When Obama Punishes

The American line has turned into the Israeli line and vice versa, yet nothing’s clear. The vote in the Security Council still depends on the generosity of Gabon and Bosnia.

About a year ago, two senior Israeli officials attended a dinner with President Jonathan Goodluck of Nigeria, the man who is supposed to save us from the Palestinian state.

The dinner was scheduled to begin in the evening. They waited until a quarter to three in the morning and were then seated with all due respect at the dining table. After a brief courtesy call, President Goodluck wondered before the perplexed Israelis about the demographics of Israel. “Is everybody over there Christian, or have you got a Jewish minority as well?” he asked. A brief silence fell upon the room — a diplomatic silence.

This story teaches something about the concern that the world — one that is not the U.S. or Europe — shows about our region. More than that, it reminds us how decisions in global diplomacy are made. The interests and the power: They, rather than the media, and definitely rather than the ideological notions, rule the roost. Nigerian President Goodluck has no inkling about exactly what’s going on here, but effective as of last night, it opposes the Palestinian proposal on a simple basis: That’s what America wants.

The Insides of the International System

Thus, exactly in this fashion and in far more extreme form, the innards of the international system were exposed yesterday. Like on a cruel ultrasound X-ray in front of the whole world, one could see the historical alliances and clearly brightening interests.

Here, American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton caresses the president of Nigeria, who agreed to abstain from the vote of the U.N. Security Council, to the relief of the U.S. And here, President Obama pulls out a big stick called “American power” and pours cold, frozen and killing water on the entire Palestinian move.

And here, the Israeli Prime Minister does what he must do: thanks the president who has been vilified in Israel so many times, who nonetheless delivered one of the most unequivocal speeches in favor of Israel yesterday. Without the 1967 borders, without the occupation, without the typical comparison between Palestinian and Israeli children. This is what American punishment looks like: It’s clear-cut and aggressive toward the one who violated the president’s trust.

The innards of the world system, plain and coarse-looking, were also revealed when it became apparent what stresses the administration: the enormous pressure applied by the Republicans on the White House, when GOP candidate Rick Perry harshly attacked the president for his naïveté and the abandonment of Israel.

Therefore, in the course of tremendous international drama, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Obama’s personal friend Susan Rice finds time to impugn Perry and tell him that he endangers Israel’s security. Here we go, in a straightforward and unapologetic manner: domestic American politics in the shell of public diplomatic confrontation, which is also accompanied by Israeli internal politics in the framework of the U.N. battle for survival (Avigdor Lieberman* reprimands Danny Ayalon* in a live broadcast).

Excellent Global Theater

The rest of the international actors play their well-known roles. Nicolas Sarkozy did what he does the best: He shuffled the cards with an ambitious, borderline megalomaniac proposal that completely scrambled the American stance and posed him, the president of France, as spearheading an international compromise initiative. Sarkozy has also opted to drop out of Obama’s address at the General Assembly — another sign to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that Europe is not striding hand in hand with the Americans in the punitive campaign against the Palestinians.

That was fabulous global theater, a very classic one. Barack Obama, a moment after he was pushed to the prominent pro-Israeli speech, meets Benjamin Netanyahu, and the two behave like a couple in the stages of a divorce that has now undergone an especially wearisome marital therapy.

And at the end of this day, there was not much left. The American line has become the Israeli line and the other way round, but nothing has become really clear. The vote in the Security Council still depends on the benevolence of Gabon and Bosnia. Imposing the American veto on the Palestinian proposal will be still considered a failure of American diplomacy and the Israeli position.

The Palestinians still can go to the General Assembly and achieve a resolution recognizing them as an observer country — which is actually quite something — and moreover, gain European support. Yesterday night, we’ve found out what we already knew (those of us who listened to Obama, of course): that America is with us. It’s quite a bit. It really is, but that’s not all, most unfortunately.

*Translator’s Note: Avigdor Lieberman is the extremely controversial Israeli foreign minister. Danny Ayalon is the deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to the U.S.