Columnist asks Obama to stop flattering Israel

Manama: An Israeli columnist has asked the Obama Administration to stop sucking up to Israel, saying that “Israel is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world.”

In a column published by Haartez on Thursday and written as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s made a trip to the Middle East where she had to confront negative Arab reactions to her “positive” statements, Gideon Levy said that US President Barack Obama “heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything - even just a temporary freeze on settlement building - to advance the peace process.”

“Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world's policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways,” the 56-year-old commentator wrote.

Levy argued that “before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?”

“But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building colonies and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another,” wrote Levy, who was awarded in 1996 the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Euro-Med Journalist Prize for Cultural Dialogue of the Anna Lindh Foundation in 2007 for his "exceptional writings on the challenges of the region".

“Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 - which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement - then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched".

“It is true that unlike all the world's other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage".

"The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement free zone and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel's inaction".

“When Clinton returns to Washington, she should advocate a sharp policy change toward Israel. Israeli hearts can no longer be won with hope, promises of a better future or sweet talk, for this is no longer Israel's language. For something to change, Israel must understand that perpetuating the status quo will exact a painful price".

"The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year - Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no,” Levy wrote.