Caving to White House Pressure
Livni Squeals, Kerry Deals and the EU Picks Up the Tab
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Beirut.
It was reportedly a hectic and intense past weekend in Washington and London according to an emailed report from a Capitol Hill source, as the Obama and Cameron administrations tracked down and button-holed the leaders of the 28 European Union delegations gathering in Brussels to finally vote on whether Hezbollah's "military wing' should be sanctioned, by labeling it a "terrorist" organization. Several conversations took peace between Israel's Tzipi Livni and the US State Department.
As of last Thursday (7/18/13) the project was by no means a done deal and only 17 EU members could be counted on "to do the right thing "as this observers contact explained. So 11 votes had to me nailed down fast and less than an hour before the EU vote, the last two EU hold-outs reluctantly went along.
When asked why, given all that was happening these days this region, the oft-delayed EU vote on Hezbollah could simply not just be put off again, this observer was advised it had to do with another European Union action and the tremors that it caused for the Zionist lobby, and their demands to the US State Department and the White House that something be done. Furthermore that the timing of the EU decision was a combination of pressure by the U.S. and Israel to compensate for recent decision by the EU to boycott products made in West Bank settlements. It was apparently influenced by Hezbollah's involvement n Syria.
Ms. Livni called John Kerry ever since the first EU votes and advised in no uncertain terms that Israeli leaders were enraged when the European Union issued its official guidelines on the funding of Israeli projects beyond the Green Line which will substantial block ability of Israeli settlements and other entities operating in the West Bank to receive grants and from EU member states. Israel, claimed Justice Minister Tzipi Livni wanted adequate compensation from the EU and she reportedly warned Secretary of State John Kerry that talks with the Palestinians might otherwise be affected. The bus bombing in Bulgaria had little to do with the timing. The timing of the EU vote was fixed by White House pressure.
Ms. Livni demanded three things from Kerry as the "price tag' of the Israeli government going thru the motions of appearing to be willing to resume negotiations and to state publicly that Israel will consider some sort of slow-down or temporary "time-out' for the frenzied construction project on the West Bank.
She got two of the three.
One of Livni's demands was the EU doing what it did and targeting with the "terrorist' label Hezbollah's military wing.
The second non-negotiable demand was that the White House appoint as Kerry's Chief Negotiator at any Israel-Palestinian peace negotiation the Israeli born arch- Zionist Martin Indyk. Kerrey, not happy and under Israeli lobby pressure, agreed and will name Indyk shortly Congressional sources reveal.
Mr. Indyk began his Washington career as an AIPAC staffer, served as executive director of an AIPAC think tank offshoot, the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, and then served two terms as the first foreign-born U.S. Ambassador to Israel where, according to Jeffrey Feltman, his longtime aid, "Martin taught me all I need to know about the Middle East, and that is about preserving Israel."
Indyk immigrated to the United States from Australia and later gained American citizenship in 1993. He wrote in the book Innocent Abroad, that: "I was first drawn to the Middle East through my Jewish identity and connection to Israel." Indyk now works at Brookings for a man he calls his "godfather," Haim Saban. Saban has said that his "greatest concern" is to protect Israel."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
