Netanyahu to Obama: No, Mr President. No return to pre ’67 borders

Respectful, calm, but firm in resolve, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu made it crystal clear to the President there will be no agreement as outlined by the President yesterday. If Obama thought that Bebe would roll over in the presence of the One, he badly miscalculated. Video below the fold. Listen as the PM outlines his conditions for peace, and reasons for his positions. Watch the grim face on the President.

To be fair, I never expected anything less from Netanyahu. But the President seems caught off guard. It’s Netanyahu’s reasons for his firm stance on the 1967 borders that impressed me most. It also makes Obama’s position so much more difficult. Obama gambled in setting conditions he must have known would not be accepted.

Indeed, it is a classic speech from a seasoned head of state, brilliantly educated, and a seasoned military leader. Listen to it all, and with Palestine headed full steam ahead to a UN resolution seeking recognized statehood, Obama’s headstrong gamble I think, and I’m no expert, puts the US in a real bind. Danger ahead.

Watch every second. From America Live on FNC. More analysis there.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DL4ihfM8M

Scott Bates, with the Center for National Policy, told us today Obama’s decision to insist on Israel withdrawing to pre ’67 borders surprised him and worried him as well, and one that seriously hurts Israeli’s bargaining power. It is, he said, like telling folks at a poker game which player is holding a royal flush. And in the middle of the “Arab Spring” it also further complicates an already unsettled middle east.

This could end up blowing up in the US’s face. Let’s hope not. At the very least AP at HotAir says it’s payback for Obama’s blindside yesterday.

Bibi knew this would be his golden opportunity to pay Obama back for yesterday’s speech, and darned if he didn’t seize it. It’s riveting. O was probably completely blindsided by it too, but no doubt realized quickly that this little history lesson would soon go viral in the media and online. Hopefully no meaningful agreements were reached earlier in their private meeting, because if they were, you can forget about ‘em now.

As for political blowback … Democrats publicly say American Jews are still solidly behind Obama. From the WaPo, page 3,

Democratic officials believe Obama will have no trouble winning the Jewish vote in 2012, but even a small dip in his popularity in Florida — a notoriously hard-won state — could create problems for him.

Recent events have cut both ways for Obama’s relationship with American Jews: While there is immense support for his tough approach to terrorism, especially with the recent killing of Osama bin Laden, uprisings in the Middle East have caused nervousness in Israel about what regimes may follow.

It’s a good recap and worth reading.

 

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

24 Comments

  1. Linda Mae on May 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    West is loud and clear about the folly of going back to the 67 lines.? Great article!
    ?
    http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/allen-west-obama-pre/2011/05/19/id/397020?s=al&promo_code=C4C4-1
    to quote him:
    In short, the Hamas-run Palestinian state envisioned by President Obama would be devastating to Israel and the world?s 13.3 million Jews. It would be a Pavlovian style reward to a declared Islamic terrorist organization, and an unacceptable policy initiative. “America should never negotiate with the Palestinian Authority- which has aligned itself with Hamas. Palestine is a region, not a people or a modern state. Based upon Roman Emperor Hadrian’s declaration in 73 AD, the original <span id="lw_1305931104_5" class="yshortcuts" style="border-bottom: 2px dotted #366388; cursor:…



  2. JollyRoger on May 20, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    Confronting the messiah with “reality” as a basis for lasting peace?? Hoy!? O displayed none of his usual swagger! Reminds me of Bubba (the other glory hound) Clinton’s Middle East Peace Summit in 2000- Bubba thought his magical charm could bring rainbows and unicorns to the Arabs and Jews…? Ending thousands of years of conflict and creating a new legacy for himself that would outshine his tryst in the Oval Office.? It’s sad the opportunism of our young, inexperienced, bastard-child presidents.



  3. johnboy111 on May 20, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    I never saw the one look so dumb?



  4. TomL on May 20, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    All that happened was that?the young president?got taken to the woodshed by an experienced politician. He also told the syrians to stop killing their people and they’re not listening. What else today, oh the chinese gave 50 military jets to Pakistan. No one listens because?they know?the are no consequences, the chinese and russians will undermind obama all the way. Its truly a sad day for America.



  5. GdavidH on May 20, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Benjamin Netanyahu= statesman with an understanding of who and what he represents.

    Obama= empty suit, propped up by a class of gov’t dependants and gov’t/academic elitists.?

