"Israeli-U.S. relations are in terrible shape. Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama had a bad meeting this month. During the Gaza operation, for the first time, missile shipments didn’t go through automatically.
The issue of Hellfire missiles has been solved. It was a bureaucratic issue.
It doesn’t look like an unbreakable bond if, in the middle of a war, the administration decides to review what has always been military-to-military arms transfers.
I can tell you that between the Pentagon and the Israel Defense Forces there is an unbreakable bond.
What about the politicians?
We have disputes." Weymouth in the Post
-------------------------------
"An unbreakable bond?" There should be no unbreakable bonds between countries. Countries exist to promote the interests of the state and its citizens. Is Yalon saying that there are bureacrats in OSD who have been placed there and well dug-in so as to insure that Israel's interests will always be served no matter how offensive and arrogant Israel's policy and actions may be? pl
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/25/israeli-defense-minister-crisis-with-the-united-states
http://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-we-must-repair-relations-with-washington/
Great piece as usual.
I'd just add another link from Al-MOnitor where more or less the same theme is discussed and similar conclusions reached. Except this one takes it a step further with the discussion of a global deterioration in their standing as well as the strained US-Israel ties....
http://tinyurl.com/muysyzm
Posted by: Petrous | 26 October 2014 at 01:48 PM
All,
'I can tell you that between the Pentagon and the Israel Defense Forces there is an unbreakable bond.'
The question begged, I think, is whether the Israelis are right in thinking that Americans are, for the most part, complete idiots, or whether this is simply a case of manic hubris, and their success in pulling the wool of the eyes of you people has blinded them to the possibility that, sometimes, eventually, common sense reasserts itself.
Posted by: David Habakkuk | 26 October 2014 at 02:18 PM
A third possibility is the one suggested by Col Lang above - that Israel has planted persons in the Defence hierarchy who ensure this.
Considering past such cases, it seems to be the most likely one. Of course, the fact that they can get away with it says something about the US system of government.
Posted by: FB Ali | 26 October 2014 at 05:36 PM
I think the spat between Lapid and Ya'alon has to be read in light of this crisis.
"Nonetheless, Lapid, who has locked horns with Ya'alon over peace talks and the defense budget, said "I thought knew, but now I know the full extent to which our relations with the US are vital to our economy and security."
"The US needs to be thanked, we must remember that when we talk about Operation Protective Edge, we used technology and funds from America. We need to act with more respect. Disagreements are part of the deal and the Americans respect that," he said. "
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4584052,00.html
The point to be made here is IMO that the US is playing Lapid - a presumable 'centrist' - against Ya'alon and by extension Bibi. Lapid is after all a contender for the Israeli throne.
As for Lapid being 'centrist', just read this:
"... my father didn’t come here from the ghetto in order to live in a country that is half Arab, half Jewish. He came here to live in a Jewish state. And we have 3.3 million Palestinians now between the sea and the eastern border of Israel. If we don’t do something about it, her generation [nods toward a 15-year-old girl at our table] is going to spend her time with six or seven or eight million Palestinians."
http://world.time.com/2013/01/31/yair-lapid-an-interview-with-israels-new-power-broker/
"(when) Lapid ... unveiled his foreign policy platform last year, Lapid chose to do so at a university inside the illegal mega-settlement of Ariel. Israel “must at last get rid of the Palestinians and put a fence between us,” he declared, explaining that he chose to launch his campaign at the settlement because “there is no map on which Ariel isn’t a part of the state of Israel.” Like Netanyahu, he says he strongly opposes the division of Jerusalem, an implicit rejection of the international consensus for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."
http://www.thenation.com/article/172398/why-israeli-elections-were-victory-right
Centrist? Only because in the competition of right wing nuts that is Israeli politics, he does look moderate - compared to Bennett, compared to Liebermann, compared to Bibi, compared to Ya'alon. If only by that standard.
You got to work with what you have I guess.
Posted by: confusedponderer | 27 October 2014 at 02:40 AM
FB Ali: The Israelis are clearly "terrified" of offending the US government. See http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.622950?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Posted by: Matthew | 27 October 2014 at 12:51 PM
All,
Dug-in in defense, government, media, you name it.
“No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do,” said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, one of several in recent months given by officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Directorate.
http://www.newsweek.com/israel-wont-stop-spying-us-249757
Throughout Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, which began on July 8, it has become increasingly clear that the U.S. media is biased against Palestinians
See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/american-telling-israelpalestine#sthash.VSzWSYWx.dpuf
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/american-telling-israelpalestine
http://www.newsweek.com/israel-flagged-top-spy-threat-us-new-snowdennsa-document-262991
Posted by: Cee | 28 October 2014 at 03:07 AM
All,
Time for the foreign aid to end.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/india-chooses-israel-over-us-for-latest-defense-purchase/
Posted by: Cee | 29 October 2014 at 11:30 AM