Head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Research Division supports Obama’s approach to Syria
Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of Israel’s Military Intelligence research division, has concluded that “Syria would prefer a peace deal with Israel than maintaining ties with Iran, Hizbullah and other terror organizations, according to his testimony before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. [1]
The Obama administration has announced plans to return an American ambassador to Damascus and has sent Mideast envoy George Mitchell to Syria and Israel to explore the possibility of renewed Israeli-Syrian peace talks under U.S. mediation.
So the next time you hear that President Obama is “appeasing” the Arabs and harming Israel by working to revive U.S. relations with Syria and Syrian-Israeli peace talks, tell Obama’s critics that Israeli Military Intelligence backs him up: a peace deal with Syria would strengthen Israel’s security and weaken Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
What’s more, Israel’s National Security Council recommended last year that Israel should pursue peace talks with Syria during 2009 “to help contain threats from Iran’s nuclear program and Palestinian Hamas. [2] The report “argues for ‘paying the heavy price’ of an accord with Syria – the return of the occupied Golan Heights.”
“A senior Israeli official involved in preparing the report said U.S. President-elect Barack Obama should be asked to sponsor the negotiations with Syria, which were revived [in 2008] but have been conducted indirectly through Turkey. ‘The most important actor for Israeli-Syrian peace talks speaks English, and his name is Obama. Without very positive and significant U.S. involvement, the Syrian track, like the Palestinian track, will go nowhere,’ the official told Reuters.”
“‘We favor speeding up the talks with Syria, in hope of a breakthrough,’ the official said, adding that the Golan ‘is not too high a price to pay’ if Syria cuts off Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas and ‘scales back’ its ties with Iran.” - just what Israeli Military Intelligence now says Syria would do under a peace treaty with Israel.
[1] “Barak: Israel must back US peace plan,” by Rebecca Anna Stoil and Herb Keinon. The Jerusalem Post, August 4, 2009.
[2] “Israeli report urges peace progress with Syria,” by Dan Williams. Reuters, November 23, 2008.