Israel and the U.S. have signed an unusual agreement not to extradite each other's citizens to the International Court in The Hague. Analyst Yoram Ettinger, Israel's former liaison to the U.S. Congress, discussed it with Arutz-7:
"The agreement is admittedly a unique one, but it is merely another expression of the unique relationship between the U.S. and Israel, which is based not only on strategic interests, but on similar value systems - what the Americans call the Judeo-Christian ethic. There is also a sovereignty lesson here for Israel in how not to subjugate our national security to changing and questionable fads in the U.N. and Europe...
"The U.S. of [ex-President] Clinton is very different than that of Bush. Clinton signed the charter [to join the International Court], but Congress made it clear to him that it would not ratify it. When Bush ran for President, he said he would not join this charter. Israel, which hesitated and even had a tendency to give in to the pressure and [be part of] the International Court, drew encouragement from the U.S. in this area, strengthening the correct position of not allowing the moods of Kofi Annan and the Europeans to determine the fate of our citizens and our approach to our own security.
Regarding the American plans for Iraq, Ettinger said,
"It is clear that the Americans have decided to topple Saddam's regime; this decision has been made. Whether it will be before or after the November elections is merely a tactical question. Bush has basically rejected the opinions of George Tenet and Colin Powell who want to negotiate with Saddam, and has given the nod to the ideas of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It's important that we remember this, because it's totally similar to our issues with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority; for some reason, we are choosing the Powell-Tenet approach, and are ignoring the just and correct Cheney-Rumsfeld approach to which Bush has, for now, given the preference."
"The agreement is admittedly a unique one, but it is merely another expression of the unique relationship between the U.S. and Israel, which is based not only on strategic interests, but on similar value systems - what the Americans call the Judeo-Christian ethic. There is also a sovereignty lesson here for Israel in how not to subjugate our national security to changing and questionable fads in the U.N. and Europe...
"The U.S. of [ex-President] Clinton is very different than that of Bush. Clinton signed the charter [to join the International Court], but Congress made it clear to him that it would not ratify it. When Bush ran for President, he said he would not join this charter. Israel, which hesitated and even had a tendency to give in to the pressure and [be part of] the International Court, drew encouragement from the U.S. in this area, strengthening the correct position of not allowing the moods of Kofi Annan and the Europeans to determine the fate of our citizens and our approach to our own security.
Regarding the American plans for Iraq, Ettinger said,
"It is clear that the Americans have decided to topple Saddam's regime; this decision has been made. Whether it will be before or after the November elections is merely a tactical question. Bush has basically rejected the opinions of George Tenet and Colin Powell who want to negotiate with Saddam, and has given the nod to the ideas of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It's important that we remember this, because it's totally similar to our issues with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority; for some reason, we are choosing the Powell-Tenet approach, and are ignoring the just and correct Cheney-Rumsfeld approach to which Bush has, for now, given the preference."