{"id":285,"date":"2007-05-04T13:41:32","date_gmt":"2007-05-04T18:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=285"},"modified":"2007-05-04T13:41:32","modified_gmt":"2007-05-04T18:41:32","slug":"reading-the-map-correctly-in-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=285","title":{"rendered":"Reading the Map Correctly in Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert is<\/title>Israeli Prime Minister Olmert is under pressure for his execution of the so-called “Second Lebanese War.”\u00c2\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/hasen\/spages\/855671.html\">Tens of thousands of protestors<\/a> rallied in Israel, calling for Olmert to resign.<\/p>\n<p>The protests are politically “vague” about the substance of the critique of Olmert, but insofar as Netanyahu and his Right Zionist allies are <em>highly<\/em> critical of Olmert’s execution of the war, the protests may bolster the case against Olmert.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2006, I wrote several posts describing Right Zionist dismay (<a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=115\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=125\">here<\/a>) with Olmert’s “cautious” execution of the battle in Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>The most “candid” Right Zionist critique of Olmert, however, comes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudson.org\/learn\/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&eid=Wurmser\"> Meyrav Wurmser<\/a> of the Hudson Institute who–along with her husband, <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=211\">David Wurmser<\/a>–is part of the “<a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=212\">family<\/a>” of Right Zionists allied with Cheney.\u00c2\u00a0 In an extraordinary <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/articles\/0,7340,L-3340750,00.html\">December 2006 interview<\/a>, Meyrav Wurmser was very explicit about Right Zionist frustration with Olmert:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>MEYRAV WURMSER: “Hizbullah defeated Israel in the war. This is the first \twar Israel lost,” Dr. Wurmser declares…<\/p>\n<p>YITZHAK BENHORIN: Is this a popular stance in the [US] administration, that \tIsrael lost the war?<\/p>\n<p>MEYRAV WURMSER: “Yes, there is no doubt. It’s not something one can argue \tabout it. There is a lot of anger at Israel.”<\/p>\n<p>YITZHAK BENHORIN: What caused the anger?<\/p>\n<p>MEYRAV WURMSER: “I know this will annoy many of your readers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 But the anger \tis over the fact that Israel did not fight against the Syrians. Instead of \tIsrael fighting against Hizbullah, many parts of the American administration \tbelieve that Israel should have fought against the real enemy, which is \tSyria and not Hizbullah.”<\/p>\n<p>YITZHAK BENHORIN: Did the administration expect Israel to attack Syria?<\/p>\n<p>MEYRAV WURMSER: “They hoped Israel would do it. You cannot come to another \tcountry and order it to launch a war, but there was hope, and more than \thope, that Israel would do the right thing. It would have served both the \tAmerican and Israeli interests.<\/p>\n<p>“<strong>The neocons are responsible for the fact that Israel got a lot of time \tand space<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 They believed that Israel should be allowed to win. A great \tpart of it was the thought that Israel should fight against the real enemy, \tthe one backing Hizbullah. It was obvious that it is impossible to fight \tdirectly against Iran, but the thought was that its strategic and important \tally should be hit.”<\/p>\n<p>“It is difficult for Iran to export its Shiite revolution without joining \tSyria, which is the last nationalistic Arab country. <strong>If Israel had hit \tSyria, it would have been such a harsh blow for Iran, that it would have \tweakened it and changes the strategic map in the Middle East<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>“The final outcome is that Israel did not do it. It fought the wrong war and \tlost. Instead of a strategic war that would serve Israel’s objectives, as \twell as the US objectives in Iraq. If Syria had been defeated, the rebellion \tin Iraq would have ended”…<\/p>\n<p>“No one would have stopped you. It was an American interest. They would have \tapplauded you. <strong>Think why you received so much time and space to operate<\/strong>. \tRice was in the region and Israel embarrassed her with Qana, and still \tIsrael got more time. <strong>Why aren’t they reading the map correctly in Tel \tAviv and Jerusalem?<\/strong>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, is <em>this<\/em> Likudnik critique of Olmert shared by organizers of the anti-Olmert rallies?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>It is instructive to note that the rally has been attacked from both the Israeli\u00c2\u00a0 “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/articles\/0,7340,L-3395585,00.html\">Left<\/a>” and “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpost.com\/servlet\/Satellite?cid=1178198604753&pagename=JPost\/JPArticle\/ShowFull\">far-Right<\/a>.”\u00c2\u00a0 If the far-Right is to be believed, the rally is–like the rebellion by Olmert’s own Foreign Minister, Tsipi Livni–part of a <em>centrist<\/em> effort to get Olmert out as Prime Minister, but to <em>salvage<\/em> the Kadima-led coalition government and preempt calls for new elections.<\/p>\n<p>Why?\u00c2\u00a0 Because <a href=\"http:\/\/www.israeltoday.co.il\/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12559\">new elections could well result in the election of Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If Cheney is going to have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpost.com\/servlet\/Satellite?cid=1177591143477&pagename=JPost\/JPArticle\/Printer\"> another pass at war against Syria this summer<\/a>, then <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpost.com\/servlet\/Satellite?pagename=JPost\/JPArticle\/ShowFull&cid=1173173956995\"> the clock is ticking<\/a> for snap elections.<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli Labor party will be under pressure to quit the Kadima-led government, but it appears to be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/hasen\/spages\/855673.html\">scrambling to find a way<\/a> to forestall demands for a fresh election any time soon.\u00c2\u00a0 This may become increasingly difficult, however, if Olmert survives in office until late May when Labor party primaries may force the leadership to split with Kadima.\u00c2\u00a0 The <em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/africa\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9117042\"> Economist<\/a><\/em> explains:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Though the Labour primary is an internal vote among party members, from \twhom Mr Peretz has more support than among the public, most bets are on Ehud \tBarak, a former prime minister and army chief of staff, or Ami Ayalon, an \tex-admiral and domestic intelligence chief. Mr Ayalon has already said he \twill pull Labour out of the coalition if he wins, almost certainly forcing \tan election. If, on the other hand, Mr Barak gets in, his dilemma will be \twhether to stay on as defence minister and share the flak with Mr Olmert, or \trisk an election race against the right-wing Likud party.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10185\">Cheney has a (Right Zionist) plan<\/a> for the Middle East.\u00c2\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10601\">Act II of that plan<\/a> was supposed to begin last summer.\u00c2\u00a0 It failed.<\/p>\n<p>If Netanyahu is restored to office, Cheney may find himself with allies “reading the map correctly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.”<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, the <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=263\"> clock is ticking<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Or, from the perspective of Right Zionists like <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=278\">Michael Ledeen<\/a>, “<a href=\"http:\/\/pajamasmedia.com\/xpress\/michaelledeen\/\">Faster, please<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli Prime Minister Olmert isIsraeli Prime Minister Olmert is under pressure for his execution of the so-called “Second Lebanese War.”\u00c2\u00a0 Tens of thousands of protestors rallied in Israel, calling for Olmert to resign. The protests are politically “vague” about the substance of the critique of Olmert, but insofar as Netanyahu and his Right Zionist allies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,9,12,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}