[Peptobismol]

Israel’s new PM, Benjamin Netanyahu will no doubt be subject to enormous pressure from the Obama administration in the coming months and years.
In a nutshell, the Obama administration will gladly render Israel defenseless against Muslim terrorism, which the Obama administration barely believes that Israel has the right to fight in the first place. Obama would be more than thrilled to see a nuclear Iran threatening Israel on one side, an armed and trained Hezbullah on Israel’s other side, and Hamas, armed to the hilt with missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv on the other side. Obama has no problem with this arrangement. In fact, all of Obama’s foreign policy so far has been geared towards creating exactly this scenario.

So here’s some advice for Netanyahu in dealing with pressure from Obama:

1. Remember that Obama is hated by about half of all Americans, and by a large majority of the Americans who actually pay tax. Obama’s policies do not represent the wishes of the American taxpayer, and he is a temporary nuisance whose primary goal is to transfer money from hard-working Americans to the welfare class – not to get mired in foreign policy. Turning down Obama is not a snub to America. It’s just a polite rejection of Obama’s insane policies, which are widely viewed as damaging to America and to the world. Along those lines, make sure to stop by our Christian friends throughout the U.S. They are Israel's natural allies and should be honored for their efforts.

2. Obama is a teleprompter politician who is purely a creature of his speech-writers. Therefore, he will be content with hearing flowery speeches in return, with no concrete action needed. Netanyahu is a gifted speaker already, and just needs to integrate certain catch-phrases, like equal rights, joint prosperity, innovation, cooperation, and freedom. Netanyahu should take the opportunity to stand up and make yet another historic call to the Muslim world for a just and lasting peace. These are all Israel values anyway. Nothing controversial, like fighting Muslim terror or confronting Muslim aggression need to be discussed with Obama. Those are matters that are better handled by competent decision-makers, not by Obama.

3. Beyond the required speeches for superficial Obama, Netanyahu should focus purely on Israel’s interests, like getting rid of Arab enemies, expanding Israel’s settlements, and achieving economic success.

4. Decline foreign aid, and demand military and business cooperation that does not put Israel further into financial or political debt to the U.S. As tempting as it may be, it’s kind of like the TARP money – Obama’s radical leftists are now running the companies who took the TARP money. The radical Leftists in Obama’s administration would love to run Israel, as well – right into the ground. Foreign aid? No thanks. Joint business and military cooperation? Yes.

Anyone have more advice for Netanyahu?

[Paul Bunyan]

What, exactly, has the Obama administration done to advance the scenarios described above?

Re: Iran: Obama announced today the policy that we knew all along, which is that he decided that Iran has the right to posses nuclear technology. This is true even though he knows very well that Iran is developing it in ways that are only applicable to nuclear weapons, and that Iran has tested long-range missiles with nuclear weapon capability. But today, Obama personally gave Iran the green light to proceed with its nuclear program.

Re: Hezbullah: Obama has opened talks with Syria, which is directly supplying Hezbullah with weapons, and he continues to supply Lebanon with American weapons, even though the Lebanese army is comprised of Hezbullah fighters, and even though Hezbullah is part of the Lebanese government and uses American aid to arm and finance its terrorists.

Re: Hamas: Contrary to the US agreement with Israel, the US is not acting to block weapons supply to Hamas. Also, Obama has insisted that the Palestinian be given a state, without any preconditions that Hamas stop firing rockets into Israeli towns. Obama is basically rewarding Hamas for killing Jews.

At the same time, Obama has refused to meet with the Israeli chief of staff last week, a snub that is unprecedented in US-Israeli relations.

Let me ask you, Djinn (or anyone else), what concrete action -- not just words -- has Obama taken to fight Iran, Hezbullah, or Hamas, or to work with Israel to assure Israel's security?

[TorryJens]

Some points I have singled out from yours Newsguy which I particularly agree with. I am concerned that Mr Lieberman is opposed to the peace process and that is a worry. I think that Netanyahu should finally agree with Ariel Sharon and take up where our own Winston Churchill left off.

My hope is that Netanyahu does not follow in the footsteps of Ariel Sharon, based on the disastrous results of Sharon's expulsion off Jewish families from Gaza and allowing Hamas to use formerly Jewish farmland and communities as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Israel.

Lieberman is stating the obvious, which is that he will follow the "Road Map" plan, which requires the Palestinians to stop terrorism before Israel will give up any more land. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

[S.T.D.]

My advice to Bibi would be this, The Arabs have never wanted to meet Israel half way, they are like kindergarten children, alway yelling mine mine mine, and I want I want I want and waa waa waa. I say it is time for Israel to ignore this and take what is theirs. Tell the world there is only going to be a Palastinian state if it is created from the vast amount of land already in the hands of the Arabs not from the tiny amount of land that is Israel's.
Second, if there is anymore assaults from the Gaza, I would take it back by force. Then tell the world that it was given to the Arabs to use for peaceful means and we voiced our concern that it would be used for terror. With promises that it would never be used for terror being broken and the fact that it is being used for terror we have taken it back.
Third, I would put up all the road blocks that were taken down and even more of them would be installed. Any terrorist caught would be put to death on the spot, publicly.
Any area where a rocket was launched would be pumeled by an air strike.

Israel is being slandered for protecting itself in the utmost of humanitarian ways. No matter what they do they are critisised and badmouthed. I say that if you are going to be blamed anyway, then take the bull by the horns and do something that makes a difference.
Make it hurt and hurt bad to even think of assaulting any land, property or people of Israel. Your neighbours hate ya anyway. Violence is the only language they know.

Toadstool, I agree with you that we should reoccupy Gaza, but who promised that the Gaza Strip "would never be used for terror" if Israel withdrew? As far as I knew, that was a unilateral move on the part of Sharon and co., with no prior agreement from our "friends" in the PA. Also, Hezbollah has definately never agreed to end terrorism. It is their reason d'être.

[Slonopotam845]

Taking Gaza back doesn't make it any more manageable. There's still a million Gazans there.

[brraverishhh]

Taking Gaza back doesn't make it any more manageable. There's still a million Gazans there.

I know many here disagree, but I think it is the only way to end the rocket and mortar attacks.

[S.T.D.]

As horrible as they are, rockets and mortars are not a strategic threat to Israel. They are a political threat to whomever is in charge of the government.

[S.T.D.]

As horrible as they are, rockets and mortars are not a strategic threat to Israel. They are a political threat to whomever is in charge of the government.

You might think differently if you lived in Sderot or Ashkelon. These attacks are intolerable in my opinion. The fact that they don't threaten the existence of Israel doesn't mean they should be allowed to continue.

[TorryJens]

Yes of course I would think differently. If I lived in Compton with Gangbangers I'd want them all dead too. The problem is, as opposed to what?

[Paul Bunyan]

In fact:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

Statistically, fewer Arabs die when they are managed by Israel than when they are managed by one another.

[Slonopotam845]

In fact:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

Statistically, fewer Arabs die when they are managed by Israel than when they are managed by one another.

That to me is an argument in favor of reoccupying Gaza.

[Lillie_Steins]

Yeah except the problem is, they become your problem. We don't want them to be anyone's problem but their own. This week our friends in Afghanistan passed a law legalizing marital rape. If that's how they want to run their lives, great. If Gazans want to hack each other up in the name of freedom and dignity then that's great too. It's not logical it's the way it is.