Olmert Tells It Like It Is (Again)

The New York Times reports (1/13/09) that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert is boasting that he insisted President Bush order Secretary of State Rice not to vote for the recent UN Security Council Gaza cease-fire resolution. Olmert says he demanded to speak to Bush even though Bush was in the middle of a speech and that Bush "got off the podium" to take Olmert's phone call. Olmert, aware that Rice had helped draft the resolution, brags that Rice was "left pretty embarrassed" when Bush followed Olmert's command and directed Rice to abstain. (The UN Security Council cease-fire resolution passed 14-0 with the US abstaining.)

One has to admire Olmert for telling it like it is, even if it is politically incorrect. The Israel Lobby is always denying that it controls US foreign policy against the interests of the United States. However, as professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt document in their best-selling book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, the Israel Lobby does have undue influence, and this has been damaging to America.

Take the Iraq War, for instance. The Israel Lobby neocons disseminated false intelligence to sell the war to the White House and the American people so as to benefit Israel. This war, whose long-term cost is estimated at $3 trillion, all borrowed, is considered the greatest foreign policy blunder in our nation's history. The Israel Lobby busily tried to deny that the war benefited Israel, but here again Olmert came right out and said "The Iraq War was a boon for Israel's security" and "Thank God for the power and the determination and leadership manifested by President Bush." (Reuters, 11/22/06)

In September 2008, Olmert stated publicly that in order to have peace, Israel must withdraw from occupied East Jerusalem and almost all of the West Bank. He also criticized the violence of the West Bank Jewish settlers labeling it an "evil wind of extremism." (Los Angeles Times 9/30/08) Olmert is correct: evil extremism is the root of our problems.