Jennifer Rubin quotes Robert Satloff's characterization of Obama's relationship to Israel as a "diplomatic train wreck." She writes:
.... So now we are back to where things stood at the end of the Bush administration, Satloff argues. But are we? The Israelis have lost confidence in the American president and discovered they can say no. The Palestinians have learned that “unacceptable” for Obama (as in “the settlement activity is unacceptable”) doesn’t mean anything. So we’re not exactly back to square one.....
Meanwhile, the Israelis have come to see that the American president is not to be relied upon and does not regard the U.S.-Israel relationship in quite the same way as the past few presidents. Friendship has been replaced by legalisms, trust has been superseded by public acts of defiance. That will have ramifications not merely for the moribund “peace process” but also for the immediate and overriding issue that Israel and its neighbors must confront–the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
On reflection, I think I prefer the present situation over the late Bush years, when Condi was berserk for the poorpalestinians but we all still clung to the belief that America was pro-Israel, that the two countries were - at least officially - still allies.
With Obama at the helm, there is less charade. His administration quite obviously favors Israel's enemies and there is no mistaking it - whether you caught on during the campaign (when he desecrated the Jewish people's holiest site) or more lately. Only 4% of Israeli Jews are left believing that he favors Israel. Unfortunately, as a new poll from the AJC shows, American Jews remain inexplicably unmoved.
... there is something... quite alarming here. If 30 percent of those Jews surveyed feel very or fairly distant from Israel, then Obama’s anti-Israel stance and his desire to put “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel may line up quite well with their own views. In a sense, these Jews don’t care much about Israel, so they aren’t much bothered if Obama doesn’t either.
The good news if there is any, is that unlike during the Bush Rice years, there is no "peace process." No "negotiations" are taking place. Hey, that's Change that even I can believe in. I never understood, in the first place, why anyone would sit at the same table with "people" who kill your children.
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