No Linkage

ZOA To Obama: Stop Linking Help On Iran To Israel's Submission On 
Palestinian State

May 8, 2009
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morton A. Klein
Phone 1: 212-481-1500



The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has expressed deep concern that 
the Obama Administration is linking Israeli submission to the 
establishment of a Palestinian state which will surely be a terrorist 
state on Israels longest border with American willingness to assist Israel 
in facing the mounting and existential Iranian nuclear threat. It is 
threatening Israel with little or no help in facing the mounting Iranian 
nuclear threat unless it accedes to establishing a dangerous Palestinian 
state. President Obama is ignoring the threat posed by Iran to America and 
other Western states, not simply Israel.



The evidence for this pressure is readily apparent in recent statements by 
top Obama Administration figures:



1. Vice-President Joseph Biden strongly suggested U.S. opposition to any 
Israeli military action against Iran to prevent it obtaining a nuclear 
weapons capacity.



2. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared to lawmakers on Capitol 
Hill that Israel cannot expect strong American support in countering the 
Iranian nuclear threat unless it moves forward and makes concessions to 
the Palestinians.



3. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told pro-Israel activists that, 
against the background of the growing Iranian threat, the Obama 
Administration means to push hard for the creation of a Palestinian state.





Statements by senior Obama Administration figures:



         Vice-President Biden: [Asked whether he was concerned that the 
Israeli government might strike Iranian nuclear facilities] I dont believe 
Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill advised to 
do that (Paul Richter, Biden warns Israel off any attack on Iran, Los 
Angeles Times, April 9, 2009).



Secretary Clinton:  For Israel to get the kind of strong support its 
looking for vis-a-vis Iran it cant stay on the sideline with respect to 
the Palestinian and the peace efforts, that they go hand-in-hand [every 
Arab official she has met] wants very much to support the strongest 
possible policy toward Iran [but] they believe that Israels willingness to 
reenter into discussions with the Palestinian Authority strengthens them 
in being able to deal with Iran (Glenn Kessler, Clinton counters Israeli 
stance on Palestinians and Iran, Washington Post, April 24, 2009).



         Rahm Emanuel
: Relations between Israel and the U.S. are unbreakable, Emanuel said 
before a gathering of 350 AIPAC donors, adding that this is the moment of 
truth for Israel and the Palestinians. He also declared that Iran is the 
number-one threat to the Middle East, and noted that it is hard to make 
progress wherever Tehran is involved in the Middle East. Emanuel called 
for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation if Iran is to be countered 
effectively. (Barak Ravid and Natasha Mosgovaya, Obama gets tougher with 
Israel on Palestinians, Iran, Haaretz, May 5, 2009).



Some commentary on Obamas Iran-Palestinian linkage



         Former Israeli official and frequent commentator on Arab-Israeli 
affairs, Yoram Ettinger: Irans megalomania and its drive to obtain nuclear 
capabilities, are a derivative of its 1,400 year old goal to dominate the 
Persian Gulf and the Muslim World. The pursuit of such a goal is shaped by 
domestic and Gulf realities, Iran's rivalry against Iraq and Saudi Arabia, 
US military involvement in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean and the Putin 
Cloud hovering above the region. Iran's nuclear ethos has not been driven 
by the Palestinian issue or the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is independent 
of Israel's policy and existence  The linkage concept advances Iran's 
fortunes. It makes the anti-Iran campaign a hostage in the hands of 
Palestinian terrorists, diverts some of the criticism away from Iran, 
provides Teheran with additional time to develop nuclear capabilities and 
enhances Iran's domestic and regional legitimacy (Self Destruct: 
Iran-Palestinian linkage, Yediot Ahronot, May 8, 2009).



         David Horovitz, Editor in Chief, Jerusalem Post: Israeli is 
entirely convinced that the Iranians will not prove amenable to diplomacy, 
and broadly certain that Iran will not be shifted from its nuclear course 
by anybody or anything short of radical action For now, America is talking 
diplomatic engagement with no firm time limit, leverage via vital Iranian 
energy imports, and that pointlessness, or worse, of military action  In a 
bitter Jerusalem, the point is acerbically made that [Defense Secretary 
Robert] Gates publicized reluctance for military action has taken all the 
pressure off Teheran. And if Teheran is not afraid of military action, 
runs the Israeli thinking, it will be all the more robust in resisting 
sanctions (Editors notes: The rupture, Jerusalem Post, May 7, 2009).





ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, One only needs to peruse 
these statements from Obama Administration officials to see that the Obama 
Administration is increasing pressure on Israel to agree to its policy of 
establishing a Palestinian state, linking it to U.S. support. 
Specifically, it is making it clear that, if Israel is to have any kind of 
(unspecified) support in ending Irans drive to obtain nuclear weapons. 
Also, Vice-President Biden, Secretary Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee head Senator John Kerry (D-MA) are all giving speeches 
repeatedly promoting establishing a Palestinian state. When one adds to 
this the context of the U.S. government opposing Israel taking independent 
military action if Iran fails to disarm and the past withholding of 
bunker-busting bombs and other military materiel that would be used in 
such military operations, the high degree of pressure being exerted is 
even more obvious.



This is not the behavior of an ally committed to Israels security. It is 
for Israel itself to decide which steps can be taken to create peace and 
whether that prospect even at present exists. It is not for the United 
States to impose a policy on Israel that affects its vital interests and 
very existence, least of all with implied threats that Israel will be 
abandoned in its quest for security against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons 
if it does not do as Washington wants.



The notion that setting up a Palestinian state will thereby end the 
conflict is a delusion based on the mistaken idea that Palestinians accept 
Israels existence as a Jewish state and merely seek their own state living 
peacefully alongside Israel. Moreover, polls of both Americans and 
Israelis show strong opposition to creating a Palestinian state.



ZOA has repeatedly pointed out, as recently as yesterday, that the 
Palestinian Authority leadership have repeatedly and explicitly rejected 
accepting Israel as a Jewish state, that both Fatah and Hamas do not 
accept Israels existence and are committed to both terrorism and Israels 
destruction in their respective charters; and that Palestinian society 
rejects Israel and approves of terrorism waged against it.



The entire pro-Israel community needs to send a strong message to the 
Obama Administration that it finds these implied threats unacceptable and 
incompatible with the behavior expected of an ally. It must speak clearly 
and repudiate in detail the notion that Arab states somehow need Israel 
sacrificed before they can act in their own interest in concert with the 
U.S. to prevent Iran obtaining weapons of mass destruction.



The only connection between the Palestinian war on Israel and Irans drive 
for nuclear weapons is that both Palestinians and the Iranian regime seek 
to eliminate Israel. The United States commitment to Israels security (as 
well as its own) is meaningless if it will relinquish efforts to prevent 
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons or pressure Israel into establishing a 
Palestinian state under current conditions.