Reported:
...Daniel Ben-Simon, a Knesset member who recently left the Labor Party told me. “We especially need that because Israeli policy is not just a tragedy, it’s almost criminal.”
He told Roger Cohen that and Cohen included in his op-ed piece this moring. And Cohen goes criminal himself, writing:
The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement building in the West Bank. This was, I hear, an agonizing decision for Obama in that it amounted to a veto of his own sentiments...Of course it’s Obama who’s facing an election next year where censure of Israel would cost him. [of course, it could be that to do so was morally and legally wrong in that the Jewish communities, no matter Obama's "illegitimate" label, are actually legal]
Obama, I was told, tried everything to get the Palestinians to withdraw the resolution...But Abbas, feeling vulnerable, demurred — and the U.S. veto ensued. [vulnerable? from who? from Hamas? then what's the sense in negotiationg with a 'moderate' if we only lower our defenses for the next extremist in line?]
That was a Palestinian mistake — a tactical thrill at the expense of strategic gain. The Palestinians are in urgent need of a coherent negotiating team. [do the Pals. ever get punished for their mistakes?]
And Cohen's suggestion:
Only an Obama gamble can break the logjam by September. He should go to Jerusalem in May and address the Knesset. He should spell out all the ways America will guarantee Israel’s security. He must coax Israel from the siege mentality that blinds it to the opportunities multiplying around it. He can spread the love.
Love? Oh, please. And Cohen, there rerally is a siege out there, from Iran all the way to Zion Square in Jerusalem.
Does Cohen ever get punished?
Will Ben-Simon?
^
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