PrintOctober 18, 2009
The National Security Adviser and J Street
Commentary's Jennifer Rubin asks: what will National Security Adviser Jim Jones say at the upcoming J Street conference?
J Street is an anti-Israel group that poses as a pro-Israel group. J Street has close ties to higher-ups in the Obama administration. J Street has ties to George Soros-billionaire political kingpin, Obama supporter, and anti-Israel activist. J Street may even have an inner J Streeter in the White House troika of power players. J Street has an upcoming conference in Washington that showcases some of the most discreditable anti-Israel critics out there.
Congressmen who initially were listed as hosts of the conference are dropping like flies as they learn the true nature of J Street. Yet, the Obama administration hopes to give a boost to the conference by lending it a prestigious keynote speaker in the National Security Adviser. There are reasons Haaretz (the New York Times of Israel) felt compelled to recognize the glaringly obvious in yesterday's article "Obama embraces J Street".
But I digress.
Back to the original question: what will Jim Jones say?
I suspect that he will repeat what he said just last week at the American Task Force For Palestine shindig.
He will demand a reopening of the crossings from Israel into the Gaza Strip.
Memo to Jones: there are crossings open to allow a flow of food, medical supplies, and other humanitarian goods into the Gaza Strip. Other crossings were closed because Hamas and Islamic Jihad and other assorted terror groups have sent thousands of missiles into Israel.
Also. Egypt shares a border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza. Why are demands not made of the Egyptians?
What else might Jones say?
He might also slander Israel by saying that there is a "humanitarian crisis" in the Strip: adopting the view of Hamas and various adversaries of our ally Israel who promote this bit of agitprop.
There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. As aforementioned, food, medical supplies and other goods are entering at crossings that are secure. Any so-called humanitarian crisis can be laid at the hands of Hamas.
Any other pronouncements to be expected? Yes -- one very significant one.
Jones may very well put a stake in the teetering remains of the Road Map. This was a plan to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians formulated by a quartet of international entities: the US, the EU, Russia and the United Nations. The central principle of the plan was that reciprocal steps were to be taken by both the Israelis and Palestinians as steps towards a final peace agreement. They were confidence-building measures. The Road Map was all but eviscerated a few weeks ago and done in by a silencer. Dore Gold, Israel's former Ambassador to the United Nations noted the change:
As usual, the Quartet meeting in New York that issued the statement was held at a very senior level -- including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with the US special envoy George Mitchell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, and Tony Blair, the Quartet representative.At the outset, the statement discarded the principle of reciprocity, which not only is closely associated with the diplomatic principles advocated by Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but is also a fundamental axiom of international law. Astoundingly, the Quartet called on both parties to "act on their previous agreements and obligations - in particular adherence to the road map, irrespective of reciprocity (emphasis added)..."But the original road map was "performance-based" - movement from one stage to the next was contingent upon the fulfillment by both Israelis and Palestinians of their respective responsibilities. Now this critical element appeared to have been removed. True, the erosion of the road map was helped by past Israeli governments that plunged into permanent-status negotiations before the Palestinians fulfilled their obligations. But it is the new formal position of the Quartet that provides the final blow to the road map's carefully structured conditionality.
Jones all but pronounced the Road Map dead when he called for a move to final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians without preconditions. Significantly, he made this policy change before a group of supporters of Palestinians. Now he will probably balance it by saying it in front of J Street. Of course, that is not true reciprocity because J Street is anything but pro-Israel.
Not only were the carefully balanced reciprocity of the Road Map eliminated, but now the entire Road Map has been discarded. No preconditions means there are no obligations, no confidence-building measures at all required of the Palestinians or the Israelis.
This has not been the first time, nor will it be the last time, the Obama administration breaks promises and agreements with allies -- whether made by the previous administration (and endorsed by our Congress) or ones made by Barack Obama himself (think missile defense).