    Why would any jewish person or Israeli (not all Israeli’s are jewish)?support?this president?



  6. concernedat18 on May 20, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    The only change of Israeli borders id support would be an expansion.



  7. ricbee on May 20, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    Bibi put it to the yong president. I thought Isreal giving them Gaza might do some good,but we can see the only thing the Jews got for thier pains was more rockets. But I do believe if the Palestinian People could vote,they’d vote to let Isreal run the every inch of the West Bank & Gaza. The Gaza strip was a beautiful prosperous place when I went thru Rafa 23 years ago.



  8. Tim-in-Alabama on May 21, 2011 at 1:10 am

    Accepting the ’67 borders is just another step toward moving toward the ’47 borders.



  9. gillie28 on May 21, 2011 at 2:38 am

    God’s plans and prophecies come through Israel and the Jewish people, so evil has consistently tried to destroy both throughout the ages.? “Politics” is the current weapon of??choice by the “evolved,”?coupled with threat of?physical annihilation by those still in a Middle Age mentality.?? As the Scripture states,? …”for he that toucheth you (Israel)?toucheth the apple of his (the Lord’s) eye ” (Zech 2:8).



  10. gadsdenII on May 21, 2011 at 5:41 am

    ?I wish Netanyahu could be our president.? He is a leader!



  11. winnie888 on May 21, 2011 at 9:05 am

    And that, my friends, is how a leader addresses the world.? No condescension, no “let me be perfectly clear” comments, no sneering…just a very well educated man with the experience necessary to run a nation.? Netanyahu is great at protecting Israel & its people.? As usual, Obama shot off his mouth and is paying the price for it when someone smarter, more committed and more experienced shows us that our president knows next to nothing when it comes to international affairs.



  12. TomL on May 21, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Watching the news last night the left complained about the PM disrespecting the young president. The right says there was no disrespect, just a statement of facts. I can only think back to the times when obama dissed the Supreme Court in his State of the Union Address and how he ripped Paul Ryan when obama gave his newest budget proposal. Netanyahu was having none of that. At the nominating convention he chose Biden for his foreign policy experience, is he listening to Biden or even Hilary, or is Mr I Won a Nobel Peace Prize shooting from the hip with the future of America at stake.



  13. sammy22 on May 21, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Two Presidents in row who “shoot from the hip”? Boy, I am impressed. All we need now is Wyatt Earp.



  14. David R on May 21, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    Wouldn’t it be simpler to open our doors to any and all Jewish immigrants from Israel in exchange for peace? Seems to me we could accept their whole population and be better for it. In that case we wouldn’t have to worry about the consequences of ?being Israel’s best and only real friend in the world; especially since the way they treat their best friend can be embarrassing. Israel certaininly is in a tough spot and has been from the beginning, when Europe’s remaining Jews fled from a place immense loss and sorrow to one that had not been their home for more than a thousand years. And in so doing displaced a people as worthy as they are to occupy the land and live in peace.? The tragedy is that we are dealing with victims on both sides.



  15. Linda Mae on May 23, 2011 at 3:44 am

    If Israel ceases to exist, the next country to be attacked will be the US.? Jews have lived in that region as long if not longer than other groups.? There is NO? ethnic group called Palestinians.? All of that region was once called Palestine by the Europeans.? If I can quack like a duck but am actually a rabbit, then I am NOT a duck.? Same principle.? Some history lessons are needed. Israel deserves to exist.



  16. Anne-EH on May 23, 2011 at 6:59 am

    The BIG DIFFERNCE between a leader and a wanabee was on display this past Friday and it was not President Barak Obama as the LEADER. That was Prime Minister?Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was that LEADER this past Friday in that meeting.



  17. RoBrDona on May 23, 2011 at 10:17 am

    The thing that is always hanging over any talks on the Palestinians, is that their fellow Arabs don’t want them either – they would much rather import?a million educated ethnic Indians who actually work without snivelling.? Bibi and a succession of Israeli leaders has been calling their bluff for so long that their value as political bargaining chips continues to erode.? I expect their high point was a brief period under Arafat. ?Now they are only as good as their last rocket attack or murder. ?The only people that place much value on them is American progressive/socialists. ????



