Shimon Peres Addresses AIPAC Conference
The Israeli president adopts Obama's message of "an outstretched arm" at Washington's annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.
But he came not to flatter Obama, but to adopt the American president’s mantra. Quoting from Obama’s inaugural address, Peres declared that Israel was in the business of “the outstretched arm.” He reiterated in bold tones that Israel offers peace “with all Arab nations and all Arab people.” And to those with a “clenched fist,” he declared: “Enough. Enough war. Enough destruction. Enough hatred.” He is in fact grasping Obama’s hand, daring the Palestinians and Arab states to come to the negotiating table.
But Peres is not naïve. And he spoke at length about the “dark cloud” of extremists hovering over the Middle East and the looming “nuclear threat.” He declared, “We shall not give up. We shall not surrender. We shall not lose our nerve.” Iran, he explained, has a great people and history. Iran used to “enrich the world, now they enrich uranium.” Iran is “not threatened by anybody” yet acquires missiles and promotes “divisions” by supporting Hezbollah and Hamas, he explained. The peace that Israel seeks, he argued, must be a “real peace” for all the children of the Middle East. As for the Palestinians, he said, “The Palestinian people have the right to govern themselves. We don’t want to be their masters.”
He then announced, “Today there is no difference between the American position and the Israeli position.” Both, he said, should pursue peace “as swiftly as possible.” He asked, “Why wait?” And with a nod to the Saudis for their 2002 peace proposal, he acknowledged that nation’s “profound change.” Then, with calls to visit Israel, a salute to the students in attendance, and a reminder that “time is always short, but the time is now,” he was done.
But what was he up to? After all, whom is Israel supposed to negotiate with? And what is to be done about that dark cloud over Israel? Well, that’s the rub.
As for the Palestinians, Peres is batting the ball into their court. What can they do and what can they negotiate? Peres, it seems, has decided to follow at least the rhetorical lead of Obama and declare the peace process open for business. Israel is not about to give away the store for nothing, of course. And it may be that the Palestinians are utterly incapable of forming a viable negotiating team. But that is for them to figure out. And perhaps baby steps in advance of grand bargains must come first.
In the meantime, the signal was clear. Israel won’t see its survival threatened. A nuclear-armed Iran is not conceivable to a nation that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. So the U.S. can talk and pursue sanctions against Tehran, but in the end Israel, as Peres said, will not “surrender” — or accept an Iran with nuclear weapons.
The hitch in all this may come if the Obama administration decides to pressure Israel to offer up concessions in the absence of a meaningful guarantee of peace. But that is all in the future. For today, the relationship between Israel and the U.S. is eternal. And Peres is not about to let the ties that bind the two friends fray.
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Jennifer Rubin is PJM's Washington, DC, editor. She also blogs at Commentary’s Contentions.
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18 Comments
1. Noga:I think Obama is indifferent to Israel’s survival. Mainstream media will not challenge that indifference. I’m not optimistic.
May 4, 2009 - 12:09 pm 2. AThinkingPerson:We will know TeleBama’s true feelings towards Israel when they finally are forced to take military steps against Iran and TeleBama is forced to take sides. It’s sad when we don’t know for sure which side he will take.
May 4, 2009 - 12:23 pm 3. DoubleTapper:We already know what Obama has in store for us.
Do you?
May 4, 2009 - 12:33 pm 4. David Thomson:“I am convinced he has the ability to turn a crisis into an opportunity.”
But is that good for Israel? There is a high probability that Barack Obama and the Israeli government are not on the same page. This is the same guy, after all, who threw his white grandmother under the bus. He’s obviously “got issues” with white people. Moreover, I’m convinced that in his heart of hearts—Obama believes that the Israelis are crapping on the generally darker skinned Palestinians.
May 4, 2009 - 1:37 pm 5. BPT (Australia):One word: Denial. Obama is trouble for Israel and the world. Just look at how Iran is acting up, and North Korea. But given that roughly 80 percent of Jews voted for The One, the Neville Chamberlain of our time, what can one expect? I just feel sorry for the 20 percent.
May 4, 2009 - 3:19 pm 6. MiamaMan:5. BPT (Australia):
Those 80% Jews are the liberal American type, many of them anti-Israeli to start with. Isn’t Noam Chomsky a Jew? About Finkelstein? Well?
