How Israel hopes to deconstruct Obama as it did Carter

A photojournalist jumps out of the way of a tear gas grenade thrown near his feet by Israeli soldiers during a protest against the construction of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah, Friday, July 31, 2009. Israel says the barrier is necessary for security while Palestinians call it a land grab.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

For now, the neocons in Washington are gone, and it's a tough deal for Israel. While they were in power, Israel felt reasonably secure that they would unquestionably back  its policy of expansion for what they call a 'Greater Israel', even if it meant unecessary war and civilian deaths of its Arab citizens.

In a most disturbing, but stirringly accurate account, Robert Parry points to the parallels faced by the Obama administration and the previous Clinton and more specifically Carter presidency. The latter, which became Israel's 'bête noire', suffered from collusion between Menachem Begin, who was Prime Minister of Israel at the time, and his Washington allies who were bent on punitive action for what they saw as too much even-handedness in Carter's approach to solving the Middle East problem.

As America has a tendency to suffer from amnesia when it comes to history, it is worth recapping what transpired after Carter practically forced Begin to sign the Camp David accords, through which Israel had to return the captured Sinai to Egypt.

While there is nothing new about Israeli interference into American politics, it might serve this administration well to try avoiding the same pitfalls. Begin had to do whatever was possible in tandem with his Republican 'friends' to prevent Carter's re-election, fearing he might impose a broader Israel-Arab peace deal in his second term.

In early September 1979, Begin authorized covert small arms shipments to Iran to be shipped via South Africa. In November of the same year, American hostages were seized at the American Embassy in Iran, which resulted in US sanctions against Iran. Carter was, by no means, a stupid man. He became aware of the Israeli/Republican plot for his downfall. They had signed onto the Reagan campaign, whereby they contacted Iranian leaders behind Carter's back, asking them not to release the hostages until Reagan's victory.

Read Ben Menashe's book 'October Surprise' for a detailed account of the plot.

Thus the Reagan election might not have been so much borne out of a popular vote, but rather through the machinations of an ally none too pleased with the politics of an American president  ' who was deemed insufficiently supportive of the Israeli cause.'

Could this happen again?

Yes, it could. Personally, I am bombarded with anti-Obama propaganda coming directly from people in Israel. I am sure that mine is not the only name on those mailing lists, as the campaign has gone totally viral. Be it scare tactics, emphasis on the name 'Hussein', recent criticism that Obama is an anti-semite bent on Israel's destruction. And where do you suppose the recent Republican obsession with Obama's birthplace originated?

Israel wants its American ally to instill regime changes in the Middle East, especially in countries which are hostile toward it.  Only after the Iraq invasion, did Americans perhaps realize that the cost in American lives had been too dear. (let alone that we left the country in shambles). It is working in concert with neocon have-beens to weaken Obama in any way they can, be it the 'birthers' movement, health care, the economic crisis, the wars, anything at all.

The thinking goes that a weakened Obama will have to relent and give in to Israel's demands. And Israel knows exactly how to stall long enough until a friendlier U.S. administration comes into the White House.