  18. David R on May 23, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    There’s a couple things mentioned here that aren’t quite right. First: there is a Palestinian people. I ?know Palestinians. Check your sources.?? As I mentioned earlier, there are two sets of victims here: the Jews of central and eastern Europe and the Palestinians who occupied the land that is now Israel.? Israel was not established because of any agression by Palestinians or other peoples of the Middle-east. Rather,?the necessity for a defensible homeland for?European?Jews?grew from the horrendous crimes against them that occured within the borders of Christian nations. In their understandable efforts to protect themselves, European Jews have displaced another group (Palestinians) with an historic claim to the region.? My pessimistic view is that peace is most likely to occur only after the?end of memory: when displaced Palestinians and the next few?generations have passed from the scene.



  19. gillie28 on May 24, 2011 at 3:25 am

    David, to be accurate: (1)? there were always Jewish people living in Israel – by whatever name it was called.? They were mostly religious Jews.? (2)? It was the Mufti of Jerusalem (the Muslim leader) who ordered the Muslims living there to leave in 1948.? This was because the recently declared Jewish state (by the UN) was surrounded by millions of Arabs poised to attack them, and it never occured to him that the Jews would survive the onslaught.? (3)? The arabs living in that region had migrated there from different tribal areas of what we now call the Middle East, and there were no national boundaries until France and England divided the region up between them and appointed friendly leaders.? There was no Palestinian people, period.? No Palestinian language, culture, history, currency, etc.? Didn’t exist.? “Palestina” was a name given to the region by the Romans when they conquered and ran it and it was occupied by Jewish people back then – Islam didn’t even exist.? (3) The Arab refugees who left were mostly kept in camps as political tools by Arab states, many of them had remained in what we now call “Jordan.” ?The best and brightest were allowed a sort of temporary residency in countries like Saudi Arabia, with the…



  20. gillie28 on May 24, 2011 at 3:34 am

    (sorry, lost half the post!!!).?? Saudis paying for their international education.? (4)? The leaders of Arab states kept Israel as the focus of hatred because it deflected attention from their own corrupt plundering of their respective nations and peoples.? (5)? Whatever their mistakes, Israel (nationa and people) are the heart of God’s plans and purposes for this planet, whether anyone believes it or not.? It is a miracle that they survived.? The irony is that many Arabs would find Jewish blood in their dna because most of the Jewish tribes were exiled and dispersed and absorbed into other regions of the Middle East thousands of years ago!



  21. gillie28 on May 24, 2011 at 4:55 am

    Would also like to add that many Arabs migrated to the region after the Zionist movement of the late 19th and early 20th century began restoring the “homeland.” ?When communal Jewish groups recovered swamp land, brought medicine, education and more prosperity to the area, it attracted Arabs from all over the Middle East.? This is not to say that there weren’t Arabs living there for centuries either.? So, the history, economics, politics and spiritual imports of Israel are far more complicated and complex than the simplistic version given by certain politicians and vested interests.? Practically speaking, restoring the 1967 borders would be suicidal for Israel, because who believes Hamas wants to live in peace within ANY set boundaries.? Let’s get real: Israel has always been the one making concessions and getting nothing in return.? In the words of King David, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.? Genuine, natural and spiritual peace.



  22. Anne-EH on May 24, 2011 at 8:31 am

    Got to remember that God in calling Abraham, Genesis 12:1-4, saying that God was “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”, in regards to Abraham’s decendents, the Jewish people. Could a form of cursing be telling Israel what type of borders to set?



  23. Lynn on May 24, 2011 at 9:17 am

    WOW, Gillie, I am in awe.? Your history all sounds credible to me. You win!!!



  24. David R on May 24, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    Gillie. Convincing,??but not quite factual. There is plenty on the web about the formation of Israel, if you can find the objective sites.? From the web: Census data for the region, which tends to be unreliable, shows? a large population of? Palestinian Arabs living in the region ….In the late? 19th century for example about 400,000 compared to 10-15,000 Jews.? In 1948 after a period of mass migration of Jews from central Europe, ?the population of the region was estimated at? about 1.35 million Arabs and 650,000 Jews.? Also in 1948 the UN reported 700,000 Palestinian refugees. The only way to deal with the propaganda coming from both sides is to fact check until you are realively sure you’ve got the whole story.? Our compassion and committment to Israel has led to laziness about getting the whole truth, and we’ve ended up in a situation where the tail(Israel) wags the dog (USA) and we seem to be OK with it. Go figure.



Netanyahu

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