Posted on 03/21/2010 3:48:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
President Obama himself will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu next week. Peter Beinart on the fallout for Netanyahu in the Mideast.
Israel’s diplomatic war with the United States will likely end the same way its real war ended last year in Gaza: ambiguously. There will be no white flags or mission accomplished signs, just a slight tilt in the balance of power, a modest moving of the trench lines. Those lines aren’t fully demarcated yet, but in important ways the outcome is already clear: Barack Obama has won. He’s won because he’s hurt Benjamin Netanyahu more than Netanyahu has hurt him. For decades, the relationship between an American president and an Israeli prime minister has resembled two guys with revolvers pointed at each other’s heads. For an Israeli prime minister, alienating your biggest patron is an excellent way to lose power—as Yitzhak Shamir learned after his showdown with George H.W. Bush and James Baker in the early 1990s. But for an American president, fighting with Israel almost always guarantees a fight with Congress, which tolerates little criticism of the Jewish state. If round one went to Netanyahu, things are looking very different in round two. Obama’s first confrontation with Netanyahu—when the White House demanded a halt to the growth of settlements in the West Bank early last year—didn’t go particularly well. Prodded by groups like AIPAC, many in Congress criticized Obama for bashing an ally. And even as Netanyahu’s U.S. allies peppered the White House with political buckshot, in Israel, Obama’s gun fired blanks. Perhaps overly impressed by the Shamir analogy, Obama administration officials confidently predicted that Netanyahu would suffer immense political pain for having scuffled with the White House. In fact, it wasn’t Netanyahu’s approval ratings that nose-dived; it was Obama’s. The White House was forced to swallow a merely partial and temporary halt to settlement growth, and polls appeared suggesting that Obama was wildly unpopular in the Jewish state. But if round one went to Netanyahu, things are looking very different in round two. After Israel announced new building in east Jerusalem during Joe Biden’s visit there, thus imperiling proximity talks that the Obama administration had been laboring mightily to arrange, the White House reacted with fury. Alarmed, AIPAC soon urged members of Congress to begin lobbing grenades over the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fence. Republicans, and a few hard-line Jewish Democrats, complied. Interestingly, however, most Jewish congressmen refused to join in. To the contrary, Howard Berman, the influential chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, declared that “the administration had real justification for being upset.” California’s Dianne Feinstein announced that “the chronic expansion of settlements is a serious obstacle.” Even the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (we Jews have so many “major” organizations that the organizations themselves need an organization)—not a group known for its even-handedness when it comes to Israel and its neighbors—called on “all parties” to “act in a manner that does not undercut” peace talks.
If that wasn’t enough, Obama got political backup from an unlikely quarter: Centcom Commander and red-state heartthrob David Petraeus, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the “perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel” foments anti-Americanism and strengthens al Qaeda and Iran. Meanwhile, in Israel, Netanyahu has been having a rougher time. Early polling is contradictory: Some surveys show him losing support while others show his approval numbers holding steady. But political elites have been treating him like a piñata. Shimon Peres, who as Israel’s ceremonial president usually remains above political spats, warned that “we cannot afford to unravel the delicate fabric of friendship with the United States.” Netanyahu’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, who also leads the Labor Party, noted that a peace process with the Palestinians is “one of the things that anchors us in the government”—implying that if Netanyahu keeps sabotaging peace talks, Labor could pull out. Nahum Barnea, one of Israel’s most revered journalists—and no knee-jerk lefty—urged Netanyahu not to attend this Monday’s AIPAC conference so as not to further alienate liberal American Jews.
There’s no point in exaggerating Obama’s victory. It’s unlikely that the East Jerusalem housing expansion that began this row will be formally reversed. Nor does Israel’s right-wing coalition government seem likely to fall any time soon. But Netanyahu will find it harder to torpedo upcoming talks with the Palestinians or to ensure that nothing of substance gets discussed. More importantly, Obama has shown that he can take on Netanyahu and inflict more political damage than he incurs. Both sides will remember that the next time.
You can compare their speeches on youtube. Obama's was a laughing stock.Bibis was the speech of a patriot ,dedicated to the freedom of not only his countrymen, but to all of humankind.
Bibi can turn the tables real quick by nuking Iran.
Now that would be nice.
I agree.
Look, when Bill Clinton decided to fight it out, to remain in office, it polarized this nation like never before. Gore, Kerry, and now Obama have doubled down on that. This nation is seething, it’s citizens furious with each other. There are two camps, and they’re becoming more vicious by the day.
We have the righteous side, but that doesn’t mean the other side doesn’t think they do. They’re blind, deaf, and dumb, but that doesn’t stop them.
We’re headed for a calamity if this doesn’t fade away.
Yep!
Um...look what’s happening right now...beyond that we’re (not us but the government)going to be supporting killing babies...I don’t think the good Lord will look kindly on this...
I’m waiting for some local Dem to either come to my door campaigning this November or calling on the phone. By God, they’ll be sorry.
On the merits, my guess is that Israel is well along in preparations to carry on after the inevitable Obama betrayal ruptures relations in a serious way. They have to have seen this coming when we stupidly elected an anti-Israeli moslem partisan as president.
Netanyahu is Advanced Placement English
Obama is remedial reading
;-)
I fear, it’s not going to fade away.
I think we still give Israel at least 3 billion a year in support. Much of it is used as credits against purchase of military equipment from us.
Without that aid, Israel would have a much tougher time fielding the superb sirforce [IAF] it has.
I have heard that Israel military engineers have made over 400 changes to F-15 and F16 software and weapons that we have gotten gratis from them - and adopted most of them for own use.
Obama, being totally unaware militarily, probably has no appreciation of that fact.
God let the Assyrians conquer Israel and exile 27,000 people. God let the Babylonians conquer Judah and exile all of Judah and Benjamin. God let Maccabees become decadent and corrupt tyrants. God let the Romans butcher 4 million Jews over a 100 year period and exile Israel once again. God let the Byzantines abolish the Sanhedrin. Got let the Muslims kill or exile the Jews of Arabia. God let the Crusaders massacre the Jewish communities in the Rhineland. God let the Mongels slaughter nearly the entire Jewish community of Babylonia. God let the Spanish expel 300,000 Jews from Spain and persecute those left behind. God let the Pope burn the Talmud and confine Jews to overcrowded, disease-filled ghettos. God let 6 million Jews die in the Shoah.
God may very well have a plan. But it is foolhardy to count on God to save Israel. Israel must rely on itself, first and foremost.
Isn’t that the truth.
I’m with you there.
I’m not one bit happy about it either.
Yes, all these things happened but the Bible tells us that once they come back into the land they won’t be leaving.
Also, he will bless those that bless Israel.
Uh, I never trust a Democrat in uniform. The Democrats were, and are still, the party of appeasement and unilateral nuclear disarmament (and still are), and for phoney "social justice" (which ISN'T in the Bible) instead of righteousness...(which is). And on, and on. Why would you want to trust a guy in uniform who doesn't change his partisan allegiance after his nominal party picks people like Pelosi as the Speaker of the House?
How can you trust such a person to follow the Constitution, since his party doesn't? The person, at best, is horribly conflicted, or worse, a Manchurian Candidate MOLE.
...will likely end the same way its real war ended last year in Gaza: ambiguously. There will be no white flags or mission accomplished signs, just a slight tilt in the balance of power, a modest moving of the trench lines. Those lines aren't fully demarcated yet, but in important ways the outcome is already clear: Barack Obama has won. He's won because he's hurt Benjamin Netanyahu more than Netanyahu has hurt him.So far. Thanks nickcarraway.
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