Netanyahu was on his way to the White House to reap the fruit of his pressure on President Barack Obama, when his army attacked a few ships carrying food aid to the besieged residents of Gaza. For him, the Freedom Flotilla has become more dangerous than a nuclear bomb. He mobilized all of his forces. He declared a state of emergency. He carried out a massacre in cold blood. Before this, he had gotten away with many massacres. The United States and Europe were always ready to provide a justification for any of his acts. The United Nations Security Council was at his service. Any resolution it took was vetoed by the United States. He turned the UN into a joke. No one has held Israel accountable, from the Kfar Qassem massacre, to the Gaza massacre, and the two Qana massacres. It was obvious that the Israeli government is headed for an escalation, after it confirmed that Washington had freed its hands in the region, following its decision to withdraw from the Middle East and leave it to its friends, with Israel as its leading ally. The Israeli government confirmed this when Obama met two weeks ago with members of Congress, who go further with their Zionism than Netanyahu himself. Some of them are more racist than his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. The occupant of the White House acknowledged to these members of Congress that at the beginning of his term, he encountered land mines in the Middle East. Obama did not mention who planted them. However, all of the indications coming from the White House, along with its retreat from its commitment to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region in a short period of time, halt settlements (the major impediment to peace) and begin permanent status negotiations, etc., - all of this cemented Obama's conviction that Israel had planted these mines, and that seeking its warm embrace instead of confronting the Jewish state would be better for him and his party, and safer than gambling on exerting pressure on Netanyahu, who has proven that his influence in Washington exceeds that of any American president. Obama has become convinced that his predecessors in the White House were right in supporting Israel. He gave its government an additional amount of money, to complete its preparations to confront the obsessive fear of missiles. Obama is searching for a place in the Arab world to set up radar installations, which will complement that of the Jewish state, to confront Iran. But the land mines in the Middle East have left Obama sending key members of his administration to Israel. Some of them have visited the leaders of the Jewish community and prominent rabbis in the US, to reassure them that he will not abandon “constant and permanent support for the only democracy in the Middle East,” especially since there are congressional elections coming, and the Republicans are threatening to make an opening among Jewish voters. Obama preferred to handcuff himself, by reneging on his commitments. He has moved closer to more extremist leaders. He has been silent about Nobel Prize winner and activist Elie Wiesel's call to take Jerusalem out of the negotiations. He rewarded him for his courage by inviting him to dinner at the White House. It is impossible to believe that Obama has taken all of these steps backward in return for an increase in donations by Jews to his party, in order to win the congressional elections. It goes farther than this. It is related to the US withdrawal from the Middle East: a military withdrawal from Iraq; finding a deterrent to Iran, so that it does not fill the vacuum. This will not take place without cooperation with Israel, and with friends who are ready for such moves. So, leave the region to Washington's friends, and help allies with arms and diplomacy from a distance, instead of a military entry into a quagmire. Depend on friends who protect America's interests, and Washington has adopted the strategy of General David Petraeus: resort to secret intelligence activity and the old methods, of supporting dissidents politically and militarily, if possible, without getting directly involved in the conflict. To carry out this strategy, friends are needed, led by the sacred ally Israel. Whenever its stock goes up in Washington, its megalomania increases and it loses its mind, getting involved in crimes, such as yesterday's massacre of the Freedom Flotilla. However, at the same time, it is getting further involved in blockading itself, surrounding itself with enemies.
