Will Obama head off the threat of the Netanyahu/Lieberman coalition?

Uri Avnery has his doubts:

"Obama has not yet passed a real test on any issue. It is already clear that there is a marked difference between what he promised in the election campaign and what he is doing in practice. In several matters he is continuing the policies of George Bush with slight alterations. ... When Netanyahu mobilizes the full might of the pro-Israel lobby, will Obama surrender, like all preceding presidents?"

The issue is peace in Palestine, which Benjamin Netanyahu shows little interest in pursuing.  In partnership with Avigdor Lieberman, whom Avnery calls either a "an extreme nationalist racist" or "nothing but a cheat and a cynic", a just peace for Palestinian Arabs seems remote at best.

Some Israelis believe that the right-wing government, unimpeded by a viable left-wing opposition, will implode by first arousing the anger of the West (and American Jews) and  then by alienating some portion of its fragile coalition with any move to conciliate its world critics.  That's the view voiced by peace advocate Gideon Levy.

But American policy under Obama is key to that scenario playing out.  That's has to be what matters most to Israeli political leadership.  America provides the money, the muscle and the technology that enables Israel to continue its aggression against its domestic Arab enemies.  (The white phospherous bombs used in Gaza, according to Amnesty International, were American made.)

From my perspective --an Ameican leftist perspective-- it's too early to tell how Obama will react.  I'm willing to wait, to give the benefit of doubt to the new President.  As Avnery put it, "it is not certain at all" that Obama will put "irresistible pressure" on the Netanyahu/Lieberman government.

But we can always "hope that it happens."  And hope, you'll recall, was the theme of the Obama presidential campaign. 

Comments

[Harry Kershner]

Meanwhile, the level of worship is rising to ever more disturbing levels. No one is even talking about war crimes or 4th Amendment violations anymore (except for a few who haven't realized yet that Bush no longer rules). It's just about how our travel-agent-savior will soon be transporting us to the heavenly gates with his "pragmatism" and "post-partisan harmony".

Let's be honest: Obama will not change U.S.-Israel-Palestine (the Fateful Triangle) policy because the U.S. has never supported the liberation struggles of Third World people (except where it was directed against official enemies, e.g., Afghanistan anti-Soviet activity).

[Idler]

Harry, you're high on your sixties rhetoric. Let go of your "noble savage" fantasies (and condescension) and the world will look different.

[Harry Kershner]

Having been too high to respond, I'll take the time now (at a rare moment of sobriety) to condescend.

The world looks so different now that I've taken idler's racist vision to heart. (Those savages lack nobility, indeed.) And Obama's anti-Arab bigotry seems so much sweeter from the point of view of an apologist for crimes against humanity who sees U.S. mainstream media as hopelessly biased against Israel. (I'm not making this up.)