagree. I see it in the context of a larger effort, little to do with campaign promises and a lot to do with hostility towards Iran.

If you wish to build up an anti-Iran alliance, then you need to take several steps. The first is to lavish attention and arms on the Saudis, so that you bring them over as an ally in a way they have never been before. Step two is solidify and warm up relations with Jerusalem – such as moving the embassy. Step three is warm up and solidify relations with the Palestinians. That hasn’t happened – quite the reverse. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has engaged for half a year of a boycott of American officialdom.

I see this as transitory. At a certain point, either Mahmoud Abbas or his successor will say, “OK, Trump, you’ve talked to us about some benefit we’re going to get. What is it?” And we know pretty well what it is. The U.S. government will recognize Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital and, in return, the Palestinians are supposed to give up the right of return.

So, in Trump’s thinking, you take care of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by giving each side what it wants, and then the Saudis will accept Israel as a full-fledged partner and you have a real alliance against Iran. The problem with this is that the Palestinians are not going to fulfill their role, and will not change their hostility towards Israel. This will once again leave the U.S. government annoyed with Israel for not resolving things with the Palestinians. I see Israel being in the hot seat, once again, as the Palestinians misbehave.

Although I was thrilled at the time the embassy move was declared, I think I will eventually wish that the U.S. embassy were still in Tel Aviv.

I, for one, was not thrilled. I didn't want it to move in the first place. I knew it was going to come with a cost - a cost possibly too dear to bear, especially for so little return.

Beware the Dealmaker. He believes everyone has his price and therefore, everything (and everyone) can be bought - for the right price. Someone should give him fair warning - Torah Jews and Eretz Yisrael are not for sale AT ANY PRICE!!