Obama and the 'myth of linkage'

Israel Matzav

Noah Pollak, who inspired my very first post about Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama's foreign policy team, and who first alerted me to the existential danger this man poses to the State of Israel, has written a piece on Commentary's Contentions blog in which he shows how Obama has adopted what Pollak calls the 'myth of linkage.' Linkage is the notion that if only the 'Palestinian problem' were 'solved' (How? By ending the existence of the State of Israel?), the Arab world in its entirety would suddenly support American foreign policy goals. But 'linkage' is nothing but a mirage that is promoted by the Arab world and the US State Department to accomplish by diplomacy what they could not accomplish on the battlefield: Israel's destruction (Hat Tip: Hot Air). In this worldview, the ineffectiveness of Arab states as U.S. allies is due primarily to genuine — as opposed to claimed — objections over the lack of American involvement in the conflict, as if America’s failure to “create” a Palestinian state is because 15 years of Madrid, Oslo, Camp David, the Road Map, Annapolis, and billions of dollars in foreign aid represent an insufficient dedication of resources to the conflict. In this worldview, Iran “uses” Hamas and Hezbollah to “stir up mischief,” a state of affairs which can be changed through a peace process. Obama apparently doesn’t believe that Hamas and Hezbollah are allied with Iran because all three share a very clear and unappeasable goal: ridding the Middle East of Israel and America. Does Obama really believe that Hamas and Hezbollah can be co-opted by a peace process?

Given that the hopelessly naive Obama still believes he can talk Iran out of continuing their nuclear enrichment program, it is entirely possible that he is foolish enough to believe that Hamas and Hezbullah can be co-opted by a 'peace process.'