Israel’s own behavior poses a threat to its survival

“[I]f Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah — one that alienates even the affections of the U.S., its last steadfast friend — it won’t survive. Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel’s survival; Israel’s own behavior poses a long-term one.”

That’s a paragraph from Jeffrey Goldberg’s latest column — a column credited with causing Likud to take a hit in the polls with the Israeli election coming up on Tuesday.

Jerusalem Post columnist Michael Freund writes:

According to Goldberg, in the period following the unilateral Palestinian move at the United Nations late last year, Obama said in private conversations that “Israel does not know what its own best interests are.”

He added that Obama believes that “Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel’s survival; Israel’s own behavior poses a long-term one.”

This crude condescension is breathtakingly offensive on so many levels.

Freund goes on to say:

It is essential that American Jewry speak out loudly and clearly against Obama’s insulting tone and aggressive rancor.

But read what Goldberg writes. It’s not unambiguous, but the assertion that Israel’s behavior poses a long-term threat to its survival, is not attributed to Obama. It seems to be coming just as much from Goldberg himself — arguably the most influential voice of American Jewry.

What Freund’s bluster is designed to conceal is a danger to Israel much greater than lack of love from one particular president; it is the opening of a rift much harder to repair as American Jews become resigned to the idea that Israel is sealing its own fate — that if Israel can’t save itself, it can’t be saved by its American friends.

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3 thoughts on “Israel’s own behavior poses a threat to its survival”

  2. delia ruhe

    The CIA has, for almost a decade now, had its doubts about the longevity of Israel. In my view, the only thing preventing a mass exodus of Israelis with a second passport is the lousy job markets in the US and Europe.

  3. Norman

    It seems that I read once that the reason there isn’t a rush to get out of Israel, is due to the government restricting the issuing of such passports, along with the money matter too. If the common people could afford it, they would, so I don’t think it’s just the lousy job markets alone.

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