After the political brinkmanship shown by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his quest to get elected, the relationship between the US President Barack Obama and Netanyahu, already at historic low, took a nosedive both on political, diplomatic and personal level. What's at stake is the decades-old tested friendship and trusted alliance in a region that's considered, according to many political pundits and analysts, the politically most volatile place on the planet. As Israeli-Palestinian negotiation is stuck in the rut and Netanyahu formed an alliance with mostly right-wing and ultra right-wing parties to form a coalition, there is no hope that middle-east negotiation will be resumed in near future. The failure of the negotiation last year was a severe setback to a concerted and determined effort by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who traveled back and forth numerous times to play part facilitator, part prodder and part motivator. The failure of talks led to three key adverse outcomes for the US-Israeli relations:
(1) Providing a political lifeline to Hamas, ruler of the Gaza Strip, at the expense of Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian ally of US administration
(2) Creating bad blood between Tel Aviv and Washington as many in Obama administration believed--and European Union agreed too--that the collapse of the talks was precipitated by Israeli decision of not only suspending Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but, in many instances, expand them
(3) Putting the US in an unenviable situation where Israel is being diplomatically isolated on the world stage with every passing day, risking the US position of trust and leadership to be the sole guarantor of Israel's security and primary facilitator to promote a two-state policy
After a devastating Hamas-Israeli war last summer, international opinion, especially Europe's, has turned significantly against Israel. As Obama administration inched toward a nuclear framework agreement with Iran during spring this year, Netanyahu's undiplomatic and orthodox stand put his country's relation with Washington at risk. Benjamin Netanyahu not only failed to realize that a nuclear agreement with Iran was the best guarantee for the long-term security of Israel as it would take away Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb in a short period of time, but also unable to push forward any alternative idea on how to deal with Iran's nuclear program.
The recent recognition of Palestinian Authority by Vatican has lent Pope Francis' moral support to the two-state policy and a direct slap to Netanyahu's oft-repeated stand that there won't be any Palestinian state under his watch. The recent meltdown of US-Israeli relationship was marked by an opinion piece written by former Israeli ambassador to Washington Michael Oren in June 16, 2015, edition of The Wall Street Journal in which Oren argued that Obama was to blame for deterioration in US-Israeli relationship. Oren's audacious and arrogant accusation has blessing, at least implicitly, from Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as Oren remains a confidante of the premier and would not write such a accusatory piece of opinion that's sure to create a political upheaval. Following day, June 17, Daniel Shapiro, US Ambassador to Israel, appearing in the Israel Army Radio, took Oren to the task and said that Oren didn't know what he was talking about. It's high time for Netanyahu to assess and analyze the degree of damage his political brinkmanship has done to the US-Israeli relationship, and turn the page forward by pushing the reset button as part of strengthening the frayed relationship. Netanyahu needs to understand that US remains and will always remain the Israel's most loyal and trusted ally. Also, Netanyahu needs to respect the US President's authority and prerogative to engage in diplomatic talks with Iran or any other nation.
(1) Providing a political lifeline to Hamas, ruler of the Gaza Strip, at the expense of Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian ally of US administration
(2) Creating bad blood between Tel Aviv and Washington as many in Obama administration believed--and European Union agreed too--that the collapse of the talks was precipitated by Israeli decision of not only suspending Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but, in many instances, expand them
(3) Putting the US in an unenviable situation where Israel is being diplomatically isolated on the world stage with every passing day, risking the US position of trust and leadership to be the sole guarantor of Israel's security and primary facilitator to promote a two-state policy
After a devastating Hamas-Israeli war last summer, international opinion, especially Europe's, has turned significantly against Israel. As Obama administration inched toward a nuclear framework agreement with Iran during spring this year, Netanyahu's undiplomatic and orthodox stand put his country's relation with Washington at risk. Benjamin Netanyahu not only failed to realize that a nuclear agreement with Iran was the best guarantee for the long-term security of Israel as it would take away Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb in a short period of time, but also unable to push forward any alternative idea on how to deal with Iran's nuclear program.
The recent recognition of Palestinian Authority by Vatican has lent Pope Francis' moral support to the two-state policy and a direct slap to Netanyahu's oft-repeated stand that there won't be any Palestinian state under his watch. The recent meltdown of US-Israeli relationship was marked by an opinion piece written by former Israeli ambassador to Washington Michael Oren in June 16, 2015, edition of The Wall Street Journal in which Oren argued that Obama was to blame for deterioration in US-Israeli relationship. Oren's audacious and arrogant accusation has blessing, at least implicitly, from Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as Oren remains a confidante of the premier and would not write such a accusatory piece of opinion that's sure to create a political upheaval. Following day, June 17, Daniel Shapiro, US Ambassador to Israel, appearing in the Israel Army Radio, took Oren to the task and said that Oren didn't know what he was talking about. It's high time for Netanyahu to assess and analyze the degree of damage his political brinkmanship has done to the US-Israeli relationship, and turn the page forward by pushing the reset button as part of strengthening the frayed relationship. Netanyahu needs to understand that US remains and will always remain the Israel's most loyal and trusted ally. Also, Netanyahu needs to respect the US President's authority and prerogative to engage in diplomatic talks with Iran or any other nation.
