Hillary Clinton Is No Friend of Israel
The Democratic presidential candidate’s love letter to
Israel last week was simply embarrassing, and proves she
is an obstacle to what is best for the Israeli state.
By Gideon Levy
November 10, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "Haaretz"
- Hillary Clinton's election as U.S.
president would ensure Israel’s continued decline and
degeneration. And so she is not a friend, but an enemy.
She must not be allowed to deceive and present herself
as a friend of Israel, as she tried so ingratiatingly to
do in an article published in The Forward (“How
I would reaffirm unbreakable bond with Israel
— and Benjamin Netanyahu”) last week. The tear ducts
were targeted as she wrote of how she assisted Magen
David Adom in being accepted to the International Red
Cross. But she and those like her – false friends of
Israel – have been one of the curses on this country for
years. Because of them, Israel can continue to act as
wildly as it likes, thumbing its nose at the world and
paying no price. Because of them, it can destroy itself
unhindered.
Whether Clinton believes what she wrote or simply wanted
once again to sell her soul for a fistful of dollars
from Haim Saban and other Jewish donors, the result is
extremely embarrassing. A love letter to Israel, the
likes of which no U.S. statesman would ever write to
another country. Americans believe “Israel is more than
a country – it’s a dream,” she states. Most of the world
calls it a nightmare, yet Clinton says a dream. What
dream exactly? The dream of tyrannical control over
another people? Racism? Nationalism? The killing of
women and children in Gaza?
What happened to the Hillary Rodham Clinton who in her
youth fought for civil rights and against the Vietnam
War, and as a lawyer specialized in children’s rights?
Did she not hear what her dream state is doing to
Palestinian children? What happened to the glorious
career woman who was considered liberal and
justice-seeking on her way up? Did she forget it all?
Does money buy everything? Or, when it comes to Israel,
do all principles suddenly change?
Did the former secretary of state not hear about the
Israeli occupation? After all, she didn’t mention it
once in her article. This is not the time or place to
anger Saban. To Clinton, Israel is a “thriving
democracy” and to hell with the violent and totalitarian
regime in its backyard. And so Clinton is also an enemy
of peace and justice. She doesn’t believe there has been
the slightest damage to Palestinian rights. Israelis
being stabbed in Jerusalem “appalls” Clinton.
Palestinians being unjustifiably shot to death,
meanwhile, fails to register with her. They will love
her for that on Fifth Avenue. Religious figures who
encourage killing are, of course, only Muslim; only
Israeli security must be vouchsafed. The synagogues of
Manhattan will love that, too. Clinton pledges to meet
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during her first
month in office. Also, that she will send a delegation
of the U.S. Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to Israel. What
for, exactly?
For Clinton, this isn’t “just about policy,” it is “a
personal commitment to the friendship … and our vision
for peace and security.” One could, of course, explain
away this sorry, honey-dripped statement with the need
to raise more money from Jews. But one cannot ignore the
content. Clinton is a leading candidate to become the
next president of the United States, and her commitment
to the continued Israeli occupation and its funding has
been proven in the past. The Palestinians are also
reading her words. What are they supposed to think in
the face of this one-sided extremism? What can they
expect in light of such outright disregard for their
fate? Hope for change, which has already taken a beating
during President Barack Obama’s time in office, will not
be able to rise if Clinton is president.
Most American Jews will support her, some because they
think she is good for Israel. Well, dear brethren, she
is not. A person who supports the continued occupation
is like a person who continues to buy drugs for an
addicted relative. This is neither concern nor
friendship; it is destruction. Perhaps some ignorant
Republican would be preferable in the White House after
all. But, on second thoughts, he would surely be funded
by Sheldon Adelson.Gideon
Levy is a Haaretz columnist and a member of the
newspaper's editorial board. Levy joined Haaretz in
1982, and spent four years as the newspaper's deputy
editor. He is the author of the weekly Twilight Zone
feature, which covers the Israeli occupation in the West
Bank and Gaza over the last 25 years, as well as the
writer of political editorials for the newspaper.
© 2015 Haaretz
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