ZOA To Obama: Stop Linking Help On Iran To Israel's Submission On
Palestinian State
May 8, 2009
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morton A. Klein
Phone 1: 212-481-1500
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has expressed deep concern that
the Obama Administration is linking Israeli submission to the
establishment of a Palestinian state which will surely be a terrorist
state on Israels longest border with American willingness to assist Israel
in facing the mounting and existential Iranian nuclear threat. It is
threatening Israel with little or no help in facing the mounting Iranian
nuclear threat unless it accedes to establishing a dangerous Palestinian
state. President Obama is ignoring the threat posed by Iran to America and
other Western states, not simply Israel.
The evidence for this pressure is readily apparent in recent statements by
top Obama Administration figures:
1. Vice-President Joseph Biden strongly suggested U.S. opposition to any
Israeli military action against Iran to prevent it obtaining a nuclear
weapons capacity.
2. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared to lawmakers on Capitol
Hill that Israel cannot expect strong American support in countering the
Iranian nuclear threat unless it moves forward and makes concessions to
the Palestinians.
3. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told pro-Israel activists that,
against the background of the growing Iranian threat, the Obama
Administration means to push hard for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Statements by senior Obama Administration figures:
Vice-President Biden: [Asked whether he was concerned that the
Israeli government might strike Iranian nuclear facilities] I dont believe
Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill advised to
do that (Paul Richter, Biden warns Israel off any attack on Iran, Los
Angeles Times, April 9, 2009).
Secretary Clinton: For Israel to get the kind of strong support its
looking for vis-a-vis Iran it cant stay on the sideline with respect to
the Palestinian and the peace efforts, that they go hand-in-hand [every
Arab official she has met] wants very much to support the strongest
possible policy toward Iran [but] they believe that Israels willingness to
reenter into discussions with the Palestinian Authority strengthens them
in being able to deal with Iran (Glenn Kessler, Clinton counters Israeli
stance on Palestinians and Iran, Washington Post, April 24, 2009).
Rahm Emanuel
: Relations between Israel and the U.S. are unbreakable, Emanuel said
before a gathering of 350 AIPAC donors, adding that this is the moment of
truth for Israel and the Palestinians. He also declared that Iran is the
number-one threat to the Middle East, and noted that it is hard to make
progress wherever Tehran is involved in the Middle East. Emanuel called
for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation if Iran is to be countered
effectively. (Barak Ravid and Natasha Mosgovaya, Obama gets tougher with
Israel on Palestinians, Iran, Haaretz, May 5, 2009).
Some commentary on Obamas Iran-Palestinian linkage
Former Israeli official and frequent commentator on Arab-Israeli
affairs, Yoram Ettinger: Irans megalomania and its drive to obtain nuclear
capabilities, are a derivative of its 1,400 year old goal to dominate the
Persian Gulf and the Muslim World. The pursuit of such a goal is shaped by
domestic and Gulf realities, Iran's rivalry against Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
US military involvement in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean and the Putin
Cloud hovering above the region. Iran's nuclear ethos has not been driven
by the Palestinian issue or the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is independent
of Israel's policy and existence The linkage concept advances Iran's
fortunes. It makes the anti-Iran campaign a hostage in the hands of
Palestinian terrorists, diverts some of the criticism away from Iran,
provides Teheran with additional time to develop nuclear capabilities and
enhances Iran's domestic and regional legitimacy (Self Destruct:
Iran-Palestinian linkage, Yediot Ahronot, May 8, 2009).
David Horovitz, Editor in Chief, Jerusalem Post: Israeli is
entirely convinced that the Iranians will not prove amenable to diplomacy,
and broadly certain that Iran will not be shifted from its nuclear course
by anybody or anything short of radical action For now, America is talking
diplomatic engagement with no firm time limit, leverage via vital Iranian
energy imports, and that pointlessness, or worse, of military action In a
bitter Jerusalem, the point is acerbically made that [Defense Secretary
Robert] Gates publicized reluctance for military action has taken all the
pressure off Teheran. And if Teheran is not afraid of military action,
runs the Israeli thinking, it will be all the more robust in resisting
sanctions (Editors notes: The rupture, Jerusalem Post, May 7, 2009).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, One only needs to peruse
these statements from Obama Administration officials to see that the Obama
Administration is increasing pressure on Israel to agree to its policy of
establishing a Palestinian state, linking it to U.S. support.
Specifically, it is making it clear that, if Israel is to have any kind of
(unspecified) support in ending Irans drive to obtain nuclear weapons.
Also, Vice-President Biden, Secretary Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations
Committee head Senator John Kerry (D-MA) are all giving speeches
repeatedly promoting establishing a Palestinian state. When one adds to
this the context of the U.S. government opposing Israel taking independent
military action if Iran fails to disarm and the past withholding of
bunker-busting bombs and other military materiel that would be used in
such military operations, the high degree of pressure being exerted is
even more obvious.
This is not the behavior of an ally committed to Israels security. It is
for Israel itself to decide which steps can be taken to create peace and
whether that prospect even at present exists. It is not for the United
States to impose a policy on Israel that affects its vital interests and
very existence, least of all with implied threats that Israel will be
abandoned in its quest for security against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons
if it does not do as Washington wants.
The notion that setting up a Palestinian state will thereby end the
conflict is a delusion based on the mistaken idea that Palestinians accept
Israels existence as a Jewish state and merely seek their own state living
peacefully alongside Israel. Moreover, polls of both Americans and
Israelis show strong opposition to creating a Palestinian state.
ZOA has repeatedly pointed out, as recently as yesterday, that the
Palestinian Authority leadership have repeatedly and explicitly rejected
accepting Israel as a Jewish state, that both Fatah and Hamas do not
accept Israels existence and are committed to both terrorism and Israels
destruction in their respective charters; and that Palestinian society
rejects Israel and approves of terrorism waged against it.
The entire pro-Israel community needs to send a strong message to the
Obama Administration that it finds these implied threats unacceptable and
incompatible with the behavior expected of an ally. It must speak clearly
and repudiate in detail the notion that Arab states somehow need Israel
sacrificed before they can act in their own interest in concert with the
U.S. to prevent Iran obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
The only connection between the Palestinian war on Israel and Irans drive
for nuclear weapons is that both Palestinians and the Iranian regime seek
to eliminate Israel. The United States commitment to Israels security (as
well as its own) is meaningless if it will relinquish efforts to prevent
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons or pressure Israel into establishing a
Palestinian state under current conditions.
