Netanyahu and Obama smile for the cameras. Source: Google Images
Great op-ed by Aluf Benn, diplomatic editor/correspondent for Haaretz, in today’s NYTimes. He asks, Where has Obama been on Israel? Why hasn’t he spoken to Israelis directly, the way he has addressed everyone else from Ghanaians to Egyptians, Europeans to Latin Americans? For sure, he is really busy, probably busier than any other president since FDR. As he himself has emphasized, there is the bank bailout, the trillion dollar fiscal stimulus, two wars (one to wind down, one to wind up), a failing state (Pakistan), and health care reform (is that really necessary right now?), not to mention the controversy over the arrest of a Harvard professor who is a friend of his. Yet he has said he is the one who can untie the Gordian Knot of the Arab-Israeli conflict by the power of his personality and the credibility he has in the Muslim world. Well, Aluf Benn argues that he is losing credibility with Israelis, a key player in the conflict. Moreover, he points out something important and elusive to most world leaders. The difference between playing to American Jews and playing to Israelis. You don’t have to go on and on about the Holocaust and link it to the Arab-Israeli conflict to placate Israelis. Just visit Yad Vashem and then deal with the here and now. American Jews are more interested in politicians reiterating their angst about the Holocaust than are Israelis. Israelis prefer to hear about a plan to deal with Iran’s emerging nuclear weapons capability, about Hamas rockets in the south and Hezbollah rockets in the north, and about Israel being recognized as a Jewish state by the Muslim world. Have a read…
