Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to visit the United States in a few days. He knows that he will meet the “traitorous” master of the White House, who has no respect for him. However, he also knows that the master fears his anger and the influence of AIPAC in the Congress-Knesset (the Congress is more loyal to Israel than the Knesset), and the coming mid-term elections. In order to avoid the appearance of dictating policy to Washington, Netanyahu has made some cosmetic steps, in preparation for the meeting-confrontation. Among these steps are an increase in the supplies allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, and the formation of an investigating committee – which practically all Israelis agree will be one of form only – to look into the Freedom Flotilla massacre, and a commitment to September as a date for resuming settlement activity in the West Bank. As for Jerusalem, no one may intervene in the process of Judaicizing the city, whether in terms of people (settlers) or history (landmarks). Netanyahu believes that these steps involve painful concessions. He will face Obama from a position of having offered immense services to him, to allow him to save face with his Arab friends and allies, and with himself, so that his speeches and promises remain credible (are these promises now part of history?). These services have also allowed Obama to give his friends space to confront their own peoples, which want the US to take a stand vis-à-vis the Jewish state. In return, Washington is preparing to meet Netanyahu, in its own way. All senior White House officials, beginning with Obama himself, are repeating America's total commitment to Israel's superiority, not to mention joint maneuvers by the two countries' armies, and Washington's support with weapons, intelligence and money, to enshrine this superiority. A few days before the visit, the American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Michael Mullen, flew to Tel Aviv to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, to achieve even more coordination, and perhaps to congratulate him over his crimes in Gaza and on the high seas. Moreover, they coordinated in the run-up to America's withdrawal from Iraq, and assigned some tasks to the intelligence branches of the two armies, so that Iraq does not remain an arena open to the Iranians, and so that the region remains subject to the logic of war. Netanyahu travels to Washington reassured that he is stronger, and that Obama cannot, even if he wanted to, change his policies. Regis Debray wrote a letter to his friend Elie Barnavi, the Israeli historian, in which he asked: “Who are you afraid of? You (Israelis) are authentic. They (the Americans) are a copy of you. Perhaps you will one day be a military-political protectorate. I doubt this, as much as they will be spiritually subservient to you. How can we render a judgment, with a little brother giving the tribe's words the same meanings that you do? Aren't you the children of European colonizers? (You ask about) Borders? In your view, borders are only a challenge, to be overcome. America is only a big Israel that has succeeded. Israel is a little America that suffers, and both have something in common. No one can hold you accountable.” Netanyahu is going as “the master of power” to meet with Obama, the “master of force,” and we await more wars.
