Obama defeats the Israel Lobby

[oberliner]

Excerpt from end of piece:

Frankly, I am surprised that the president went ahead over the lobby's opposition. I am well-known for my belief that it could not be beaten, although I have always offered the caveat that it would be if a president fought back hard.

Obama did, and Chuck Hagel will almost surely be the next Secretary of Defence.

That is good news but far less significant than the implications for peace. As Dine told me all those years ago, if a president pushes for a peace agreement that advances US interests while not harming Israel's, he will prevail.

That means that he can insist on an end to the occupation and the creation of a viable Palestinian state in the lands Israel has occupied since 1967. As long as Israel's security is not put at risk (and no president would put it at risk), the president will prevail. This is especially the case because an end to the occupation (with security guarantees for Israel and the new state) would advance Israel's security not damage it.

The lobby will not be able to block a president determined to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on terms fair to both sides. It is like the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, said: "If you will it, it is no dream."

It is, as Obama demonstrated with Hagel, just a matter of will.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/201311075440294575.html

[el_bryanto]

1. Well I think it's more likely a case that they decided to keep their powder dry

We'll see if they go much further than they have already gone, but if they advocated a Palestinian state, I think the push back would be more significant.

Bryant