I FeedbackFrom Donna Zeff:
I agree with everything you said, but disagree on the fundamental point.
The US needs to realize that the US and Israel DO have parallel national interests. It is actually NOT in the US national interest to court the very states that it should be shunning, and whose support of terrorism it should be dismantling. Whatever is good for Israel in this regard is ALSO good for the US. There should be no hesitation on the part of the US to let Israel completely dismember Palestinian terrorist organizations. The coalition Bush formed is worse than stupid, it is dangerous.
The point of Sharon's "Czech" remarks is that just as the delivering over of the weaker power to appease was a disaster for Czechoslovakia, it was so much more than that, it was a disaster for the entire world.
Lets stop apologizing and start doing what's good for us, and realizing and telling the world that its good for them, too.
From Jack Hammond:
"Why does the Bush administration expect Israeli national interest to be subservient to that of the United States?"
The answer is the same that forced the Dutch to leave what is now Indonesia in 1949 after a successful military campagin reclaim the most important island of Java and the French and the UK to evacuate Suez in 1956. It the threat of massive cut or total elimination of US financial aid (although I have a feeling you already knew the answer to your question). It is like having a relative holding the mortgage on a house of which payments are forgiven from time to time. And Israeli policy will always be in this situation as long as it is addicted to this financial aid.
II A response
While I would agree with the veracity of Donna Zeff's submission, I was writing from a perspective that is meant to satisfy even those (which presumably include many US policymakers) who do not see US and Israeli policy as convergent in the current situation.
Concerning Frank Hammond's reply, my point to Dr. Kurtzer was that Israel may finally be willing to pay the price of kicking its "addiction" to US financial aid. While no one wants to be stuck paying what they thought was a free mortgage, ocassionaly the price of the "free" mortgage becomes too high.
Finally, I would like to thank Rabbi Shlomo Crandall for submitting the letter (ideas 25) to Jewishindy.com.
(The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of Tzemach Dovid)
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