Widening Cracks In US-Israeli Relations
t wasn’t so long ago that Washington and Tel Aviv had each other’s back unconditionally. While it’s true that there’s always been behind-closed-doors disagreements, but spats were rarely publicized. At one time the relationship was considered almost sacrosanct. Israel was, arguably, America’s proxy in the Middle East creating a balance of power in the oil-rich region, while Israel was dependent on US aid (direct aid estimated at over $130 billion since 1949), loans, subsidies, weapons and diplomatic clout at the United Nations. That tied-at-the-hip partnership is now being questioned.
Isi Leibler writing in the Jerusalem Post describes Obama as “an Israel basher engaged in personal savaging and humiliation of Netanyahu.” Obama’s “failed diplomacy” has resulted in the US looking like a paper tiger, he says. Nevertheless, he concedes Israel needs America’s military assistance. He suggests that over the next two years “there must be a concerted effort to retain American public opinion and congressional support…” In other words, Israel should tread water until Obama’s term ends.
That alliance has become decidedly rocky under President Obama’s watch. It’s no secret that there’s an absence of chemistry between the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Obama on a personal level. A strong indication that all was not well emerged in 2010 when reportedly Netanyahu was left in a room at the White House to mull Obama’s demand that he halt Jewish settlement expansion while his host left to have dinner with his wife and daughters with a casual, “Let me know if there’s anything new.”
Netanyahu compounded the tensions by publicly throwing his weight behind the Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election and was slammed for interfering in America’s domestic affairs.
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