"The Letter Is Coming"

Arlene Kushner

Reports are that Prime Minister Netanyahu will honor his promise to appeal directly, officially and publicly to President Obama for the release of Jonathan Pollard. According to a close associate, "The letter will be ready by Sunday or Monday..." (just missing the hoped-for goal of right before Christmas).

For a day and a half last week, after Netanyahu decided to proceed with the appeal, Pollard's wife Esther was not able to get a message to her husband, because he had undergone emergency surgery. His health has so deteriorated during his time in prison that there is concern for his life. This means there truly is no time to be wasted. Herb Keinon of the JPost has analyzed the possible political implications of Obama responding positively to the letter:

"When evaluating the current flurry of activity surrounding efforts to free Jonathan Pollard, two assumptions should be kept in mind.

"First: Things don't just happen.

"And second: Anything publicly being done by the Israeli government on the matter is known in advance by Washington. Israel is not looking to ambush the US administration on Pollard-related issues.

"With those two assumptions in mind, the timing of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's announcement that now, 25 years after Pollard was arrested, Israel will publicly ask the US president to release him takes on added interest.

"Two key questions that must be asked are 'Why now?' and "what took so long?' Why wasn't this done years ago? The official response to that question from the Prime Minister's Office is that a cost-benefit analysis was done among the powers that be with the conclusion that whereas in the past the feeling was that more could be done for Pollard in closed-door meetings, now the sense is that he would benefit from the light the media will shine on a public Israeli governmental appeal..."

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And here's the clincher, at least according to Keinon:

"...After Obama's first two rather rocky years with Israel, releasing Pollard would be a huge push on the reset button in his relations with American Jews. With this move, he could say, 'See, I really do care about Israel, and am doing something no other US president was willing to do.'

"For Israelis, including senior government officials, releasing Pollard would go a long way to rebuilding trust with the president. Netanyahu...would now be able to say that the release shows Obama is indeed 'back on our side' and could be trusted."

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=200839

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Give me a break! Are Jews -- both American Jews and Israeli officials, as alluded to here -- this gullible? One politically self-serving act by Obama, one attempt to appear to be our friend, and we are expected to embrace him with a feeling of trust, knowing that he is "back on our side"?

The bottom line is that there was a miscarriage of justice with regard to how Pollard was handled by the US government, not least of which was the broken pledge not to seek life imprisonment for him if he cooperated. If Obama moves to secure Pollard's release now -- while, please G-d, he is still alive and can be brought back to health -- he will only be doing what is right. I don't imagine that there would be a political backlash on this -- for the climate in the US has shifted, with former government officials actually coming forward publicly to say that what was done to Pollard was not fair.

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While this scenario may well explain Obama's readiness to receive the public request on Pollard and perhaps act on it -- and I suspect Keinon has the political undertones right -- we have to hope that Jews will be more savvy than to be taken in by what would really be a simple act for Obama.

As to any notion of his being "back on our side," implicit in this is a conceptualization of Obama as someone sometimes "on our side" and sometimes not. (Although I'm not actually sure when he ever was, never mind.) If he is "back on our side" now, when it suits him, he will walk away from our side again, when it doesn't. This does not inspire trust.

And his doing what is right on this occasion does not mean we "owe" him.

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I return here to a recurring theme of mine -- one that cannot be emphasized too much: the way in which US weakness has strengthened Iran here in the Middle East.

Caroline Glick, in her Friday column, "Slouching towards Iran," addresses this issue:

"Two weeks ago, Iran scored a massive victory. Jordan, the West's most stable and loyal ally in the Arab world began slouching towards the Iranian Gomorrah.

"On December 12, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei met with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman and extended a formal invitation from Ahmadinejad for him to pay a state visit to Iran. Abdullah accepted.

"...Abdullah reportedly said that his country recognizes Iran's nuclear rights and supports its access to peaceful nuclear technology.

"Abdullah was one of the first world leaders to sound the alarm on Iran. In 2004 Abdullah warned of a 'Shiite crescent' extending from Iran to Iraq, through Syria to Lebanon. His words were well reported at the time. But his warning went unheeded.

In the intervening six years, reality has surpassed Abdullah's worst fears...
"In the face of Iran's expanding web of influence and the mullahs' steady progress towards nuclear capability, Washington behaves as though there is no cause for concern. And the likes of Jordan are beside themselves.

"In a WikiLeaks leaked cable from April 2009 written by US Ambassador to Jordan R. Stephen Beecroft, Jordan's frustration and concern over the Obama administration's incompetence in handling the Iranian threat was clear.

"Beecroft wrote, 'Jordan's leaders are careful not to be seen as dictating toward the US, but their comments betray a powerful undercurrent of doubt that the United States knows how to deal effectively with Iran.'

"...the Jordanians recognized that the Obama administration was committed to appeasing Iran and so tried to convince the Americans to ensure that their appeasement drive didn't come at the Arabs' expense.

"Beecroft reported a clear warning from Abdullah. Abdullah cautioned that if the Arabs believe that the US was appeasing Iran at their expense, 'that engagement will set off a stampede of Arab states looking to get ahead of the curve and reach their own separate peace with Teheran.

