Word: israelism
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High-Level Security In your article "Casualty of War," you complain that "In Pakistan's case, sections of the media are reinforcing the nation's paranoia," [June 1]. But you don't need to go to Pakistan. There was another example in the same edition, in "Postcard: Ramallah." Israel was forced to build the wall to try and prevent what is happening in Pakistan and Iraq, where almost daily innocent people are killed. Walls in other countries are also ugly - but they protect people. Carlos Blatt, TEL AVIV...
American Presidents have opposed Israeli settlements in the West Bank since Israel conquered it in 1967. But in practice, they've mostly turned a blind eye. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush showed why when he tried to condition loan guarantees to Israel on a halt to settlement growth and stirred up a nasty political hornet's nest in the process. He won only 11% of the Jewish vote the following year. (See pictures of 60 years of Israel...
Since then, public spats with Israel have been the third rail of U.S. foreign policy. If Obama loses his current showdown with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they could well remain so for a generation. But luckily for Obama - and unluckily for the supporters of the political status quo in Washington and Jerusalem - he's not likely to lose...
...taking on Netanyahu where the Israeli Prime Minister is weakest. Israelis may not be thrilled about freezing settlement growth, but it's not an issue like Iran's nuclear program, which they consider important enough to risk their relationship with the U.S. over. A poll published in Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, on June 5 found that 56% of Israelis would rather cave on the settlements issue than face sanctions...
Obama also has the political advantage in Washington. Settlements are to the mainstream pro-Israel crowd what partial-birth abortions are to the mainstream pro-choice crowd: the issue they hate talking about. Even the most powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which opposes public U.S. pressure on Israel, hasn't taken an explicit stance on the settlements dispute. Obama has also surrounded himself with the kind of advisers (Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Ross) and made the kind of symbolic gestures (holding a seder at the White House and condemning Holocaust denial in Cairo...