In diplomacy, no news is usually bad news. On Tuesday Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, met President Obama in talks that stretched over a period of three and a half hours. But Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu failed to pose for a single photograph afterwards, or provide even a cursory joint statement. What had made it impossible for the two men to present even a mask of optimism and agreement? The silence fuelled suspicions that relations between Israel and its closest ally are at their lowest ebb for decades.
The cause of the impasse is the Israeli settlements in Arab east Jerusalem. Mr Netanyahu’s position has been that the settlements are nonnegotiable, setting Israel on a collision course with Mr Obama. Israel’s timing could scarcely be worse. In January, Israel sparked a row with Turkey over a diplomatic snub. And this week Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat in the belief that Mossad had forged British passports to effect an assassination in Dubai. So Israel has snubbed the world’s most powerful nation, alienated its closest Muslim ally and infuriated Britain. After three own goals in quick succession, how many more simultaneous problems can Israel handle?
O.K., so Israel is to treat Jerusalem as a “settlement?” The U.S. State Department has always harbored anti-Semitic sentiment and I now fear that the White House also does. It must be an interesting dilemma for American Jews to see that their chosen one for POTUS is not such a big supporter of Israel. (Interesting note – their is only one Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives – who is he or she?)
What is most troubling to me is that Israel will likely now feel obliged to activate their sleeper agents within the U.S. government, ala Jonathan Pollard, as a means to defend against any double crosses by the Obama administration. Israel will gladly sell out the most sensitive U.S. secrets to ensure their survival. Given that they almost lost the 1973 war and came perilously close to being completely overrun, they will never let that happen again, even if they have to turn the Mid-East into a nuclear slag heap.
You wonder if the American Jews will support POTUS when American soldiers are sent in to remove the Jews from Jerusalem? Maybe a bit far reaching but where will this craziness end.
To my mind, the current US President is showing his Islamic roots in his dealings with Israel.
Agree 100% with #3 A Senior Priest.
Hooray for your honesty and intelligence.
bl
It is way past time to review the costs and benefits to the United States of being an “ally” of Israel. It appears to me there are huge costs and few benefits for the US and Israel always seems to be calling the shots.
#3….
While we can argue about appropriate amounts to budget for the support of Israel, it is not about “benefits”. It’s about protecting a friend who is literally an island surrounded by those who would destroy her in an instant, or try to. Surely you understand that. Are you ready to write her off?
Yes, we need to argue restraint with them, but that’s really a “do as I say, not as I do” scenario isn’t it?
I have no interest in supporting the state of Israel, not least because their attitude to the USA seems to be that on all important matters, we dance to their tune, not they to ours.
With “friends like that” (#4), a friend that steals our secrets and that owes its nuclear arsenal to such theft, “who needs enemies.”
However, I would agree to our protection of the state of Israel on the understanding that we call the shots as their patron and protector, not they.