LAST FRIDAY'S Cavalier Daily helped bring attention to an act of vandalism that occurred on Beta Bridge. Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine were the victims of this act and suffered the destruction of their message, "Palestine deserves a state." By reporting on the vandalism, The Cavalier Daily prevented an underrepresented voice from being further suppressed at this crucial time. University students hardly can be blamed for being ill-informed on an issue that seems so far-removed from their lives, but controversy surrounding Palestinian statehood could impact the future of the United States.
Today, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be seeking full United Nations membership from the U.N. Security Council. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party has asserted "that attempt will fail." Of course, the decision is not up to him, but ultimately the five permanent members of the Security Council who may veto the bid: Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Russia and China, reflecting the prevailing world opinion, both have said they would favor Palestinian statehood. Great Britain and France are under pressure to accept in order to keep warm relations in Libya, though French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken in favor of timetables for bilateral discussion. President Obama is caught between his expressed commitment to self-rule in the Middle East and the domestic pressure to do Netanyahu's bidding.
The fact that Israel's right-wing parties enjoy significant support in the United States often has shaped U.S. foreign policy. In 2008, presidential candidate Obama said, "There is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel." Since then, President Obama has given and given to the hard-line Likud. Last year, the United States offered $3 billion worth of military hardware for a partial 90-day delay in settlement-building, an action that long has upset Palestinians. Netanyahu suggested he likely would not get approval from the right wing of his party, and the attempt at a "freeze" was abandoned. Needless to say, the United States continues to fund Israel's military, even in a time of fiscal austerity.
President Obama's acquiescence almost certainly is because of a well-funded and powerful network of lobbyists who advocate extensively on behalf of Israel's right-wing factions. Profs. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote a book, "The Israel Lobby," about this strain, which has succeeded in shaping foreign policy favorable to Israel even if it comes at a cost to U.S. interests. When their book was released, it was criticized extensively for daring to suggest such a notion. Regardless, the evidence continues to pile up in their favor. The lobby has vocally opposed Palestine's bid for statehood, as well as far more moderate advances for Palestine such as a pause on settlement building. Unfortunately, this lobby has succeeded in making anything other than fealty for Israel's right-wing parties a career hazard U.S. politicians.
This lobby's influence was displayed vividly this month with the special election in New York's 9th Congressional District, which was the former seat of Representative Anthony Weiner. The seat, which has belonged to Democrats since 1923, was won by Republican Bob Turner. Turner, who emphasized his commitment to Likud's dead-end policies, won at least partly because of the support of the 9th District's large Jewish population, which made loyalty to Israel a major topic of the election. Text messages allegedly connected to his campaign declared that "[Democratic candidate] David Weprin will abandon Israel as an ally to America." Turner even gave his victory speech flanked by the flags of the United States and Israel. Such a display of commitment to a foreign nation likely would shock his constituents were it any nation aside from Israel.
President Obama, the risk manager, clearly takes this lobby's influence into account. His administration tried to prevent the Palestinian issue from coming before the Security Council because it was clear that such a vote would not have positive consequences for the United States, regardless of the outcome.
President Obama's Wednesday address at the United Nations defended his willingness to veto Palestine's bid, but his Republican adversaries persist in accusing him of betraying Israel. Meanwhile, the president's move is likely to do terrible damage to the United States' standing in the international community and the Muslim world in particular. After his expressed support for the values of the Arab Spring, opposing Palestinian statehood at this juncture only would inspire anti-Americanism throughout the Middle East. Alas, looking at the long run is not likely to win anyone votes next November.
Acknowledging voices sympathetic to the Palestinian cause will help balance the discussion and remove the bizarre norm that holds loyalty to Likud's extremists is mandatory for U.S. politicians. To do otherwise would be to let Israel continue to sink into diplomatic isolation and drag the United States down with it. Hopefully, University students will feel concern about the fate of not one, but three nations.
Sam Carrigan's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at s.carrigan@cavalierdaily.com.
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