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Philip Weiss writes that this Gideon Levy column in Haaretz reminds him that "the things I love about my Jewish culture--intellectual honesty and sensitivity--are alive in Israel, in the likes of writers like him. Why hasn't any American writer--why haven't I for that matter--said what was obvious about the Obama-Netanyahu meeting? Netanyahu looked like a thuggish oaf next to our brilliant president."Levy writes that just as Richard Nixon saved Israel from the aggression of the Arab states in 1973, Obama -- if he remains staunchly committed to the two-state solution -- has the potential to "save Israel from itself" during a time of rightward drift in the country's politics:
In a single move he shrank the fearmongering of Benjamin Netanyahu and his mouthpieces on Iran to its proper size. In a single move he put the centrifuges of occupation, the real existential threat to Israel, at the top of the agenda. He fended off Netanyahu's attempts to divert attention from substantial issues, and blocked all efforts to waste more precious time on Iran and impose ridiculous preconditions on the Palestinians. He also blocked all efforts to distract us with committees, promises for negotiations, formulas, declarations and empty words. These are Israel's best tricks and games; anything to evade responsibility for the main issue - the end of the occupation. ...How pathetic and heartrending was the sight of the Israeli prime minister, sitting tense and sweaty, next to the new American president, confident, stylish, and impressive, without all the jokes and back-patting of Ehud Olmert and George W. Bush. The latter was in fact the least friendly president to Israel - one who allowed it to carry out all its violent madness.Beautifully said, important words -- straight from an Israeli Jew. For more commentary on how Netanyahu's domestic policy weaknesses strengthen Obama's hand, read the latest from TAP's incomparable Israel correspondent, Gershom Gorenberg.--Dana Goldstein
