Uri Avnery's Doomsday weapon (with remarks)

[CANAAN51USA - Alfred De Grazia]

Uri Avnery's Doomsday weapon (with remarks)

Uri Avnery's essay in Ha'aretz (Israel) of March 20, 2010, entitled
"The Doomsday Weapon" (here reprinted with qualifying remarks in
italics by Al de Grazia)



IT IS already a commonplace to say that people who don't learn from
history are condemned to repeat their mistakes.

Some 1942 years ago, the Jews in the province called Palaestina
launched a revolt against the Roman Empire. In retrospect, this looks
like an act of madness. Palestine was a small and insignificant part
of the world-wide empire which had just won a crushing victory against
the rival power – the Parthian Empire (Persia) – and put down a major
rebellion in Britain. What chances could the Jewish revolt have?

God knows what was going on in the mind of the "Zealots". They
eliminated the moderate leaders, who warned against provoking the
empire, and gained sway over the Jewish population of the country.
They relied on God. Perhaps they also relied on the Jews in Rome and
believed that their influence over the Senate would restrain the
Emperor, Nero. (As in America?) Perhaps they had heard that Nero was
weak and about to fall.(As could be believed about Obama?) We know how
it ended: after three years, the rebels were crushed, Jerusalem fell
and the temple was burned down. The last of the Zealots committed
suicide in Masada.

The Zionists did indeed try to learn from history. They acted in a
rational way, did not provoke the great powers, endeavored in every
situation to attain what was possible. They accepted compromises, and
every compromise served them as a basis for the next surge forward.
They cleverly utilized the radical stance of their adversaries and
gained the sympathy of the whole world. (A dubious view: the early
Zionists were romantic chauvinists, who, but for the Holocaust, would
have settled nicely an increasing number of Jews in Palestine and
other Arab regions around. They would pester the UN, as would the
Arabs and Christians. The British paled at the costs and exited. The
Holocaust obliterated every moral obligation of intercultural conduct,
putting the Jews in a highly respected position, far removed from
pariahs. And mobilized significant violent forces.)

But since the beginning of the occupation, or, rather, the last years
of the War, their minds have become clouded. The cult of the Zealots
and Masada has become dominant. Divine promises once again start to
play a role in public discourse. Large parts of the public are
following the new zealots.

The next phase is also repeating itself: the leaders of Israel are
starting a rebellion against the new Rome.


WHAT BEGAN as an insult to the Vice President of the United States is
developing into something far bigger. The mouse has given birth to an
elephant.

Lately, the ultra-right government in Jerusalem has started to treat
President Barack Obama with thinly veiled contempt. (But are the
Israelis capable of producing on the spot any other kind of
government, certainly not the vaunted lonely democracy?) The fears
that arose in Jerusalem at the beginning of his term have dissipated.
Obama looks to them like a paper black panther. He gave up his demand
for a real settlement freeze. Every time he was spat on, he remarked
that it was raining.

Yet now, ostensibly quite suddenly, the measure is full. Obama, his
Vice President and his senior assistants condemn the Netanyahu
government with growing severity. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
has submitted an ultimatum: Netanyahu must stop all settlement
activity, East Jerusalem included; he must agree to negotiate about
all core problems of the conflict, including East Jerusalem, and more.
(Yet at the same time she orated to the IMRA convention a politically
impossible set of extreme
pro-Israeli platitudes.

The surprise was complete . Obama, it seems,(or does it really seem?)
has crossed the Rubicon, much as the Egyptian army had crossed the
Suez Canal in 1973. Netanyahu gave the order to mobilize all the
reserves in America and to move forward all the diplomatic tanks. All
Jewish organizations in the US were commanded to join the campaign.
AIPAC blew the shofar and ordered its soldiers, the Senators and
Congressmen, to storm the White House.

It seems that the decisive battle has been joined. The Israeli leaders
were certain that Obama would be defeated.

And then an unusual noise was heard: the sound of the doomsday weapon.


THE MAN who decided to activate it was a foe of a new kind.

(Now here it appears that Uri is calling, as did the French for a
General De Gaulle to end the Algerian War. Is there conceivably a kind
of coup d'etat in the offing? Is this to be the "Doomsday Weapon"
against Israel?)

David Petraeus is the most popular officer of the United States army.
The four-star general, son of a Dutch sea captain who went to America
when his country was overrun by the Nazis, stood out from early
childhood. In West Point he was a "distinguished cadet", in Army
Command and General Staff College he was No. 1. As a combat commander,
he reaped plaudits. He wrote his doctoral thesis (on the lessons of
Vietnam) at Princeton and served as an assistant professor for
international relations in the US Military Academy.

He made his mark in Iraq, when he commanded the forces in Mosul, the
most problematical city in the country. He concluded that in order to
vanquish the enemies of the US he must win over the hearts of the
civilian population, acquire local allies and spend more money than
ammunition. The locals called him King David. His success was
considered so outstanding that his methods were adopted as the
official doctrine of the American army.