But I agree Obama is trouble for Israel, and the US at large.
May 4, 2009 - 4:26 pm 7. Ellen K:I think Obama has little sympathy for Israel and is far more willing to sell them out for a publicly brokered peace than previous presidents. That is why it will become important that Israel align itself with other nations, such as India, which are or soon will be fighting against nations run by Islamists. The only way Team Obama will pay any attention to Israel’s plight is if it shores up political support. Otherwise, I hope they are well stocked and have kept their powder dry.
May 4, 2009 - 4:41 pm 8. Azores:Any nation, any country, can be sure of its survival only if it can defend himself. History registers many nations that disappeared. Where are the Caldeans, where are the old Egyptians, where are the Phoenicians? All of them overridden by stronger nations, sometimes its children sold as slaves. To count on the caprices of American voters for its survival is a weak prospect.
May 4, 2009 - 4:46 pm 9. Professor Guvinoff:Shimon Peres is a man of experience. He knows better than picking a fight unnecessarily. Sitting next to a hostile Erdogan a few weeks ago, he did not lose his nerve, and delivered an inspiring address after having been subjected to an odious verbal attack. We are lucky indeed to have men like this.
May 4, 2009 - 5:09 pm 10. David Ben-Ariel:Peres in Hebrew means vulture. How appropriate. Yitzhak Rabin referred to Shimon Peres in his autobiography as an “indefatigable subversive.” These facts remain even if some are swept away by emotions.
Shimon Peres’ collaboration with the Vatican to undermine Israeli sovereignty is proof positive he is not worthy of any adoration, but deserving of scorn and indictment for treason.
May 4, 2009 - 7:59 pm 11. PatriotUSA:Shimon Peres’ collaboration with the Vatican to undermine Israeli sovereignty is proof positive he is not worthy of any adoration, but deserving of scorn and indictment for treason.
Could not agree more and this dinosaur need to go the way of the rest of the dinosaurs, extinct. This man has never stood up for Israel, ever. He has trotted out the peace mantra garbage so many times and this time was no surprise at all. Vintage Peres and it sucks. His words will do nothing to help Israel and AIPAC is overrun with Israel hating Jews, the kind the mullah obamaham and the traitorous Jews in his cabinet just love.
Israel is facing being cut off from US aid and support unless it gives in 100% to a plan based on the 1967 borders. That is suicide for Israel.
Israel wants to talk “peace”, then talk all they want but let the other hand prepare for war with with islamofacism, all out war. Think the arabs will stop at the 1967 border deal with Israel? Think again and it ain’t going to happen. There is, and has never been any lasting peace treaty with islam. Why, it can only be a temporary truce or Hudna, no longer than 10 years. That is in the qur’an. Most Hudnas allow islam to wage jihad on those the form a Hudna with. Islamic history is rife with broken Hudnas and absent are any lasting peace treaties.
Peres declared, “I am convinced he has the ability to turn a crisis into an opportunity.” And offering advice to the young U.S. president he pronounced, “You are young enough to offer hope to the world. You are strong enough to bring it to life.”
The kind of “life” Obuma will bring Israel will only result in Israel’s death as we know it today. This administration is an expert at turning opportuinities into crisis, as we have witnessed here at home. Obuma is young enough all right, young enough to ignorant, arrogant, WEAK and operate from the lowest rungs of appeasement. Something that Peres know all too well. The sooner Israel blows Iran’s nuclear facilities off the map and into rubble, the better off they will be. The only thing that will stop islamofacism is a sound thrashing, over and over until said threat is totally eliminated. Israel has the capacity to do this, do they have the will and does Bibi have the moxi to stand up to Obuma and his racist cabinet of anti-semites, that is one question that will have to answered and soon!
May 5, 2009 - 12:07 am 12. Teleprompter Jesus:To paraphrase one of my friends across the aisle, f— the Jews; they’ll vote for me no matter what I do. Give me one good reason why I should give a rat’s posterior what happens to Israel, when the only people who support her are evangelical Republicans.
