Soccer Dad

I don't think there will be a confrontation. Israel has the right to go it alone if necessary and the days when Jews were only given orders will never return again. The world has a great deal of difficulty relating to a sovereign Jewish people and this is a new development for Israelis too, who have to unlearn Diaspora habits of submissiveness and placing one's fate in the hands of others. Nevertheless, for all of Israel's mistakes, the country remains a guarantee of Jewish survival. While Jew hatred has never disappeared, today the difference is the Jews are not helpless bystanders in their own drama. It is significant Obama had to ask the Israelis to put off an attack on Iran - he did not order them to. And while Obama is for a two state solution, he is not going to impose it upon Israel and he understands any imposed solution is destined for failure. In short, America and Israel will have differences of opinion but that is natural between friends and their alliance will survive. If Benjamin Netanyahu stands his ground next week, he will erase the perception of Israel as a country that's easy to push over if enough pressure is applied. The world may want Israel to follow the path every one else wants but as the Jews have demonstrated throughout history, they have been willing and will continue to pay the price to remain different from the nations around them.That is the reality that belies all the talk of a Bibi-Barak confrontation in vogue these days.

of course there will be a confrontation,because this guy Obama is a closet muslim who is out to destroy western civilization and that includes israel

Netanyahu should say what he has to say, and do what he has to do

learn from Obama

Well, I hope you're wrong, to be quite frank. At the very least, I believe a conflict is inevitable simply because Netanyahu is too stubborn to accept a two-state solution. Personally, I'm not convinced that a two-state solution is a must-have: I'd be just as happy if the Israeli gov't officially annexed the West Bank and Gaza, gave all Palestinians living there Israeli citizenship, and dismantled the refugee camps by resettling the refugees as close to their original homes as possible without forcing anyone from their home.

In reality, however, peace is unlikely unless the U.S. stops treating the parties involved in an unequal manner and that is very, very unlikely because of the strangle-hold of groups like AIPAC on the elected officials of America. Any politician who advocates making the U.S. a truly "honest broker" risks being labeled as an anti-semite and black-listed by the powerful Israeli lobbies. Undoubtably, any differences will be minimized because Obama wants to be reelected in 2012. It infuriates me that the American gov't is now owned by the multinationals and zionists, but there's nothing I can do. I can't wait to leave this place, but it's so sad to see such a wonderful country hijacked by rich elitists and zionist pigs. It used to be a bright spot in an otherwise dark world. Now, it's the home of freedom-in-name-only and the capital of hypocrisy.

By the way, I read the article on IOI syndrome because I didn't get the reference and it puzzles me how so many people can be so driven by irrational fear. Zionists and republicans are both one-trick ponies and the one trick is fear-mongering. If you stop thinking only in terms of absolutes, progress might happen. For example, the article raised the issue of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Lebanon war was a success in that it elevated the clout of Hezbollah enough to make them a powerful political force and, by doing so, made them responsible for the results of their actions. Lebanon has not been a significant issue because Hezbollah now has to worry about its political future, which is not served by instigating another conflict or failing to prevent other militants from launching attacks. The same could easily be done with Hamas. All of this talk of allowing rebuilding funds and supplies into Gaza bolstering Hamas is absurd. The Israeli security situation would be best served by doing precisely that. Make Hamas be a political party. Insurrection is easy; governance is not. The same thing that happened in Lebanon could easily be done in Gaza. If the crossings are opened and Hamas is treated like a democratically-elected political party (which it is), it will be forced to fulfill the role of governor. As long as the Gazans are oppressed, hungry, and hopeless, Hamas has little to lose, but if the situation is transformed by making them truly political leaders, stopping attacks is in their interest.

The real myopic problem of Israelis is the fact that they refuse to acknowledge the reality of the political situation. Fatah is corrupt. It is seen as serving its own interests rather than those of the people and capitulating to the Israeli oppressors. Electing Hamas was similar to most elections because the people were given two terrible choices and picked the one that least sucked. Until Israel realizes that starving, oppressing, and murdering the Palestinian people creates terrorists, no peace will happen. My real fear, however, is that the leaders do realize this fact and actually exploit it by manipulating the conditions in favor of extremist groups like Hamas to ensure that they have plenty of excuses to avoid peace. I said at the time that Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza was a false fig leaf, intended to create a terrorist haven and escalate attacks, thus motivating the Israeli people to withdraw their support for a two-state solution. I hate being right so often.

The country has been hijacked by rich arab-muslim pigs using their petro dollars to buy politicians in Washington, former officials from the State Department and other agencies who become paid pro-arab lobbyists after they leave government, provide money to universities to promote pro-muslim anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda and to buy stakes in media outlets which distort news from the Middle East in a blatantly pro arab-muslim and anti-Israel manner. It is in fact the arab lobby with its unlimited financial resources and clout that has a stranglehold on the American government.

No peace will happen because muslims will not live in peace with anybody. Why do you think muslims are in conflict with their neighbors everywhere in the world? Because muslims, according to the koran must force infidels to convert, submit to islam or be killed. There is no living in peaceful coexistence with non-muslims.

Yes Laura, you are partially right: Arab lobbyists representing countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the big oil companies (the multinationals that were listed before the zionists because there are more of them and they have more resources) are a large part of the problem. That, however, does not excuse the Zionist lobbyists, the "Christian Coalition," or any other powerful groups who use their money and influence to twist the laws and manipulate the political arena in order to deprive the American people of a government which serves THEIR interests. 4 billion dollars is given to Israel every year, but I doubt any of the GOP puppets would even agree to look at whether that is really in America's interest. We just saw recently, when Obama brought out his list of wasteful, ineffective programs that he wanted to cut and was received with a bipartisan backlash of "we're all for cutting the defecit, but not this worthless program that wastes money by paying multi-billion dollar agro-companies not to plant fields or that worthless program that gives billions to rich aeronautics companies for military aircraft we don't need." Two senators just were in the news for circulating a letter for their fellow senators to sign without removing AIPAC from the file name before attaching it in the e-mail to hide its origin. It's disgusting and your hatred for muslims and arabs doesn't change it one bit. For somebody who is always calling people anti-semites, you sure are a bigot.

By the way, for what I would love to be the last time, disagreeing with Israel's brutal abuse of Palestinians, land-grabs, and international deceit is anti-Israel, possibly anti-zionist, but in no way anti-semitic. Stop trying to push your agenda by forcing people to equate anti-zionism with anti-semitism. Secular Jews can easily ignore the issues with zionism, but truly religious Jews are too well educated in Jewish scripture and doctrine to simply write off the fact that zionism is blatantly forbidden by their scriptures! As for Israel providing a refuge for Jews, I find it hard to believe that you don't realize what Israel actually does. Israel was created because racists in the British and American governments wanted to prevent a flood of Jews fleeing mainland Europe after WWII from entering their countries. Ever since its creation, Israel has been a force for the murder and persecution of Jews, not a refuge! When Israel murders thousands of innocent civilians, Jews in Europe as well as those who have lived peacefully in the Middle East for thousands of years are punished for Israel's misdeeds! When Israel was created, many Jews left their homes and emigrated to Israel, leaving the rest of their thousand-year old communities weaker and weaker. As Israel's outrageous actions prompted wave after wave of outrage, Jews were forcefully uprooted world-wide despite having nothing to do with Israel and the radical, extremist Zionist movement! Israel is not a friend of the Jews any more than China is a friend of the Tibetans. Think about it. Look into it. Stop being sheeple.