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An e-newsletter delivering updates and analysis on current issues about Israel and the Middle East conflict

June 7, 2011

It's time for President Obama to accept the reality: You can't make peace with evil people

Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

While all new U.S. Presidents have come into office believing they can spur momentous global changes---and especially help bring peace to the Middle East---none has been so singularly unsuccessful as President Obama.

First, Mr. Obama believed he could win over the Muslim world by reversing Bush-era policies of hostility toward Islamic terrorists and the countries that support them. Obama believed that by extending an olive branch to Muslim nations and their people, he could win them over---convince them to be more cooperative with the U.S. This initiative has failed miserably. Not only has Obama alienated allies like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, but according to a recent Pew poll, the U.S.'s popularity among most Muslim peoples has dropped significantly since Obama became president.

Second, Mr. Obama believed he could achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians by pressuring Israel to make greater concessions for "peace" than any U.S. president in history. This strategy, too, has failed. The Palestinians have still largely refused to negotiate despite Israel's agreement to a nine-month settlement freeze and a standing invitation to resume talks. In fact, the Palestinians have been more disrespectful of the U.S.'s attempts to mediate peace talks than ever, a fact highlighted by the Palestinian Authority's recent reconciliation with the terrorist group, Hamas.

The President seems unable to accept the fact that some people are just evil. They don't want peace, they want to conquer Western culture, they want to kill Jews. When you try to make friends with evil people, they simply think you are weak, and they become that much more difficult to deal with.

We can only pray that the President read this week's FLAME Hotline article, an op-ed by columnist David Brooks, which appeared last Friday in The New York Times. Brooks uses the word "depraved" to describe our enemies in the Middle East and he exhorts the President to change his policy toward them.

As you know, Israel faces enormous pressure because of the upcoming effort of the Palestinians to have themselves declared a state by the United Nations in September. For this reason, we must increase efforts to insist that President Obama stand by Israel and lobby other nations to oppose the Palestinians' latest effort to avoid negotiations with the Jewish state. Above all, we must insist that the U.S. veto any attempt by the Palestinians to have a state imposed unilaterally on the region. I urge you, using the Forward to a Friend button below, to pass Mr. Brooks's outspoken article on to your family, friends and associates. Israel needs us now, and this is one important way you can help.

Best Regards,

Jim Sinkinson
Vice President, FLAME

P.S.

We both know that Israel faces a tough PR battle in the U.S. and in the United Nations, whose notorious Human Rights Council has scheduled its annual Israel-bashing event for this September in New York City. But FLAME is fighting back in advance: We're focusing the world's attention on the hypocrisy of the U.N. which completely ignores horrible crimes against humanity committed by the Arab world. If you, too, believe we should seize the offense against Israel's enemies, I recommend you review FLAME's latest position paper: "Apartheid in the Arab Middle East: How can the U.N. turn a blind eye to hateful, state-sponsored discrimination against people because of their race, ethnicity, religion and gender?" This piece is now appearing in magazines and newspapers, including college newspapers, with a combined circulation of nearly 5 million people. In addition, it is being sent to every member of the U.S. Congress. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. Remember: FLAME's powerful ability to influence public opinion comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you'll consider giving a donation now, as you're able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the support it needs---from the U.S. Congress, from President Obama, and from the American people.
P.P.S.

If you are not already a subscriber to the FLAME Hotline, I urge you to become a part of Israel's word-of-mouth public relations campaign . . . by signing on for a free subscription. The weekly Hotline will help you stay abreast of critical issues regarding Israel and help you become a more forceful advocate for her cause. Use the Subscribe Now button below this article.

The Depravity Factor
Assad, Qaddafi, Hamas—President Obama Has to Realize That You Just Can't Make Peace with Evil People
By David Brooks, The New York Times, June 3, 2011

By now you have probably heard about Hamza Ali al-Khateeb. He was the 13-year-old Syrian boy who tagged along at an antigovernment protest in the town of Saida on April 29. He was arrested that day, and the police returned his mutilated body to his family a month later. While in custody, he had apparently been burned, beaten, lacerated and given electroshocks. His jaw and kneecaps were shattered. He was shot in both arms. When his father saw the state of Hamza's body, he passed out.

The family bravely put video evidence of the torture on the Internet, and Hamza's martyrdom has rallied the opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's Baathist regime. But, of course, his torture didn't come out of nowhere. The regime's defining act of brutality was the Hama massacre in 1982 when then-President Hafez al-Assad had more than 10,000 Syrians murdered. The U.S. government has designated Syria a state sponsor of terror for 30 consecutive years. The State Department's Human Rights Report has described the regime's habitual torture techniques, including pulling out fingernails, burning genitals, hyperextending the spine, bending the body around the frame of a wheel while whipping the victim and so on.

Over the past several weeks, Bashar al-Assad's regime has killed more than 1,000 protesters and jailed at least 10,000 more, according to Syrian human rights groups. Human Rights Watch has described crimes against humanity in the town of Dara'a, where boys have been mutilated and men massacred. All governments do bad things, and Middle East dictatorships do more than most. But the Syrian government is one of the world's genuinely depraved regimes. Yet for all these years, Israel has been asked to negotiate with this regime, compromise with this regime and trust that this regime will someday occupy the heights over it in peace.

For 30 years, the Middle East peace process has been predicated on moral obtuseness, an unwillingness to face the true nature of certain governments. World leaders have tried sweet-talking Syria, calling Bashar al-Assad a friend (Nancy Pelosi) or a reformer (Hillary Clinton). In 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy invited Assad to be the guest of honor at France's Bastille Day ceremonies — a ruthless jailer celebrating the storming of a jail.

For 30 years, diplomats and technocrats have flown to Damascus in the hopes of "flipping" Syria — turning it into a pro-Western, civilized power. It would be interesting to know what they were thinking. Perhaps some of them were so besotted with their messianic abilities that they thought they had the power to turn a depraved regime into a normal regime. Perhaps some of them were so wedded to the materialistic mind-set that they thought a regime's essential nature could be altered with a magical mix of incentives and disincentives.

Perhaps some of them were simply morally blind. They were such pedantic technocrats, so consumed by the legalisms of the peace process, that they no longer possessed the capacity to recognize the moral nature of the regime they were dealing with, or to understand the implications of its nature. In any case, their efforts were doomed. In fact, the current peace process is doomed because of the inability to make a categorical distinction. There are some countries in the region that are not nice, but they are normal — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. But there are other governments that are fundamentally depraved. Either as a matter of thuggishness (Syria) or ideology (Hamas), they reject the full humanity of other human beings. They believe it is proper and right to kill innocents. They can never be part of a successful negotiation because they undermine the universal principles of morality.

It doesn't matter how great a law professor or diplomat you are. It doesn't matter how masterly you sequence the negotiations or what magical lines you draw on a map. There won't be peace so long as depraved regimes are part of the picture. That's why it's crazy to get worked into a lather about who said what about the 1967 border. As long as Hamas and the Assad regime are in place, the peace process is going nowhere, just as it's gone nowhere for lo these many years.

That's why it's necessary, especially at this moment in history, to focus on the nature of regimes, not only the boundaries between them. To have a peaceful Middle East, it was necessary to get rid of Saddam's depraved regime in Iraq. It will be necessary to try to get rid of Qaddafi's depraved regime in Libya. It's necessary, as everybody but the Obama administration publicly acknowledges, to see Assad toppled. It will be necessary to marginalize Hamas. It was necessary to abandon the engagement strategy that Barack Obama campaigned on and embrace the cautious regime-change strategy that is his current doctrine.

The machinations of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are immaterial. The Arab reform process is the peace process.

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