Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 11, 2010 Page: 4 of 20
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4 I November 11,2010
NEWS ANALYSIS
TEXAS JEWISH POST & SINCE 1947
First sign of new United States
political reality: Bibi s swagger
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The
sharpest signal of what last week's
elections meant for Jews came not
from Washington but from New
Orleans, Nova Scotia and Austra-
lia.
In New Orleans, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
delivered a speech Monday call-
ing for moving beyond sanctions
to mounting a "credible military
threat" against Iran as a means of
avoiding war.
"Containment will not work,"
Netanyahu said in his address to
the General Assembly of the Jewish
Federations of North America.
The prime minister's remarks
echoed the precise terminology
used by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-
S.C.) in Nova Scotia two days ear-
lier, when he told the Halifax In-
ternational Security Forum that
"containment is off the table."
The likely new majority leader in
the U.S. House of Representatives,
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), referred
to a "credible military threat" in
the days before the election.
It was a clear sign that Netan-
yahu feels empowered by the Re-
publican sweep last week of the
House of Representatives to trump
the Obama administration's em-
phasis on peacemaking with the
Palestinians with his own priority:
confronting Iran.
The emerging gap between Is-
rael and its Republican friends on
one side and the White House on
the other could presage a repeat of
tensions in the late 1990s between
Netanyahu, in his first term, and
President Clinton — tensions that
pro-Israel officials found them-
selves brokering, often to their dis-
comfiture.
Obama administration officials
have ind icated that they will not be
taking cues from anyone in setting
foreign policy.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
speaking Monday in Melbourne,
Australia, where he is on an of-
ficial visit with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, de-
livered a rejoinder to Netanyahu's
remarks.
"We are prepared to do what is
necessary, but at this point we con-
tinue to believe that the political-
economic approach that we are
taking is in fact having an impact
in Iran," Gates said.
Gates' response implicitly re-
jected not only an escalation but
Netanyahu's claim that sanctions
are not working. It also signaled
that the Obama administration
was going to protect its foreign
policy turf — the traditional
White House posture when op-
ponents take one of the houses of
Congress.
That was clear already last
week when Valerie Jarrett, one of
Obama's top aides, told sympa-
thetic nongovernmental groups in
an off-the-record phone call that
the White House would be un-
wavering — even after losing the
House majority — in pressing Is-
rael and the Palestinians to return
to the peace talks.
"The president has made it very
clear that he is committed to do-
ing whatever he can to foster talks
in the Middle East," said Jarrett,
Obama's senior adviser for public
engagement. "That's not a partisan
issue; his commitment to that is
unwavering."
But Netanyahu, speaking at the
federations' General Assembly,
expressed confidence that he had
U.S. backing in resisting Palestin-
ian demands. He listed a number
of items the Palestinian Authority
is seeking, including a freeze on
Jewish West Bank settlement ac-
tivity and a final-status deal that
would remove Israeli forces from
the West Bank.
Netanyahu, however, told the
crowd in New Orleans that Israel
would stay in the Jordan Valley, the
eastern part of the West Bank, "for
the foreseeable future." The audi-
ence applauded.
"The Palestinians may think
they can avoid negotiations," Ne-
tanyahu said. "They may think
that the world will dictate Palestin-
ian demands to Israel. I firmly be-
Photo: Courtesy Randy
Altschuler for Congress
Randy Altschuler,
right, a Republican
who holds a slim lead
in his suburban New
York congressional
district, campaign-
ing this summer with
Rep. Eric Cantor, cur-
rently the only GOP
Jewish lawmaker in
the Congress.
lieve that will not happen because I
am confident that friends of Israel,
led by the United States, will not let
that happen."
GOP love for Israel
Beyond the ramping up of Iran
rhetoric, the first signal that new
Republican members who swept
into office last week were going to
make Israel a priority came from
Marco Rubio, the Tea Party-backed
candidate in Florida who romped
to victoryin the race for that state's
open U.S. Senate seat.
Rubio, 39 and the son of Cuban
exiles, punctuated five days of cel-
ebrations with a trip to Israel with
his wife. He left Sunday on the pri-
vate trip, which will include holy
sites. Rubio, who converted from
Roman Catholicism to become a
Southern Baptist, plans an offi-
cial visit after assuming his seat, a
campaign official told the French
news agency AFP.
The American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee, which for decades
has managed to secure the support
Mazal Tov To Yavneh Academy's Daniel Moskowitz'10
on your acceptances to
Aardvark Israel, Brandeis University, and Tulane University
Member of Yavneh JV Bulldog Basketball, Bulldog Soccer, Bulldog Tennis, Theatre
Program, Students Against Terrorism, 2008-2009 Jewish Youth Tzedakah Foundation,
Bnai Brith Youth Organization - Kaplan Chapter (Secretary & A.IT. President), JCC's
Blumenthal Basketballball League, JCC Maccabi Soccer, Congregation Anshai Torah
"I enjoyed being at Yavneh because of the comforting atmosphere that surrounds the
campus, the people, and because of how close everyone is to each other. My friends at
school were, and remain, definitely my closest friends. Yavneh's faculty is dedicated to
its students, always willing to help out in any way " — Daniel Moskowitz
YAVNEH ACADEMY - A PLACE OF LEARNING
214.295.3500 yavnehdallas.org 12324 Merit Drive Dallas, TX 75251
YAVN EH
ACADEMY
TUP
TEXAS JEWISH P0ST$S!NCE 1947
Jimmy Wisch
Publisher & Editor | 1947-2002
Rene Wisch
Publisher & Editor | 1947-2010
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Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 11, 2010, newspaper, November 11, 2010; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188318/m1/4/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .