[Marxism] Israeli cabinet member urges sanctions on US

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

PELED PROPOSES ISRAELI SANCTIONS ON U.S.
By Gil Hoffman and Hilary Leila Krieger

Jerusalem Post
June 9, 2009

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371046569&pagename=JPost/JPAr
ticle/ShowFull

In a sign of growing concern in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's
government over U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East policies,
Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled proposed Israeli sanctions on the
U.S. in a letter to cabinet ministers on Sunday.

In the 11-page letter, obtained by the *Jerusalem Post* from a minister on
Monday, Peled recommends steps Israel can take to compensate for the shift
in American policy, which he believes has become hostile to Israel.

"Obama's ascendance represents a turning point in America's approach to
the region, especially to Israel," he wrote in the letter. "The new
administration believes that in order to fight terror, guarantee
stability, and withdraw from Iraq, a new diplomatic slant is needed
involving drastic steps to pacify the Muslim world and the adoption of a
more balanced approach to Israel, including intensive pressure to stop
building in settlements, remove outposts, and advance the formation of a
Palestinian state."

Peled added that faced with an American government with an activist agenda
that does not mesh with Israel's, traditional reactions are no longer
relevant. He said he expected that Obama would eventually realize that
appeasement and dialogue with countries that support terror would not have
positive results.

But in the interim, the minister suggests reconsidering military and
civilian purchases from the U.S., selling sensitive equipment that the
Washington opposes distributing internationally, and allowing other
countries that compete with the U.S. to get involved with the peace
process and be given a foothold for their military forces and intelligence
agencies.

Peled said that shifting military acquisition to America's competition
would make Israel less dependent on the U.S. For instance, he suggested
buying planes from the France-based Airbus firm instead of the American
Boeing.

In what may be his most controversial suggestion, Peled recommends
intervening in American congressional races to weaken Obama and asking
American Jewish donors not to contribute to Democratic congressional
candidates. He predicted that this would result in Democratic candidates
pressuring Obama to become more pro-Israel.

Peled called for the formation of a new body intended to influence
American public opinion. The groups he suggests courting include Hispanic
Americans and labor unions in industries that benefit from Israeli
military acquisitions.

A former OC Northern Command, Peled is considered part of the left flank
of the Likud that includes ministers Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan. 
Unlike Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, he does not have a history of
openly criticizing American policies and unlike Finance Minister Yuval
Steinitz, he does not have personal ties to the Republican Party.

Peled told the *Post* on Monday that he still hoped common ground could be
found with the Obama administration, but just in case that did not happen,
Israel must be ready.

"We must make every effort to maintain our relationship with the U.S. and
I respect Obama, but Israel has its own interests and we have to know what
our alternatives are," Peled said. "I don't think what I suggest is
vengeful. I just think that even a superpower must behave like a
partner."

Peled personally gave the letter to Netanyahu at Sunday's cabinet meeting
and urged him to take it seriously. But a source close to the prime
minister reacted to it with scorn and stressed that none of Peled's
suggestions would be implemented.

"The government's goal is to cooperate with the U.S.," an official in the
Prime Minister's Office said. "Jerusalem and Washington have a special
relationship and we expect that relationship to continue to be strong,
intimate and cooperative."

Shoshana Bryen, the senior director for security policy at the Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington, said she could
understand Peled's perspective but worried about its consequences.

"If what he's doing is expressing the frustration that after being a good
friend and ally, as Israel has been, he feels like Israel is being stepped
on, then he's right," she said, adding that it was appropriate to make
America aware of those feelings.

But she warned that such expressions could "take on a life of their own,"
and that some of Peled's policy prescriptions could be less than helpful
for the Jewish state.

For instance, while Bryen said it made sense for Israel to diversify its
military sales partners in any case, relationships with European and
Russian companies and countries were likely to be subject to some of the
same issues.

In addition, she noted, America might not be pleased.

"If you take on a big country when you're a small country, you have to be
very, very cognizant of the ways a big country can respond," she said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on Peled's letter.

But Democratic political activists in Washington dismissed out of hand
Peled's suggestions, saying that such an approach would have little chance
of influencing Congress's posture on Israel.

"It shows Yossi Peled is terribly uninformed about U.S. politics," said
National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira Forman. "He
doesn't understand the politics of the American Jewish community. He
doesn't understand the politics of the Democratic party."

Forman argued that Republicans had long tried to use the issue of Israel
to peel Jews away from the Democratic Party with limited success, as the
constituency continued to vote overwhelmingly Democrat.

He predicted that such efforts, if attempted, would neither shift
congressional support away from Obama nor boomerang to hurt Israel's
backing on Capitol Hill.

"Any such efforts would be so quixotic, would be so insignificant, would
be so non-workable that I don't think it would have an impact either way,"
he said.

But other Jewish leaders were concerned that Peled's recommendations might
create negative repercussions.

"Just as it is inadvisable and inappropriate for the United States
government to interfere in the domestic political affairs of the State of
Israel, it is totally wrong-headed and dangerous for the Government of
Israel to attempt to inject itself into American electoral politics," said
William Daroff, director of the United Jewish Communities' Washington
office.

"I have no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu did not know in advance
about this proposal, and that he would reject it as outlandish."






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