Now, lets turn our attention to Israel

Congratulations to President Obama on his reelection. Although I believe he was far from what he promised in '08, he still has tried to do the right thing and has some legislative accomplishments.

But, if elections are to mean something...then it is time that our president has a serious sit down with Israeli leadership. Never more overtly than this past election (including Iran with the '79 hostage crisis) has a foreign government tried to interfere with internal United States politics. Nethanyahu stuck his nose where it does not belong, and we should feel no compunctions about being extremely forceful with Israel in the coming years to force a resolution to the Palestinian/Israeli question.

"According to the report published by the Congressional Research Service Israel has received more assistance from the US than 15 European countries did to recover from the devastation caused during World War II. More than 67 billion dollars of the Washington's aid to Israel has been in military, the report said. The astonishing report adds that the US has allocated 3.1 billion dollars, around one-fifth of its defense budget, to Israel this year alone."

Taken with the fact that Israel is now facing a very real threat from Iran in the form of its nuclear program and we have two very large leverage points to exert influence over Israeli policy. I want Israel to survive and exist. I firmly believe that if permitted to continue down the path it has been on in terms of settlements within occupied Palestinian territory and the refusal to permit the establishment of a Palestinian state, Israel will not survive...it will become a pariah and will loose any international support that it still has for its existence.

The cold truth is that eventually oil will run out in the middle east - 50 years, 100 years, 150 years, it doesn't matter. When it happens, the United States will no longer have any interest in expending resources in that area of the world. Once that happens, Israel will be on its own. Today's friend is tomorrows foe. Just ask Saddam Hussein (who received substantial support from the US during the Iran Iraq war) Assad, Mubarak, Marcos, and countless other leaders/countries who have gone from friend to other in our history.

Now is the time for Israel to strike a lasting peace with the Palestinians. It will have to accept terms that it does not want to, but if done correctly, Israel will gain the support of the international community (except Arab states that will never fully recognize it) for its existence within recognized geographic borders. Once that happens, Israel will have international support to defend itself from attacks by terrorist organizations or neighbors. Israel cannot last forever without that support.

Obama should now threaten to pull US aid to Israel absent Israel's willingness to sit down and give real concessions to come to a final resolution acceptable to all parties and ratified by the United Nations.