Glick to Obama: 'You're Not Scaring Us'

Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post columnist and author of the forthcoming The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, reacted swiftly Sunday evening to President Barack Obama’s suggestion that he would warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that time is running out for Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians: “I think Obama needs to realize that he is not scaring us,” she said.

Obama made his comments in a Thursday interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, which was released Sunday afternoon. He warned that “the window is closing for a peace deal that both the Israelis can accept and the Palestinians can accept–in part because of changes in demographics,” and added that Israel was on a path “to what amounts to a permanent occupation of the West Bank,” along with international pressure and isolation.

Glick disputed Obama’s claims vigorously. “The demographic data [Obama] is using to threaten Israel with destruction are phony. Even officials at the U.S. Census Bureau privately acknowledge that demographics work in Israel’s favor and to the Palestinians’ detriment,” she said, noting that Palestinian growth had been inflated.

“When he talks about a permanent occupation, we speak of a permanent liberation. We are not ‘occupying’ the West Bank of the Jordan. These areas are part of the sovereign territory allocated to the Jewish people by the international community as far back as 1922. They were never granted to anyone else in a legally binding way. 

“More than three quarters of the Jews of Israel believe in incorporating all or parts of the West Bank into Israel on a permanent basis,” she added. “We know the two-state peace plan is a lie. We know the PLO wants to destroy Israel more than it wants a Palestinian state. And we know that we will not lose our Jewish majority if we incorporate the West Bank into Israel. 

“He says, beware and we say, ‘Bring it on. We aren’t afraid of you.'”