A Friendship on the Rocks

The Israeli government grossly snubbed the United States. The senior partner now has to show Israel where the limits are or else the Middle East could conceivably sink into open warfare.

Everything had been beautifully prepared: President Shimon Peres embraced his famous guest from America like a father, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had even prepared a document he wanted to present to the vice president in Jerusalem. It was intended to celebrate, perhaps even renew, the strong bond between Israel and the U.S. But then disaster struck and the framework of the document was broken into a thousand pieces. Netanyahu and Joseph Biden stood amid a pile of shards, and there could have been no more appropriate symbol of the true state of the political relationship between them.

Israel and the U.S. — they’re a couple undergoing a serious relationship crisis. Since Obama took over in Washington and Netanyahu governs in Jerusalem, there has been little more than mistrust and disappointment in their relationship. Netanyahu has boycotted Obama’s energetic pursuit of a Middle East peace right up to the present. The personal relationship between the two men is considered to be dysfunctional. The only surprise is that this situation hasn’t resulted in any serious consequences yet. On the contrary, Washington has thus far tolerated every Israeli escapade, swallowed its anger and generally responded to provocation after provocation with nothing but more assurances of support. The only way it might be explained is that their “special relationship” must truly be something special.

But that’s the way it’s always been for the two nations: On the one hand, the near-impregnable superpower, and on the other, the little country surrounded by enemies. David and Goliath formed an alliance and, for the most part, it benefited both. Israel became the premier military power in the region, thanks to American armaments that were eventually replaced by weapons from France in the 1960s. In return, the U.S. represented a concrete power foundation in an unstable Middle East. But the framework of the relationship goes further than just a strategic partnership, and even beyond the influence of powerful lobbying groups. It’s also about the shared values of an older and a younger pioneering society, including the religious connotations on both sides. That’s the most visceral bond that joins them.

But that bond has caused conflicts of interest for the U.S. right from the start. Oil-hungry America’s relationship with Israel has always had significant meaning for Israel’s hostile neighbors. Disagreements between Israel and the Arab world have forced the United States to take Israel’s side through the past several decades. Sometimes these acrobatics have turned out surprisingly well, if not in the eyes of the Arab people, then at least in regard to the most corrupt regimes. America willingly played a dual role as Israel’s true friend and protector and as powerful middleman, showing Israel the way through the peace process.

George W. Bush pretty much destroyed that fine balance with his with-us-or-against-us clamor, and America has had to pay a frightful price for that. Obama’s intention was to again play the part of the go-between in the Middle East, the role previously played by former Democratic President Jimmy Carter and then President Bill Clinton. This was enunciated in Obama’s Cairo speech, which can only be considered historic insofar as it’s now just history. Obama openly approached the Muslim world and demanded an unconditional halt to Israeli settlement building on occupied Arab lands. If he had had a willing partner on the Israeli side, he might have gotten much further with that plan — perhaps even as far as real peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But there was no willing partner in Israel; there was only Benjamin Netanyahu, who makes up for his lack of vision with tricks and slyness.

Obama’s efforts were not seen in Jerusalem as opportunities but as dangers; and Israel reacted to the danger by what it saw as the best defense — attack. That’s the key to understanding the crassness of the Israeli Biden snub. The vice president had to take it on the nose: As he was pledging eternal friendship with Israel, the Israeli government was announcing the construction of 1,600 new housing units in an Arab quarter of Jerusalem.

It’s a provocation that borders on hubris — the tail wagging the dog. This should finally convince President Obama to make it unmistakably clear to Netanyahu that there are limits to even the special relationship between their two nations. The line in the sand must be drawn where Israel starts undermining U.S. authority. If Obama hesitates here, the danger increases that Israel may decide to make another break from the path America has set, namely, how to proceed with the problem of Iran’s nuclear program. If Israel carries out its threat to unilaterally bomb Iran’s nuclear installations, the entire region may descend into open warfare.