"'King Abdullah counseled Special Envoy George Mitchell in February [2009] that direct US engagement with Iran at this time would just deepen intra-Arab schisms and that more "countries without a backbone" would defect to the Iranian camp.'

"That was then. And since then, the Obama administration did nothing after Ahmadinejad and his henchmen stole the presidential election. It did nothing as they repressed the tens of millions of Iranians who demonstrated against the election fraud. The Obama administration did nothing as Iran conducted repeated war games along the Straits of Hormuz, progressed in its nuclear program, deepened its military alliances with Turkey and Venezuela and escalated its proxy war against the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

"The Americans said nothing as Iran prevented the pro-US faction that won the Iraqi election from forming a government. They did nothing as Iran forced the reinstallation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki despite his electoral defeat.

"As Washington stood idly by in the face of Iran's aggression, Jordan and the other US-allied Arab states watched as Obama harassed Israel, announced his plan to withdraw all US forces from Iraq next year, appointed a new ambassador to Syria and approved more military aid to the Iranian-controlled Lebanese army. And Abdullah and the other Arabs watch now as the US is poised to begin yet a new round of appeasement talks with Iran next month.

"And so, just as Abdullah warned would happen, today he is leading Jordan into the ranks of 'countries without a backbone,' and making a separate peace with Ahmadinejad."

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2010/12/slouching-towards-teheran.php

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How painful all of this is, and from the perspective here in Jerusalem, how terrifying. It makes a mockery of any notion that Israel can trust Obama as a friend.

Make no mistake about it: the greater the movement by Arab nations in this region into the Iranian sphere, the more difficult for us. We are on our own.

And be clear about this, as well: If Jordan, at our eastern border, is under the sway of Iran, it makes it all the more imperative that we retain forces at the Jordan River. It diminishes the already very meager possibility of making any security arrangements with the PA with regard to a Palestinian Arab state at that border.

Obama just doesn't get it: He claims to want to foster peace, but acts in ways that undermine true peace.

I still want to yell: Wake up America!

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I alluded the other day to my memory of Arafat, right before Christmas, telling journalists, "I must go to Bethlehem and pray." As if he were a Christian who prayed on Christmas. He was co-opting the Christian experience for the public. And the media, not to their credit, ate it up.

Once, not so long ago, Beit Lehem (Bethlehem) was a Christian city. No more. The Muslims have driven the Christians out. And so now they "do" Christmas in Beit Lehem.

Again with credits to Caroline Glick, who produces the Latma satirical videos:

Her latest, "Jihad Bells," wickedly satirizes the Muslim take-over of Beit Lehem and their treatment of Christians.

http://israelvideopress.com/must-see-video-jihad-bells-in-beit-lechem

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We won: The "Israeli War Crimes -- Your Tax dollars at work" campaign that was slated to place ads with this message on Seattle buses starting this week has been stopped.

On Friday, King County Executive Dow Constantine ordered the county's transit system not to accept this ad -- which was to be placed by something called "The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign -- or any other new noncommercial advertising.

This was a result of the outcry that the plans for this campaign elicited -- which teaches us an important lesson. "Given the dramatic escalation of debate in the past few days over these proposed ads, and the submission of inflammatory response ads, there is now an unacceptable risk of harm to or disruption of service to our customers should these ads run," Constantine said.

A spokesman for the Awareness Campaign charged that the county had submitted to "intimidation." After all, the ad was only designed to stimulate discussion and promote awareness.

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On Friday, the UN General Assembly in New York approved a resolution -- 104 to 22, with 33 abstentions -- to hold a summit on September 21, during the assembly’s annual ministerial meeting, that would commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Durban conference on racism.

Tonight, Israel's Foreign Ministry released a statement stating that:

"The Durban Conference of 2001, with its anti-Semitic undertones and displays of hatred for Israel and the Jewish World, left us with scars that will not heal quickly,

"As long as the meeting is defined as part of the infamous 'Durban process,' Israel will not participate."

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Canada announced its intention of boycotting this summit weeks ago, but Israel waited until the vote and formal announcement connecting the summit with Durban I.

US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, released a statement indicating that the US voted against the resolution "because the Durban Declaration process has included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism, and we do not want to see that commemorated."

This is all fine, as far as it goes. But if the US does not want to see a commemoration of Durban, will it also decline to participate in the summit? There's no word on this.

What a statement it would make if all of the democracies of the world declined to participate that day. I dream, I know.

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Tomorrow night, December 26, Hadar-Israel (Council for Civil Action) will be holding a seminar on the question,"What Are Israel's Security Needs for a Viable Peace?" with Former UN Ambassador Dore Gold, Maj. Gen. (res) Uzi Dayan, and Maj. Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror. Dan Diker, Secretary-General Designate for the World Jewish Congress will moderate.

It is being held at the Begin Center in Jerusalem, starting at 7:30. Those out of the area may want to know that the seminar will be able to be accessed via live video simulcast, at www.hadar-israel.org.

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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution


see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info