Sure, Ariel Sharon brags in the Israeli press about his ability to easily "handle" the Americans. But this is going too far: read the last paragraph in the linked article.
The U.S. pro-Israel lobby again, and again, and again places the wellfare of Israel above that of the U.S. I commend President Bush to standing up to this pressure.
I was very unhappy earlier this year that that the Bush administration took the advice of the Israeli intelligence service over our own CIA (they accepted Israel's absurd claims that there would be quick uprisings in Iraq to support U.S. troups when the CIA publicly contradicted this absurd claim - that was big news before the war, but seems to be blacked out now in the news). President Bush's brave stand against the incredibly powerful pro-Israel lobby is indeed commendable. (Enough for me to vote for him again, if he keeps up the pressure to bring down the illegal wall.)
Israel currently gets about 70% of all of our foreign aid to the entire world - we should have tremendous leverage with them - not the other way around.
Israel is an ally of the U.S. and I don't want to see that change. I do want them to stop leading us around "by the nose", like we were a stupid farm animal.
Israel has strong and legitimate complaints against the awful Palestinian leadership (I don't know yet about the new guy - time will tell), but their heavy handedness makes it more difficult for us to help negotiate peace in the Middle East.
2:09:17 PM 
|