His star rose rapidly. He was appointed commander of the coalition
forces in Iraq and soon became the chief of the Central Command of the
US army, which covers the whole Middle East , except Israel and
Palestine (which "belong" to the American command in Europe).

When such a person raises his voice, the American people listen. As a
respected military thinker, he has no rivals.


THIS WEEK, Petraeus conveyed an unequivocal message: after reviewing
the problems in his AOR (Area Of Responsibility) – which includes,
among others, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Yemen – he turned
to what he called the "root causes of instability" in the region. The
list was topped by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (We have been
saying so since September 11.)

In his report to the Armed Services Committee he stated: "The enduring
hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct
challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR…The
conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S.
favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits
the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and
peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in
the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit
that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence
in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas."

Not content with that, Petraeus sent his officers to present his
conclusions to the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

In other words: Israeli-Palestinian peace is not a private matter
between the two parties, but a supreme national interest of the USA.
That means that the US must give up its one-sided support for the
Israeli government and impose the two-state solution. (NO, the Canaan
Solution is uniquely superior.)

The argument as such is not new. Several experts have said more or
less the same in the past. (Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, I
wrote in a similar vein and prophesied that the US would change its
policy. It did not happen then.) But now this is being stated in an
official document written by the responsible American commander.

The Netanyahu government immediately went into damage-limitation mode.
Its spokespersons declared that Petraeus represents a narrow military
approach, that he doesn't understand political matters, that his
reasoning is faulty. But it is not this that made people in Jerusalem
break out into cold sweat.


AS IS well known, the pro-Israel lobby dominates the American
political system without limits – almost. Every American politician
and senior official is mortally afraid of it. The slightest deviation
from the strict AIPAC line is tantamount to political suicide.

But in the armor of this political Goliath there is a chink. Like
Achilles' heel, the immense might of the pro-Israel lobby has a
vulnerable point that, when touched, can neutralize its power.

It was illustrated by the Jonathan Pollard affair. This American-
Jewish employee of a sensitive intelligence agency spied for Israel.
Israelis consider him a national hero, a Jew who did his duty to his
people. But for the US intelligence community, he is a traitor who
endangered the lives of many American agents. Not satisfied with a
routine penalty, it induced the court to impose a life sentence. Since
then, all American presidents have refused the requests of successive
Israeli governments to commute the sentence. No president dared to
confront his intelligence chiefs in this matter.

But the most significant side of this affair is reminiscent of the
famous words of Sherlock Holmes about the dogs that did not bark.
AIPAC did not bark. The entire American Jewish community fell silent.
Almost nobody raised their voice for poor Pollard.

Why? Because most American Jews are ready to do anything – just
anything – for the government of Israel. With one exception: they will
not do anything that appears to hurt the security of the United
States. When the flag of security is hoisted, the Jews, like all
Americans, snap to attention and salute. The Damocles sword of
suspicion of disloyalty hangs above their heads. For them, this is the
ultimate nightmare: to be accused of putting the security of Israel
ahead of the security of the US. Therefore it is important for them to
repeat endlessly the mantra that the interests of Israel and the US
are identical. (Also very important that the 500 Congressman also
think thusly and therefore can swing around by 360-degrees in a short
weekend.)

And now comes the most important general of the US Army and says that
this is not so. The policy of the present Israeli government is
endangering the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FOR NOW, this is being said only as a side remark, in a military
document that has not been widely aired. But the sword has been drawn
from its scabbard – and American Jews have started to tremble at the
distant rumble of an approaching earthquake.

This week, Netanyahu's brother-in-law has used our own doomsday
weapon. He declared that Obama is an "anti-Semite". The official
newspaper of the Shas party has asserted that Obama is really a
Muslim. They represent the radical right and its allies, who argue in
speech and in writing that "Hussein" Obama is a Jew-hating black who
must be beaten in the coming congressional elections and in the next
presidential ones.

(Yet an important poll in Israel published yesterday shows that the
Israeli public is far from convinced by these insinuations: the vast
majority believes that Obama's treatment of Israel is fair. Indeed,
Obama got higher marks than Netanyahu.).

If Obama decides to fight back and activate his doomsday weapon – the
accusation that Israel puts the lives of American servicemen at risk –
this would have catastrophic consequences for Israel. (This major
switch can capture in one week both popular and congressional opinion.
If it happens, the Canaan State 51 solution will become persuasive,
and actually be imperative.)

For the time being, this is only a shot across the bow – a warning
shot fired by a warship in order to induce another vessel to follow
its instructions. The warning is clear. Even if the present crisis is
somehow damped down, it will inevitably flare up again and again as
long as the present coalition in Israel stays in power.

When the movie "Hurt Locker" won its awards, the entire American
public was united in its concern about the lives of its soldiers in
the Middle East. If this public becomes convinced that Israel is
sticking a knife in their back, it will be a disaster for Netanyahu.
And not just for him.



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ALFRED DE GRAZIA