Off script with Uzi

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has tried to downplay his impasse with President Obama, which makes it all the more important that members of his government hew to the storyline. Over the weekend, his advisor (former) Mossad agent Uzi Arad, infamous in Washington for his role in handling convicted spy Jonathan Pollack, got off the farm in a revealing interview with Haaretz Magazine.

Arad has a cynical, even dismissive take on the prospects for making peace with Palestinians, and he insists that while Israel might reach it agreement with Syria, doing so would entail keeping much of the Golan for its wine, its land, its water and its view. He is intent that Arabs should not only acknowledge the fact of Israel's existence, but its legitimacy as a Jewish state. That Arad, like Netanyahu, should insist that Arabs validate Israel's moral legitimacy suggests an utter obsession with injustice inflicted upon Jews and a deafness to injustice visited upon Arabs by Israel. One need look no further than Gaza to see Israel's barbarism in practice.

Arad is also generously critical of the two former prime ministers--Olmert and Sharon--for fiddling with silly peacemaking while the threat from Iran grew. He is, like many Israelis, very much preoccupied with the prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, and he embraces the idea of a complete naval blockade of Iran (which, one infers, would provide a justification for an attack on Iran, should it lash out in retaliation).

He has apparently been threatened with being posted to the Court of St. James in retaliation for his deviation from script. Lucky Brits!