Man bites dog! Israel wants to sanction the US!?

When I first read the headline with this piece, I thought, What are they going to do, stop buying our weapons with the foreign aid we send them?

I should know better than to try for political humor:

Israeli news outlets are reporting the leak of a letter from Israeli cabinet minister Yossi Peled to the rest of the nation’s cabinet, cautioning that the Obama Administration was going to adopt “a more balanced approach to Israel, including intensive pressure to stop building in settlements, remove outposts and advance the formation of a Palestinian state.”

It’s hardly earth-shattering in that respect, the administration has been publicly urging Israel to accept exactly that for weeks now. What is noteworthy is Minister Peled’s proposed strategies to combat this, including sanctions against the United States.

In particular, Israel would begin shifting military purchases, the bulk of which come from the US, to other nations, and offering influence to other nations willing to get involved in the peace process in a way more in keeping with Israeli interests. Incredibly enough, Peled, a member of the ruling Likud Party, also proposes political actions which seem to amount to an attempt at regime change in the US.

Peled suggests that the Israeli government become directly involved in next year’s US congressional elections, intervening against Democratic Party candidates in the hopes that the candidates would pressure Obama to adopt a more universally pro-Israel stance.

Then I thought, Just think of the United States as Delaware and Israel as Walgreens and it all makes sense, eh?

Which was followed by this thought: 2010 is going to be one interesting year. We're already changing our military strategy in Afghanistan to help keep the Democrats in power, while Israel is now threatening to campaign against them.

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