Biden's Failed Mission
Washington
I
n its determination to prove it is not
the Bush administration, the Obama
administration has gone out of its way
to curry favor with the Arabs and criticize
Israel.
Having succeeded in alienating most of
the Israeli public, the administration sent
Vice President Joseph Biden to Jerusalem
to convince Israelis they have a friend in
the White House, but Biden couldn't stick
to the script and managed to reinforce
their fears rather than reassure them.
Biden was prepared to say all the right
things and did say many of them, but
when he decided it was necessary to
publicly blast Israel for announcing the
construction of more homes in its capital,
he frittered away any chance he had of
accomplishing his objective. This is not
to defend the Israeli decision, which sub-
stantively may have been justifiable, but
could not have been publicized at a worse
moment.
Still, Biden could have just as easily
told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu behind closed doors that
this was an embarrassing and stupid
announcement. Friends keep their dis-
than before he arrived.
agreements private as much
It was not surprising that
as possible, a lesson Obama
Palestinian Authority President
could learn from President
Mahmoud Abbas immediately
Bill Clinton's stewardship of
used the Israeli announcement
U.S.-Israel ties.
as a pretext for pulling out of
The biggest problem with
the indirect talks he had finally
Biden's condemnation is that
agreed to and which few people
it reinforced the view that the
outside the Obama administra-
administration's policy is tilt-
tion believed were worth under-
ed off the table in favor of the
taking in the first place. Again,
Dr. Mitchell
Arabs. For more than a year
Israel's announcement may have
Bard
now, Arab leaders have stuck
been ill timed, but has nothing to
Special
their fingers in Obama's eye
do with the recalcitrance of the
Commentary
and refused to cooperate in
Palestinians.
any way with his initiatives.
If Biden really wanted to do something
The Palestinian Arabs have been equally
for the Palestinians, he would not feed
persistent in demonstrating by word and
their latest tantrum. Instead, he should
deed that they have no desire whatsoever
point out to Abbas the simple historical
to discuss peace. They have obstinately
truth that the longer he waits to negotiate
refused to enter direct negotiations and
an agreement with Israel, the more Jews
repeatedly engaged in incitement, which
will be living in the areas he wants and the
most recently featured threats of provok-
less land he will get in the end.
ing a holy war.
Had President Jimmy Carter said this to
Meanwhile, Biden and the rest of the
P.A. leader Yasser Arafat 30 years ago when
administration have not uttered a word
12,000 Jews lived in the West Bank, the
of criticism. Had he at least remarked on
conflict might have been resolved. Now,
the Arab record when chastising Israel, he
nearly 300,000 Jews live in that same area.
might have blunted some of the damage
Whose side is time really on?
but, instead, he is leaving Israelis with a
It was nice that the vice president vis-
worse impression of the administration
ited Israel and his intentions were good;
but given Israeli insecurities about this
administration, Biden was a poor sub-
stitute for the president. The truth is the
political aspects of U.S.-Israel relations
are shaped by the prime minister and the
president and envoys and other underlings
simply don't matter.
Despite the tensions, Obama cannot yet
be compared to America's most anti-Israel
presidents — George H.W. Bush and Dwight
Eisenhower — but his administration is cer-
tainly the most tone deaf and naive.
Obama himself has to travel to
Jerusalem and speak directly to the Israeli
people and convince them by word and,
more important, by deed that he is indeed
their staunch ally. So long as suspicions
remain and the administration contin-
ues its one-sided public approach to the
conflict, it is only making the prospect of
diplomatic success more remote.
Without the conviction that America
has its back, Israel cannot afford the risks
required for peace.
Mitchell Bard, Ph.D., is executive director of
the nonprofit American Israeli Cooperative
Enterprise and director of the Jewish Virtual
Library.
Israel Advocacy
New York/JTA
T
he organized American Jewish
community and our non-Jewish
allies, with broad representation
from across political and religious lines, are
poised to launch a major initiative to coun-
ter the campaign to delegitimize Israel.
The sky is not falling. President Obama
and the U.S. Congress remain firmly com-
mitted to Israel's fundamental security,
and opinion polls consistently reflect
broad American public support for the
Jewish state. But there are clouds gathering
on the horizon that must not be ignored.
The delegitimization campaign — and
make no mistake, it is a global campaign
— has its roots in the international
NGO gathering that took place alongside
the 2001 U.N. conference on racism in
Durban, South Africa. With the second
intifada (more aptly described as "Arafat's
terror war") raging, these anti-Israel NGOs
decided to open up a second front to paint
Israel as a pariah/apartheid state deserv-
ing of political and economic isolation.
2004 resolution adopted by the
Through the years, the prin-
Presbyterian Church USA has
cipal weapons used by these
since been rescinded, but the
groups are the boycott of Israeli
issue continues to capture the
products, people and events;
imagination of Israel's detrac-
divestment from Israeli compa-
tors in that church and others.
nies and institutions, including
Israeli cultural events
Israel Bonds, as well as from
have been subject to boycott
certain foreign companies
attempts, such as the perfor-
doing business in Israel; and
mances of the Israeli ballet now
sanctions. This explains why
Martin J.
touring the United States, and
the campaign to delegitimize
Raffel
the Toronto Film Festival last
Israel often is referred to, inad-
Special
fall, which was dedicated to Tel
equately and misleadingly, sim-
Commentary
Aviv's 100th anniversary.
ply as the BDS movement.
Campuses have been particu-
There is no central address
lar targets, with "Israel Apartheid Week"
orchestrating all of the delegitimization
taking place the first two weeks in March.
activity. Rather, we see a loose network
The delegitimizers prey on those who lack
of NGOs across the globe, sometimes
coalescing around particular spheres, such basic knowledge about the complex nature
of Middle East politics — people who can
as the U.S. Campaign for the Academic
easily fall victim to their simplistic and
and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
often inaccurate narratives.
Mainline Protestant churches, universi-
In parallel to the NGOs, governments,
ties, municipalities and corporations have
especially operating through deeply
processed divestment initiatives, which
biased U.N. bodies such as the Geneva-
in virtually every case have failed to gain
based Human Rights Council, continue
traction. The divestment language in a
to promulgate material that fairly can be
described as delegitimizing long after
revocation of the 1975 resolution equating
Zionism with racism.
The Goldstone report, which grossly dis-
torts the reality of Israel's efforts to corn-
bat an amoral adversary in Gaza that uses
civilians as human shields — is the latest
in a long line of hostile actions emanating
from the council.
Accusations of war crimes and crimes
against humanity eagerly get picked up by
the delegitimization organizations and coali-
tions as valuable weapons in their arsenals.
Indeed, public international law has
increasingly been utilized as a rationale
for imposing political and economic sanc-
tions against Israel.
Reut, an Israel-based think tank, recent-
ly completed an analysis of the issue and
concluded that "while Israel's delegitimiz-
ers come from relatively marginal forces
in Europe, their effectiveness stems from
their ability to engage and mobilize others.
Advocacy on page 36
March 25 • 2010
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