\tVoici quelques extraits de commentaires de la presse isra\u00e9lienne apr\u00e8s la nomination de Chuck Hagel \u00e0 la t\u00eate du Pentagone. Il ne fait aucun doute que la tonalit\u00e9 g\u00e9n\u00e9rale est d’appr\u00e9cier cette nomination, notamment comme un indiscutable durcissement de la politique am\u00e9ricaniste \u00e0 l’encontre d’Isra\u00ebl, voire une punition d’Obama \u00e0 la suite de la prise de position de Netanyahou en faveur de Romney. D’une fa\u00e7on g\u00e9n\u00e9rale, il n’est bien entendu pas question de voir dans Hagel un adversaire d’Isra\u00ebl, mais plut\u00f4t un r\u00e9aliste qui ne prendra pas de gants pour juger froidement, en fonction des int\u00e9r\u00eats US, la position \u00e0 prendre vis-\u00e0-vis des d\u00e9cisions politiques d’Isra\u00ebl ; un homme avec lequel les relations strat\u00e9giques privil\u00e9gi\u00e9es des USA avec Isra\u00ebl vont perdre nombre de leurs privil\u00e8ges.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\tQuoi qu’il en soit de la r\u00e9alit\u00e9 de la politique qui sortira de l’\u00e9pisode actuel, il est important de noter cette perception des \u00e9ditorialistes isra\u00e9liens, qui vient en notable contraste avec les derni\u00e8res affirmations officieuses ayant filtr\u00e9 du gouvernement isra\u00e9lien selon lesquelles Netanyahou n’avait aucune crainte et attendait d’excellentes relations avec Hagel. Mais, apr\u00e8s tout, et malgr\u00e9 le contraste, ceci compl\u00e8te bien et confirme cela… La r\u00e9serve de Netanyahou, contrastant avec diverses occasions o\u00f9 il manifesta des positions marqu\u00e9es vis-\u00e0-vis de la position US, s’accorde avec celle de l’AIPAC (le lobby pro-isra\u00e9lien) qui a abandonn\u00e9 toute id\u00e9e de s’opposer, dans tous les cas d’une fa\u00e7on ouverte, \u00e0 la nomination de Hagel. Officiellement, effectivement, les Isra\u00e9liens et leurs alli\u00e9s directs washingtoniens font plut\u00f4t le gros dos, craignant plus de d\u00e9g\u00e2ts que d’avantages d’une opposition marqu\u00e9e \u00e0 Hagel, alors que le m\u00eame Hagel semble avoir d\u00e9sormais pour sa nomination moins d’oppositions<\/a> qu’il pouvait craindre. Pour le fond des choses, les commentaires de la presse isra\u00e9lienne marquent, eux, un aspect pessimiste incontestable devant la nomination de Hagel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Sever Plocker, dans Yedioth Ahronoth<\/em>, le 8 janvier 2013, n’h\u00e9site pas \u00e0 rapporter le jugement selon lequel nombre de r\u00e9publicains pro-Isra\u00ebl au Congr\u00e8s jugent que Hagel peut \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme un gauchiste (\u00abFrom their point of view, he has undergone a radical change of political heart and he is now considered to be one of the despicable leftists.<\/em>\u00bb). Plocker \u00e9crit notamment :<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abUS President Barack Obama announced last night his intention to appoint former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his secretary of defensean announcement that will be the first course in the bitter meal that Obama intends to feed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In the course of the presidential elections Obama kept a poker face and didn’t respond to Netanyahu’s overt enlistment in support of the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney. Obama reined in his anger and sense of insult; now the time is slowly arriving to settle that score.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThat is not to say that Obama’s desire to punish Netanyahu for his intervention in the presidential elections played a decisive role in the decision to offer Hagel the Department of Defense. The Israeli factor in that decision was subliminal and secondary, but strong enough to tip the scales in favor. Hagel as the US secretary of defense is, as first written here, the worst nightmare of the right wing Israeli government that is expected to be formed here after the elections, according to the polls. But it isn’t only that future government’s worst nightmare. Judging by the numerous interviews that Hagel has given in the distant and near past, he comes across as a conservative politician who loathes what he perceives as the excessive influence wielded by the Jewish lobby in America, supports dialogue with Iran on its nuclear program (he scrupulously refrains from citing the military option), is opposed to intensifying sanctions and is prepared to extend a hand in reconciliation towards Hamas.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Orly Azulai, de Yedioth Ahronoth<\/em> \u00e9galement, juge que la nomination de Hagel repr\u00e9sente, de la part d’Obama, une volont\u00e9 de dialogue et de r\u00e9conciliation avec le monde, y compris avec ses ennemis, ce qui semblerait indiquer effectivement une distance nouvelle prise avec Isra\u00ebl, qui n’est pas pr\u00e9cis\u00e9ment r\u00e9concili\u00e9 avec le monde ni f\u00e9ru de dialogue avec ses ennemis. Azulai \u00e9crit le 8 janvier 2013 :<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abThe message to Jerusalem is clear: it won’t be easy from now on getting a green light from Washington to embark on an adventure in Iran. That is one of the reasons why top figures in Jewish organizations in the United States, as well as high-ranking Israeli political officials, have been spending the past number of weeks engaged in a concerted effort to prevent Hagel from being appointed. They argue that he is bad for Israel because he supports dialogue with Hamas and Hizbullah, and he doesn’t think that the solution to the Iranian nuclear program is war. Conversely, Hagel is the friend of liberal Jews who say that not a single past statement of his indicates that he doesn’t support Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe answer is that the new secretary of defense supports Israel, but from the opposite direction. He won’t applaud every Israeli course of action, but nor will he damage the security umbrella that theUnited States gives Israel. The only difference will be that the wind blowing from the direction of the Pentagon will be chillierbecause, among other reasons, he certainly won’t forget the people who all but committed character assassination against him and sent tentacles from Jerusalem to Washington in an attempt to prevent him from being appointed.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n