Israel lobby presses Congress to soften Obama's tough stance on Netanyahu

[Violet_Crumble]

Israel lobby presses Congress to soften Obama's tough stance on Netanyahu

America's main pro-Israel lobby group is mobilising members of Congress to pressure the White House over its bitter public confrontation with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

The move, by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), appears aimed at exploiting differences in the Obama administration as it decides how to use the crisis around settlement building in Jerusalem to press Israel towards concessions to kickstart peace negotiations.

Aipac has persuaded more than three-quarters of the members of the US House of Representatives to sign a letter calling for an end to public criticism of Israel and urging the US to "reinforce" its relationship with the Jewish state.

The open letter, which has been circulating among members of Congress for the last week, says that while it is recognised that there will be differences between the two countries, they should be kept behind closed doors. "Our view is that such differences are best resolved quietly, in trust and confidence," it says.

The public differences, and revelations of Obama's private snubs of Netanyahu at the White House last week, have proved embarrassing to the Israeli leader at home, where he has been accused of undermining Israel's most important relationship.

Signatories to Aipac's letter include Steny Hoyer, the Democrat majority leader, and Eric Cantor, the Republican whip. The wording is similar to an email Aipac sent out during Netanyahu's visit, describing Obama's criticisms of the Israeli government as "a matter of serious concern" and calling on the US administration "to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish state".

But while Aipac has for years influenced US policy on Israel, by targeting members of Congress who criticise the Jewish state, it may no longer have the same impact.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/30/us-israel-lobby-pressure-obama

[Chulanowa]

1. AIPAC: American public has no right to know about US / Israel relations

Unless said relations are shiny and good.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. That's about the size of it n/t

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. This is probably the single greatest threat to peace.

The only possibility for a peace settlement in the ME is US pressure on Israel. Obama looks like there's a chance - although not a big one - that he may be the first US president willing to provide that. Pressure on Congress to pressure him not to is the thing most likely to stop him. This is very bad news indeed.

[Jefferson23]

4. "resolved quietly", yea, lets ask Obama to maintain the status quo.

Then Petreaus can send him another report in a year's time that will indicate an even greater threat to the U.S. than what has already been made clear.

More Americans need to be aware of the dire consequences that will come if Obama is persuaded by this group of self serving assholes.

Shame on each of those who signed the letter too.

[oberliner]

5. General Says He Never Made Those Statements on Israel

Army General David Petraeus, the commander of Central Command, says comments attributed to him on the Foreign Policy blog on March 13th—that “Israeli intransigence…was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region”—were simply inaccurate.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/petraeus-pushes-back-statements-on-israel-were-false-.html

[Jefferson23]

6. I posted that story days ago.

Maybe you can show me where he changed one word of the report. Or where Vice President Biden took back what
he said to Bibi about it.

[oberliner]

7. Have you read the CENTCOM report?

Isn't it possible that some elements of the report were taken out of context? That a full reading of it might give a different impression from what was reporting in some places in the media. Petraeus himself seems to think so.

Are there any actual on-the-record statements from Biden to Netanyahu for him to take back?

[Jefferson23]

8. Are you doubting what Biden said? And a full reading of the

report, which has not been altered, is the whole point, isn't it? It is not what I think about it, it is what Obama
understands it to represent. If anyone believes the report is in any way insignificant, and has not been
the center of what has moved Obama on this issue, we strongly disagree. It's not as if this conflict has not been referenced
before, see 9/11 commission report. But now the warnings are coming from our top commander, that is a huge difference.

Petraeus's statements within the report have not changed, not one word. If Obama is persuaded to maintain the status quo
as AIPAC suggests, what do you think an updated report from Petraeus will read like a year from now? You think Israel can be trusted
to not wage another version of OCL?? I don't believe Obama is willing to take that chance.

AIPAC is all about Israel first, and that has been evident for many years, and has never been more obvious about it than they are right now.

[oberliner]

9. I'm not exactly sure what remark from Biden you are referencing here

Can you point me to the specific comment?

[Jefferson23]

10. Are you playing here?

The information reported was that Biden told Bibi, People who heard what Biden said were stunned. "This is starting to get dangerous for us," Biden castigated his interlocutors. "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace."



There was no retraction from the White House, but what did surface 5 days later, was a WH official stating, "it was absolutely not accurate."

So why didn't they state what Biden did say, if it was not accurate, and exactly what was inaccurate? Pretty odd response imo.

The Petraeus report is not going away.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/biden-to-israelis-you-are_b_495142.html

[oberliner]

11. Doesn't that seem kinda fishy to you?

In any case, we can only speculate about what is going on behind the scenes.

I think these various news sources put out as much BS as factual info with their unnamed sources.

[Jefferson23]

12. The Petraeus report is not fishy, you can count on that.

[IndianaGreen]

13. The Israel Lobby already owns Congress

They better get their money's worth out of those corporate whores on Capitol Hill.