May 5, 2009 - 8:24 am 13. Ken Besig:Shimon Peres could easily be the most dangerous threat that Israel has ever faced. His behind the scenes machinations, especially his illegal and secret meetings with PLO leader Yassir Arafat which led to the Oslo Accords, also led to two massive and prolonged military assaults on Israel by the PLO terrorist army and the individual terrorist militias. The Israeli body count hit the thousands, and by the time it was over, the Palestinian body count was just as high, and the chances for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians were just about zero. Yet to this day, Shimon Peres has never apologized for this huge blunder, this massive mistake in judgement, and continues to promote peace plans which may be even more dangerous and deadly to Israel than Oslo was.
May 5, 2009 - 9:53 am 14. SAY NO TO BIG GOVERMENT:In any normal country, a demented and misguided politician like Peres would either be put on trial for his crimes or driven from the political scene altogether, but in the asylum called Israel, the man was appointed President.
Anyone foolish enough or stupid enough to pay attention to Peres cannot be a friend of Israel.
Show Obama, Reid and Pelosi the tea party protests were not “astroTurf” but they were the beginning of a massive movement against massive Government growth and the control that comes with it. Tell them to Empower Individual Americans to take responsibility for their own lives and for the individual to have control over the direction of our country Sign the petition for Individual Empowerment!!! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Indv1776/petition.html THE ONLY THIS WILL WORK IS IF YOU COPY AND SEND IT TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT YOU HAVE THE SAME OPINIONS AS YOU. ALSO COPY AND POST IT ON OTHER NEWS SITES, BLOGS, EMAIL IT TO ORGANIZATIONS ETC
May 5, 2009 - 1:40 pm 15. PatriotUSA:#12
As Israel goes, so will alot of the free world, whether you give a rat’s ass or not. I am NOT an evangelican Reublican. I happen to be an American Jew ho did not vote for the mullah obamaham, am VERY conservative, and if you have a problem with those of us who support Israel, that is YOUR problem. By the way, I would have no problem giving up my life in defense of this country to defend the constitution, freedom and liberty that we have, and so many take for granted.Even to defend the likes of you.
May 5, 2009 - 11:43 pm 16. WhyamInotsurprised?:#12 TPJ – Better to keep your trap shut and have people think you might be an idiot than to speak and remove all doubt.
Long Live Israel !!
May 6, 2009 - 3:44 am 17. RightwingHippyChick:It seems to me that Obama wants to be known in history as the one who solved the intractable ME conflict.
Well, one can only hope that vanity works were sanity has failed…
May 6, 2009 - 4:05 am 18. Spindok:To answer Teleprompter Jesus my own way:
TJ wrote :”To paraphrase one of my friends across the aisle, f— the Jews; they’ll vote for me no matter what I do. Give me one good reason why I should give a rat’s posterior what happens to Israel, when the only people who support her are evangelical Republicans.”
Really? Was Nixon an evangelical Republican? Truman? Kennedy? Clinton? Neither of the Bushes could possibly be construed as evangelical, but surely they were Republican and more or less religious believers in Christianity. The most evangelical president is my lifetime was Jimmy Carter…
Yet US policy on the ground, has changed very little since the founding of the State of Israel when Harry T. was the president.
I dont think you should give a rats ass, which is surely posterior, maybe caudal would be a better term, but whatever.
Let the rat’s ass-rejectors have their way. Nobody wants anything from you. Keep the rat asses away from you all you want.
I read Pat Buchanan too. Yep an easy line to push “why should I give a rats ass” I dont either when my check comes home but don’t think that is the end of my day. Pat never made that connection. He is just a liberal in conservative clothing.
Just dont think you are the only ones out there. You are pushing an agenda which has little to do with the long history of the complex relationship between Israel and the USA.
You want to change that? Vote on.
For a very long time now the US has continued to hold certain lines concerning Israel, which remains its only reliable ally in the middle east.
We also support Jordan, Egypt, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and whatever non-Hizbolla portion of Lebanon that is left.
Not to mention the other non-mentionables.
We prevented a wholesale slaughter of Bosnian Muslims with our arms, not the worthless EU/UN crap which did nothing until actual bombs were dropped. US pilots and soldiers died in that attempt which is thankfully holding now.
All in various ways and whole books can and have been written about each.
So while it might be a fun 15 minutes on the internet today what I want to know from you TJ, is really, truth time now, what do you see? what do you want? Can you measure up that against many such goals in light of real reality or are you asking for a miracle?
Spindok
May 7, 2009 - 12:52 pm