Like I did the other day, Jennifer Rubin wonders about the administration’s welcome realism about Syria contrasted with its apparent disregard for Israel. Regarding Israel she writes:
There are, it seems, two possible ways to read this. The first is that we may be seeing the lack of co-ordination and gaffe-proclivity that has popped up on everything from the Russian reset button to the chintzy gifts for Gordon Brown. The new U.S. team simply hasn’t gotten its act together and has committed a series of oversights.
The alternative, more troubling explanation is that the U.S. is already signaling a less warm relationship with Israel in an effort to cozy up to the Arab states and begin a process of cajoling and pressuring Israel to offer up concessions. If Netanyahu is to be given an ultimatum on settlements, Israel will have the unlucky distinction as the only country exempt from the “listen, don’t dictate†Obama diplomacy. Perhaps if Israeli leaders threaten or insult the president rather than sing his praises in public they might get the kid glove treatment currently reserved for the likes of Iran and China.
We will have to see. But the â€incompetent†explanation does not engender confidence and the fact that the “chilling†explanation seems plausible should worry those who believe that a rift in the U.S.-Israeli relationship benefits neither country.
There is, I think, a third explanation. That is that the diplomatic differences between the United States and Israel have largely been blown out of proportion. There are those who wish to portray Netanyahu as a an extreme right winger. And there are those (like me) who feel that President Obama is unsympathetic to Israel. Each group wishes to play up differences which may or may not have been manifest yet. While I think that the signs certainly point to the latter possibility, it’s also possible that we won’t know anything until President Obama and PM Netanyahu meet next week. I still think it’s possible that there will be less friction at that meeting than advertised.
The most important thing to look out for will be whether there will be anonymous “senior administration officials” talking to reporters and denigrating Netanyahu. If that happens we’re likely to see a replay of Netanyahu’s first term with the administration seeking to undercut him at every opportunity.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
