Obama: disappointed by Islam in quest of the “Israeli Spring”
Il Giornale, March 21st, 2013
The US President lands in the Jewish State and shows with words and deeds his willingness to reverse the phase of the preferential relations with the Arab “revolution”
Jerusalem. The lesson seems to have been learnt: the tune of the relations between the United States and Israel has changed. A couple of years of the Muslim Brotherhood seizing power, tens of thousands of dead in Syria, and Iran close to the nuclear bomb… Everyone seems to have been vaccinated: it is time for cohesion, not for useless tiffs. Obama and Netanyahu come closer. Preparations have been obsessive; now, descending from Air Force One in bright sunshine he looks cheerful. As the military ceremony kicks in, the new Ministers are waiting in rank for a tap in the shoulder by Prince Charming. As the gate is about to be opened, Shimon Peres and Bibi Netanyahu appear focused. So many things are at stake. Iran does not bend, chemical weapons might have been deployed in Syria, and annoyed and belligerent Palestinians are waiting for Obama in Ramallah.
The so far fraught relations with the US mean to Israel its own health, perhaps even its life, a visit by Obama paid to Israel is different from all other visits to the world, and the same applies to the US: Israel, as stated by Joe Biden “is the best warship the US have”, it’s its safe island in the quagmire of the Muslim Brotherhood's new Middle East; against this backdrop the atomic peak of the Iranian danger stands out. Yet, at the airport the strategic tune changes under our own eyes. As Obama is strolling down the tarmac with Bibi and Peres, friendship signals are all over, the body language conveys a “cool” and intimate gesture when Obama takes off his jacket, immediately followed by Netanyahu. They both get to the podium at the same time. Israel’s Prime Minister has a very touched voice when, after Peres’ welcoming speech, he says “I come here today with a simple message: thank-you for standing by Israel”. He repeats thank-you for the unwavering support, for the aid against palestinian unilateral decisions at the UN, for the generous military assistance, for the sanctions against Iran.
Obama’s delusion that the palestinians and the arab world in general could be mesmerized by his requests to Bibi such like giving up land and settlement freeze, is gone. Nobody says the word "settlement". Nobody makes him guilty for not coming here as a visitor during the first term … Then Obama at his turn shows a reversal in his course of action. He no longer makes the mistake to refer to Israel’s birth as the jews and the world’s reaction to Shoah; he now upholds the right to its birth matured in thousands of years, the return of the Jewish people to its land. He repeats that the USA will always be there for Israel. He reiterates that it is not by coincidence that he is paying his first visit here as the newly elected President. Last time in 2009 he paid his first visit to Cairo, to Al Azhar University: his words marked Mubarak’s end, he addressed the “Muslim Nation” in the attempt to conquest the great crowd of the Muslim Brotherhood, which then seized power in all Arab revolutions. He poured fuel on the egyptian fire.
In May 2009 he saluted a conflictual approach with Israel demanding the well-known entire settlement freeze. Meanwhile, the situation in Middle East is simmering also because of Iran, the other important aim of his visit. While strolling down the tarmac with Bibi who was showing him the way painted by red lines, Obama joked “the red line, okay. He’s always talking to me about red lines”.
The President fears, in fact, that the insurmountable red line of Bibi will be in November, when the Israelis think bomb might already have been assembled. An intensive three hour four-eyed talk resulted in a press conference that still keeps many secrets, but clearly Obama reiterated that the US will not allow the Ayatollah to get to the nuclear bomb. Diplomacy is still the preferred choice and “there’s still time”, but “all options are open”, hence also the military one. Regarding Palestinians, the topic of settlements has disappeared, Obama only talked about “Two States for Two Peoples”, reiterating for that matter what Netanyahu has previously stated. He seems to ponder over a more decisive intervention on the so far not confirmed rumors of chemical weapons deployed in Syria.
Whether, on the afore-mentioned grounds, Netanyahu came to the conclusion to give up a solitary intervention against Iran in the case Israel deemed that the red line will have been crossed, is a matter of discussion.