It seems that Yossi Peled, a retired general-turned-politician currently serving as Minister Without Portfolio in the Netanyahu cabinet, wants to sanction the United States in order to force Barack Obama to back down from his commitment to a settlement freeze. His specific proposals include “selling sensitive equipment that the Washington opposes distributing internationally, and allowing other countries that compete with the US to get involved with the peace process and be given a foothold for their military forces and intelligence agencies” moves that would be certain to backfire by depriving Israel of its valuable political capital inside the United States. But Peled also wants to deploy that capital in crude ways:
In what may be his most controversial suggestion, Peled recommends intervening in American congressional races to weaken Obama and asking American Jewish donors not to contribute to Democratic congressional candidates. He predicted that this would result in Democratic candidates pressuring Obama to become more pro-Israel.
I’m pretty certain that Peled’s suggestion of selling sensitive equipment to North Korea and giving Chinese intelligence a foothold in the Middle East would be more controversial than political attacks on congressional Democrats. Indeed, the political attacks are already happening. Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD), a strong supporter of measures for peace, came under fire from hawks and in response progressive Jewish group J Street helped her raise $15,000 from 270 donors in four hours.
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