Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 9:21 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Assad & Netanyahu: BFFs (says Jerusalem Post)Step up, Jerusalem Post....
"Israel, Hezbollah, Iran are working with Assad"
Really? We get Hezbollah and Iran the part. But Israel?
Given that the Republicans are still a minority in the Senate, Obama's defeat on Tuesday was far from comprehensive. Even if it was, it does not follow that adopting a pro-Israeli position turns setback into success: the invocation that Obama needs "political empathy", making the analogy with President Clinton in 1994, when he "quickly adjusted his polices and moved toward the center" is shallow, both in its assumption of the same situation in 2010 and 16 years earlier and its dismissal of considerations beyond the domestic.
Beyond the Republicans, the US faces other powers --- from Ankara to Damascus to Tehran --- who wish to assert their influence in the region. So where is Washington's front line: in an artificial "empathy" at home or in a decisive move abroad to get a real gain, one which be useful at the ballot boxes in 2012 but have much greater benefits before that?
Those non-Jews who become citizens need to fully appreciate that the State of Israel is the national expression of the self-determination of the Jewish people.
Those who object to the new formula are doing untold damage to the sincerity of the Zionist mission, and make our case harder to explain.
Only by adhering to and proudly reinforcing our national character, not only to those who wish to join our people, but also to the nations of the world, will we validate our presence. Many nations actively promote their national mission, whether it is “American exceptionalism” or France’s “liberté, égalité, fraternité.”
Every nation has its national ethos, and Israel’s “light unto the nations” can only be expressed through its Jewish character, which we must state clearly and unequivocally.
Those who disparage clearly describing Israel as the eternal aspiration of the Jewish people provide ample ammunition to those who seek the end of our national existence.
