THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 195, November 9, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DON'T TAKE NETANYAHU TO THE WOODSHED
By Steven J. Rosen
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA & U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD ISRAEL: BENJAMIN NETANYAHU'S RECENT VISIT TO
THE U.S.A. & OBAMA'S SNUB OF THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER -- WHY OBAMA IS RELUCTANT TO MAINTAIN CLOSE
RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL -- THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY & THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM -- THE IMPORTANCE OF RENEWING
U.S.-ISRAELI STRATEGIC COOPERATION ON THE IRANIAN CRISIS
FULL STORY:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, November 8, 2009, following weeks of
speculation about whether he would be met by U.S. President Barack Obama during the visit. When his plane took off,
there was still no word from the White House. Finally, at the last minute, the President's staff confirmed that there would
be a brief meeting late Monday night.
With Obama's "trust" ratings among the Israeli public sunk below 10 percent, compared with ratings in the 70 to 80 percent
range for past Presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, one might have thought that Obama would seize the
opportunity of Netanyahu's visit as a chance to warm the relationship with the country he describes as the United States'
No. 1 ally in the Middle Eastern region. Instead, the delayed response and brief Monday meeting were quickly deemed in
the Israeli press as a full-fledged snub.
Obama is reluctant to get too close because of the roiled state of U.S. relations with the Palestinian side. After Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton's trip to the region last week, there was widespread criticism that her fumbling about settlements had
undermined Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's position, perhaps even precipitating his decision not to stand as a
candidate again, if Palestinian presidential elections are held in January. Moreover, the far-Left cohort of Obama's advisors,
rallied by Mideast Special Envoy George Mitchell's Deputy Mara Rudman, are furious at Netanyahu for what they depict as
a fiendishly clever strategy that undermined Obama's diplomacy, and they want to punish, not reward, him when he comes
to Washington.
Meanwhile, the center-Left, pragmatic wing of the Obama team recognizes that the administration's early decision to
confront Netanyahu publicly over settlements, making absolutist demands that no Israeli Prime Minister could accept, was a
mistake, and this fumble had the added effect of hardening rather than softening Abbas's position, too.
It is a matter of record that Mahmoud Abbas participated in 18 years of direct negotiations with seven Israeli governments,
all without the settlements freeze that he now insists is an absolute precondition to begin even low-level talks. Obama
campaigned on a promise that he would renew U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East, but what he has actually achieved so far is
to return to the pre-Madrid situation in 1991, in which Palestinians refused to meet with Israelis and spoke of abandoning the
two-state solution and returning to armed struggle. By comparison, a much-chastised George W. Bush, who supposedly did
little for the region, presided over the 2005 removal of all Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza. During his watch, Abbas met
with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for talks in 2007 and 2008 that Abbas himself characterized as among the most
productive ever held.
If Obama wants to get a fresh start -- and how could he not? -- he has an opportunity staring him right in the face. Netanyahu
is here in Washington. He is begging for a serious meeting, and he has every reason to want this one to be more positive
than his benighted first bilateral with the new President on May 18.
Some on the U.S. side may want to use the opportunity to take Netanyahu to the woodshed, to say to the Palestinians, "See,
we are being tough with Israel." That would be a profound mistake, one that would convince Israelis that their original fear
that Obama is allied with the Arabs, and not with Israel, was correct. And it would reinforce the belief among many on the
Arab side that what is needed is American diktats to Israel, not direct negotiations.
If the President wants to avoid the appearance that a positive meeting with Netanyahu means he is deaf to Palestinian
concerns, a solution is close at hand. The meeting, or at least the public diplomacy about the meeting, should be primarily
about Iran, not the Israeli-Palestinian morass. Nothing is going to happen on the Palestinian front until their crisis of
legitimacy reaches some kind of new equilibrium in January with presidential elections anyway. The Iranian issue, by
contrast, is at an urgent moment and cannot long be ignored.
If Obama were to emerge from a meeting with Netanyahu, with their partnership on Iran restored, all the friendly governments
in the Mideast would be gratified -- from Riyadh to Cairo to the Mukata in Ramallah, not to mention the people of Israel.
Renewing real U.S.-Israeli strategic cooperation on the Iranian crisis is a necessity, and an opportunity for Obama to undo
some of the harm of past mistakes and get back on a track that may actually produce progress in the Middle East.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Steven J. Rosen served for 23 years as Foreign-Policy Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and
was a defendant in the recently dismissed AIPAC case. He is now Director of the Washington Project at the Middle East
Forum and a consultant to the Council for World Jewry.
The foregoing article by Steven J. Rosen was originally published in Foreign Policy, November 9, 2009, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/2495/dont-take-netanyahu-to-the-woodshed)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
November 9, 2009
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