By Simon Fischler
If you care about Israel and want to get to the core facts of what Israel faces in its attempts to forge a lasting peace with the Palestinians, do not read Thomas Friedman.
The Times political columnist is totally devoid of any new or positive thought when it comes to Israel.
When it comes to writing about the Middle East’s only democracy, his arrogance and abusiveness are appalling. Exhibit A is his Sunday opinion piece in what once was known as “the newspaper of record” but now is the journal of agenda.
And a pathetic one at that.
This is not just about Friedman, it is about all those like him who are attempting at all costs to delegitimize Israel and especially the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
This is very important for all you Americans, especially those who supported President Barack Obama: If you are getting your information from Friedman and those of his ilk, then you have no concept of what Israel or her government is or what she stands for.
According to Friedman, with Obama’s re-election Israel is truly alone now.
Really.
Only someone with total prejudice – Friedman – or lacking any understanding of Israel and her history could write something as mis-informed as Friedman’s column.
Furthermore, only a media outlet with no concern about the truth could print it. But that’s what one gets when you pay for the New York Times today.
Not that Friedman or his Times editorialists should care, but Israel has always been alone. NO ONE has ever come to our aid, just as no one came to the aid of the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust!
Israel has handled this fact just fine throughout its history!
In most cases American Governments have done more to prevent Israel from achieving lasting peace than in aiding it. We see it right now with Obama holding Israel back from a full-scale attack against rocket-spewing Hamas in Gaza.
Thanks to numerous American governments meddling in Israeli politics and misguided columnists such as Friedman, Israel has always been denied its ability to deliver the crushing, military blow to the Arab world that would finally force it to accept Israel as a fact!
The Yom Kippur War offers a good example, but you won’t hear about that from Friedman.
The Israeli government led by Golda Meir was pressured by the Nixon regime not to carry out a pre-emptive strike against both Syria and Egypt,.
This despite the fact that intelligence clearly revealed an attack against Israel was imminent! The fatal promise from Nixon went like this: once the Arabs had made some gains Israel would have free rein to push them back!
As it happened Israel at first suffered great casualties because of the Nixon request. Fortunately by the end of the war Israel had finally gained the upper hand.
The IDF had broken through to the Western side of the Suez Canal and had encircled the Egyptian Third Army and was ready to destroy it literally, a blow that would have crippled the Egyptian Army for years.
In the Golan Heights -- also after serious casualties and set backs -- the IDF managed to hold off 2500 Syrian tanks and APC’s. After going on the offensive the IDF broke through the Quneitra Valley and was in artillery range of Damascus. Again ready to deal Syria a crushing blow.
In both cases Nixon went back on his word and denied Israel the ability to finish off her enemies, all because the Nixon regime wanted to place Egypt especially and possibly Syria in the American corner.
You see, Nixon had already been dealing with Sadat and knew he could draw Egypt to the American side thereby having the largest Arab state in his corner.
Today Thomas Friedman is still selling the same bag of damaged goods.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a ten month settlement freeze, extorted out of him by the duplicitous Obama!
How did Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas respond? By not coming to the negotiating table for nine and half months! Then when he did come he came with preconditions and more demands!
What’s more, Bibi was the first Israeli Prime Minister to agree to a settlement freeze.
What Friedman won’t tell you is that Netanyahu is the first Prime Minister from the Likud (supposedly a right wing political party) and only the second Israeli Prime Minster after Ariel Sharon who has accepted and recognized there will be a Palestinian State.
Neither Mahmoud Abbas, Saeb Erekat or any of the other Palestinian Authority big shots (all supposed moderates) are willing to recognize Israel as the Jewish Nation State or relinquish the made up Right of Return.
It has become abundantly clear that the Palestinians still have no interest in peace. Of course for Uncle Tom this is an unacceptable scenario because it runs contrary to everything HE HAS PREDICTED!
If anything Friedman predictions betray his naivete. The man is simply ignorant about Israeli-Arab politics if not the Middle East as a whole.
It was Friedman who said Arafat would sign a peace treaty.Yeah, right. Where? In Heaven.
And, no surprise, it was delusional Friedman – this time from Egypt -- who lauded the Arab Spring. Winter would be more like it.
Thomas Friedman claims that President Barack Obama is going to be too busy to wrestle with Bibi!
Wise up, Mister Times Know It All, Israel is too busy dealing with her own problems to play nice with a hostile Obama regime.
Israel is too busy dealing with 100 rockets on a daily basis being shot into its territory from Gaza.
Israel is too busy dealing with mortars being shot into her territory from the Golan Heights on an almost daily basis from Syria.
Israel is too busy dealing with the Syrian quagmire that has flared on her border and been intensified with Jihadists thanks to the complete failure of American foreign policy initiative to handle it.
Israel is too busy preparing for the next war with Hezbollah that will eventually start on her Northern Border.
Israel is too busy dealing with a hostile regime in Egypt (one encouraged by President Obama) that is allowing Hamas to shoot rockets into Israel
The time has come for the likes of Obama and Friedman to ask themselves a realistic question: Can you afford to ignore – and continually to challenge -- the only true ally America has in the Middle East; especially with enemies emerging in Arab/Muslim countries?
The answer should be an absolute NO.
Friedman and Obama had better hope that Israel does not decide it is too busy to be of assistance to the United States of America!
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