Soccer Dad

Into the abyss?

Daniel Pipes observes:

From May 27, when the Obama administration began its attack on Israeli "settlements," it has displayed an unexpected naiveté; did this administration really have to relearn for itself the well-known fact that Washington fails when bossing around its main Middle Eastern ally? It then displayed rank incompetence by picking a fight on an issue where an Israeli consensus exists - not over a remote "outpost" but a Jerusalem quarter boasting a Zionist pedigree back to 1891.

How long until Obama understands his error and retreats from it? How much damage will he do in the meantime?

However Barry Rubin counters:

The above is an analysis, not a defense, of the Obama administration's policy. It is one based on misunderstandings and miscalculation, but not on some visceral hatred of Israel.

In some ways, it is also a return to the approach of several Cold War presidents whose view was that the United States needed to prove it wasn't too "pro-Israel" in order to get Arabs on board for the conflict with the Soviet Union. Now, to some extent, the new motivation for this balancing act is the idea that Arab support is needed against terrorism, radicalism, and Iran.

I can still state that after six months in office the administration has not taken a single material action against Israel. We'll see if that changes at all in the months to come.

My own understanding has been more in line with what Daniel Pipes wrote. However Barry Rubin is correct that despite the administration's seemingly single minded focus on "settlements," it has taken no diplomatic action against Israel whatsoever.

In a vein similar to Barry Rubin, Brian Katulis says:

No, I don't agree. First, I think there has been a lot of unnecessary hyperventilating about "unprecedented rifts" between Israel and the United States, and I think our bilateral relationship is mature and stronger than that. So I'd say I have a lot more confidence in the ties between our two countries than Mr. Rothkopf seems to express in this particular statement.

Ambassador Oren, too, tells us that there's nothing to worry about.

Oren claimed that there was no confrontation and no tension between the two countries, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.