Relations between Israel and the U.S. administration are paralytically strained. Does it really matter?
President Obama took umbrage at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s third visit to address the U.S. Congress. At the same time, President Obama quite clearly ignored Prime Minister Netanyahu’s objections when President Obama gave his first major foreign policy speech at Cairo University in June 2006. President Obama called it “A New Beginning” and it was intended to lower tensions between the Muslim world and the U.S. government. This is to be President Obama’s foreign policy planned legacy.
Obama's speech was divided it into seven parts: violent extremism, the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, nuclear weapons, democracy, religious freedom, rights of women, and economic development. His support for the creation of a Palestinian state got the most attention. Obama also wanted a peace agreement with Iran focusing on preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It got him a Nobel Peace Prize
Obama’s approach has three serious difficulties. His two-state proposal is almost identical to a 1947 UN resolution, which was, and remains, violently rejected by both Jews and Arabs. Secondly, Obama seems to have ignored Israel’s security issues in his Iranian settlement. His third was to underestimate the character and determination of the Prime Minister of Israel.
Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu knows war first hand. He joined the Israel Defense Forces at age 18, during the Six-Day War in 1967. He fought in the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War, taking part in Special Forces raids in Lebanon and along the Suez Canal, and then leading a commando assault into Syria. Educationally, Netanyahu holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree from the Sloan School of Business Management at MIT. Before he entered politics he worked for The Boston Group, one of the world’s top three management-consulting firms. Netanyahu has served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. As minister of finance he successfully overhauled a failing Israeli economy. He is Israel’s longest serving prime minister having been elected for the fourth time. His present term of office extends past President Obama’s.
Over the years, Netanyahu has opposed the Oslo Accords and has consistently reneged on commitments made by previous Israeli governments. He quit Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet over the abandonment of the Gaza housing settlements
After Obama’s highly acclaimed “A New Beginning” speech, Netanyahu agreed to a separate Palestinian state. However, he demanded full demilitarization with Israeli control of its airspace. Jerusalem was to be undivided Israeli territory. He rejected a right of return for Palestinian refugees and stopping settlement building in the West Bank. The Palestinians reject this and Netanyahu doesn’t need a deal anyway
As for Iran, two major concessions in the negotiations are unacceptable to Israel: a sunset clause, which limits the deal to a finite period and the decision to leave Iran with a significant nuclear infrastructure.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League support Netanyahu’s position. So does the U.S. Congress. And Obama knows it.
Maybe President Clinton or President Bush can do better.
Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
