Obama is a prisoner of the US election cycle

In “The Prisoner“, that compelling 1960s TV series, Patrick McGoohan keeps asking: “but who is Number One?” I was thinking of this after watching President Obama deliver his UN address in which he focused on the Palestinians’ statehood bid.

Obama is a prisoner. He is a prisoner of the US election cycle in which he has Republican party contenders to his right attacking him for his “naive” Middle East policies and his “appeasement” of the Palestinians. He has been accused by Republican contender Mitt Romney of “throwing Israel under the bus.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

But we are entering an election year, and so at the UN General Assembly, Obama joined in this senseless argument, highlighting America’s “unshakeable” commitment to Israel’s security. This speech was music to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ears. In fact he thanked Obama at a press conference afterwards, as he was not in the General Assembly hall when the president spoke.

Obama now looks like Netanyahu’s prisoner too. Last May, the Israeli prime minister lectured Obama at the White House in what was a humbling moment for the US president. Now he can’t even be bothered to pay him the courtesy of turning up to hear him at the UN General Assembly. In answer to the question, who is Number One, I know that the answer isn’t Obama.

It could be that the answer isn’t even America. In Washington now there is a lot of talk about America losing its role as Number One in the Middle East (and indeed globally). America’s decline will have undoubted consequences in the region. Netanyahu, who has led his country towards international isolation, would do well to think about that before rejecting another good faith attempt by Obama to bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table for serious discussions on a two state solution.

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• I_See_Dead_Truth

  “highlighting America’s “unshakeable” commitment to Israel’s security.”

  Let’s see now, poor little Israel with obvious security problems needing rescuing by the US and the rest of the world from what…a few thousand(a generous estimate) of predominately youths and children armed with powerful and deadly stones which they hurl at Israel’s troops who are armed with a pathetic amount of rifles, tanks, grenades, RPGs, SAMs, an immense wall, oh, lets not forget the most powerful air force in the world, commandos who are able to operate in full public view in international waters, as well as MOSSAD agents using forged passports from several respected nations while assassinating foreign government officials in hotels outside of Israel, building illegal settlements and illegal walls, using illegal weapons, being a recipient of most generous foreign aid from the US, oh, and here’s the clencher…being the fact that poor little Israel is a nuclear power.

  If ever there was a state in need of more help and protection than any other, the choice is obviously Israel…obviously.  Just look at how restrained they are with regards to deployment of their nuclear weapons…oh, but hang on a mo, lets see, detonating nuclear weapons in Palestine, why, that’s right next to Israel…the radiation might just spread into Israel and thus cause endless troubles for the people of Israel…could that be the reason for the israelis not using the only weapon they have left untouched to-date?

  Nurmemberg MKII anyone?

• d’Albert Matlhoko

  How right you are Ms Anne Penketh ! I recall how a several months when President Obama during tense talks with Prime Minister Netenyahu  TRYING EARNESTLY TO EMBARK ON  A ‘NEW’ EVEN-HANDED USA POLICY APPROACH to the perennial Middle-East, Benyamin wryly smiled and said “WE HAVE FRIENDS IN CONGRESS”  and indeed the following day marched of to ‘fill them in’ on the talks outcome with BHO without a care in the World !!!!

• ramsey01

  Obama has shown himself to be weak, indecisive and incapable of dealing fairly with the Palestinians. He has been in office for almost three years which is ample time to resolve the issue. He coould grant Palestinian statehood in the stroke of a pen, but he won’r. It seems that retention of the prediential office is far more imporant than some 10million Palestinians. The truth is that Obama has let many people down!!!!!

• DickDesigner

  Netenyahu’s ultra right wing government has all the colour and flavour of the Nazi government between 1932-1945, and as stupid, and as warped, and as CORRUPT!

  And just as the German people between 1932-1945 were gulled, so are the Israeli people being gulled! Just ask any Israeli on the bread line!

  The Palestinians cannot make a state any more, successive Israeli Governments have placed their Go markers all over Palestinian land to make Palestinian statehood totally unviable.

  Do not buy “Israeli” produced food… it is the product of Palestinian slavery!

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Khalilah-Sabra/1367649841 Khalilah Sabra

  “Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations,” Obama said. This may be true, but it has yet to be tried and tested. What we do know is that peace has not come through the diplomatic wrangling of the United States.  The current president of the United States would rather continue the myth of progress initiated by those who sat in the White House before him, a myth that includes a sense of self-awarded respite from concern for those who are in lethal trouble on the part of those who aren’t. 
  The President says, “One year ago, I stood at this podium and called for an independent Palestine. I believed then – and I believe now – that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own. But what I also said is that genuine peace can only be realized between Israelis and Palestinians themselves.” His words, unfortunately, are like mental illness – there is no basis for optimism. The Middle East peace process has only allowed the Palestinian people to fall a little bit deeper into despair and oppression, dying amid useless dialogue and nonstop occupation. Death, torture, refugee camps, more settlements, an apartheid wall and the passage of time are evidence that the Palestinian people are not free, but worse – they have not been treated human. It is more sickening, more repulsive, when this optimism comes from those who are so well-informed and cannot recognize that they are lying to themselves while the Palestinian people are being annihilated. 
  The President does not say, “It is a fact that loyalties cannot be built on a framework of moral disloyalty. Human need is not answered by mere ideas, which has been the only thing offered to the Palestinian people.” If the president should make this kind of statement, and if other world leaders gave up the will to be silent and respectful, things might finally change and there would be no reason to believe that they are committing political treason or continue to corroborate in the lie that has continued for more than 60 years. 

  The President says, “Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side,” He says,  “Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians – not us – who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem.” If it were any other situation, we might be able to believe that these words are backed by sincerity and raw truth and not on behalf of those who have cash and power or who have the advantage of the hour.  
  The President says “Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors.” He did not say that the Palestinians deserve recognition or that the Palestinians deserve liberty and justice. Here alone is where we must stop pretending that serious changes will occur within the lives of those under occupation, without the need for unjust ideals to be altered. The end results of this conflict are tied directly to the value of America’s contribution; this obviously means much less, especially when impartiality and fairness are so obviously missing. It’s time for the UN to do more and the US to do less. Khalilah SabraMAS Immigrant Justice Center

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LC3EGL22LT62ZGAOKLWD2S4CLU likeit1

  Wait and see…President Obama will deep six Netanyahu once he wins the 2012 Election which he will.

  The citizens of the US have had enough of the Republicans holding them hostage by handcuffing President Obama from moving forward creating jobs, improving schools, infrastructure, high speed rail, banking reform,taxing the rich etc. 

  THe Tea Party will be sidelined with a Democtaric controlled House and The Senate will gain enough of a majority to make McConnell look like one sick puppie of a Republican Minority Senate Leader.