There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See
Some days your humble servant does not know whether to laugh or cry.
There is the amazing story out of Jerusalem this morning* (from YNET) that the Netanyahu government was “shocked” yesterday by the Obama Administration’s warm and rapid embrace of the new PLO-Hamas government.
Apparently, Netanyahu and his minions had been duped once again into believing the U.S. State Department line yesterday morning that it would adopt a “wait and see” attitude about what the new Palestinian government looked like before deciding whether to support it.
Apparently, Netanyahu and his minions had no idea that the U.S. State Department was merely waiting to see when the Israeli government would march out on a plank so that they could cut it off and further isolate Israel.
Therefore, it came as a “shock” when just two hours after the Netanyahu Security Cabinet announced to the world that it would sever contacts with the Palestinians that the U.S. rushed to the podium to declare its support for PLO-Hamas unity.
And still, the Netanyahu folks didn’t get it.
According to the same report on Ynet, an unnamed Israeli source in the Coalition said this following the State Department announcement:
“If the American administration wants to promote peace, it must call on Abu Mazen to put an end to the agreement with Hamas and return to the negotiations with Israel. Instead, the administration is letting Abu Mazen believe that forming a government with a terror organization is acceptable.”
Is it really possible that Benjamin Netanyahu still doesn’t get that it was never the Obama Administration intention to promote peace?
Is it really possible that Israel still does not know that every step the Obama Administration has taken has been to wring concessions out of Israel in support of the Palestinians–and that no amount of concessions will ever appease the Americans?
Is it really possible that Israel still does not know the extent to which the Obama Adminstation has embraced Hamas during the last six years–because, quite simply, it really does not see Hamas as a terrorist organization at all?
Is it really possible that Israel still does not know that even if Obama and Kerry ever thought that Hamas was a terror organization, there is no red line that the Americans will not cross–whether it be with Syrian chemical weapons, Iranian nuclear weapons, or with the Hamas charter that calls for Israel’s destruction?
Is it really possible that Israel still does not know that whatever the Palestinians do–shoot rockets at Israel, attempt suicide attacks, assault soldiers, support boycotts against Israel, attempt to delegitimize Israel in every international forum, or ply for membership in every United Nations organization, they will always have the Obama Adminstration’s support?
Is it really possible that Israel still does not know that whatever gestures it makes for peace–freezing construction in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria; releasing 78 Palestinian murderers; and proposing peace plan after peace plan (those of Barak and Olmert), the U.S. and the world will always blame Israel and only Israel for the failure to make peace.
And finally, is it really possible that Israel still does not understand that the U.S. has moved on? Negotiations are dead. Barack Obama and John Kerry supported PLO-Hamas rapprochement from Day One and let Abu Mazen know it.
Your humble servant’s dear departed father had a favorite expression that he used to describe the willful way that some people refuse to see the reality that is staring them in the face:
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
This is our misfortune in Israel this morning–to be led by a Prime Minister and a government that willfully and dangerously ignores reality.