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!

CQ: FISA wiretap reveals Congresswoman (D) Jane Harman offered to lobby Justice Dept to go light on accused AIPAC spies

Volunteer agents who subordinate U.S. security and foreign policy interests to those of Israel are not uncommon in Washington. One such agent was convicted spy Larry Franklin who had a longtime reputation among Pentagon insiders as guy who would "empty his desk" into the satchels of visiting pro-Israel lobbyists. In 2006, Franklin was sentenced to twelve years in prison for playing Santa with classified documents.

Harman was not engaged in espionage, but she was offering to [help] lower the price of espionage intended to help Israel. In her oath of office, Harman pledged to "bear true faith and allegiance" to the Constitution of the United States. As the wiretap apparently reveals, she may have failed to uphold her oath

These charges first surfaced in 2006, but they were stifled by then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Now that it is known that Harman's malfeasance was captured on tape, it is clear that Gonzales blocked the investigation to avoid undermining a key Democratic ally. Harman worked hard to rationalize and protect the Bush administration broad domestic spying activities.

Update:

TPM raises the question that is on all our minds, namely why did the FISA wiretap get leaked now? I agree with the hunch that the Obama administration may be playing hardball with Israel's new Prime Minister Netanyahu, and with rightwing pro-Israeli lobbyists.

Lieberman to become Foreign Minister (updated)

Bibi still has negotiations ahead of him, but Avigdor Lieberman is certainly at the front to the train. (Lieberman is secular and his avowal of civil marriage offends the Jewish fundamentalists, so Netanyahu still has some tough bargaining to do with the so-called religious parties.)

For comparably preposterous appointment in the U.S. context, imagine David Duke as Attorney General or Rush Limbaugh as Secretary of State. The new Netanyahu government should help to drive a stake through the claim that the U.S. and Israeli are linked by a robust affinity of interests.

Lieberman, often described in Israel as a racist, resides in Noqedim, a West Bank settlement. Recall that one of President Envoy George Mitchell's objectives is to see a halt in the continuing colonization of the West Bank by Israeli settlers. Fat chance!

Some European reaction.

And this from Ken Silverstein: Uzi Arad, who is expected to serve as national security adviser in the next Israeli government, has been barred from entering the United States for nearly two years on the grounds that he is an intelligence risk. Mr. Arad, a former member and director of intelligence for the Mossad, Israel’s spy service, is mentioned in the indictment of Lawrence Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst who pleaded guilty in 2005 to providing classified information about Iran in a conversation with two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).