It seems that Counterpunch* has its twinkies in a huge wad over this essay by John Kerry in which he (gasp!) acknowledges Israel's right to exist and (hang on) even to defend itself. This perfidy, according to the microbrains at Counterpunch, constitutes an "unfettered pledge of fealty to Israel" and demonstrates irrefutably that "there's scarcely a dime's worth of difference between the major political candidates of both parties on the life-and-death issues of our time." Uh huh.
I was allowed to fly an air force jet from the Ovda Airbase. It was then that Israeli insecurity about narrow borders became very real to me. In a matter of minutes, I came close to violating the airspace of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. From that moment on, I felt as Israelis do: The promise of peace must be secure before the Promised Land is secure on a thin margin of land.
[ . . . ]
In this difficult time we must again reaffirm we are enlisted for the duration - and reaffirm our belief that the cause of Israel must be the cause of America - and the cause of people of conscience everywhere.
Read the whole thing. It sounds good. But we hear a lot of this kind of stuff in election years. Remember this?
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an address Monday to a group dedicated to maintaining close, cordial relations between the United States and Israel, Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush said Monday his administration would pull up U.S. diplomatic stakes in Tel Aviv and establish a new embassy in Jerusalem.
Speaking Monday afternoon, the Texas governor said should he be elected president, he would shift U.S. diplomatic operations in Israel to Jerusalem -- or, "the city Israel has chosen as its capital." His declaration was met by a round of applause.
Right. None of it worth the virtual paper it's printed on.
(*Found via IsraelInsider -- I don't ordinarily spend much time at Counterpunch)
