Between the American Administration and the Israeli Government

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says that the tension that has arisen recently between his government and the American administration won’t have an effect on the “depth of strategic relationship between Israel and the United States.” Is he certain of that? And how will the future unfold in light of these developments?

As far as we can tell, the Israeli government is facing two tests. The first is that the American public has begun to realize that Israel is ignoring international law, and if it continues oppressing and marginalizing the Palestinian people and expanding its construction of settlements on occupied land, then it would mean that Netanyahu could be directing American policy to suit the interests of the Zionist establishment. The second test is that the deadline set by the Goldstone Report, which revealed the atrocities committed by the Israeli Defense Force against the people of the Gaza Strip, has been reached, and based on international law, the Security Council must implement harsh sanctions against Israel.

It is known that during his last visit to Washington, Netanyahu requested that President Obama take military action in the region, citing the threat Iran could pose to Israel if it acquired nuclear weapons, but it’s clear that America’s policies have begun to bend to the will of the American voters that brought Obama to office. These voters want to reshape the image of the United States in the Middle East, after former President George W. Bush’s mutilation of America’s image abroad in his destructive war on Iraq and his role in the current situation in Afghanistan, in addition to his unwavering bias in favor of Israel.

What course of action will the American administration take if Israel doesn’t stop its excavations around al-Aqsa mosque and its construction of new settlements in East Jerusalem? It seems likely that the Jewish lobby will use what influence it has to mitigate the damage these recent developments have on Israel. However, President Obama didn’t have Jewish support when he won the presidency, and if he chose to bend to Israel’s wishes, he would lose the support of those that did vote for him, and therefore it’s unlikely that they’ll have much success in this endeavor.

There are subtle strategic calculations between fixing the mess left by the war in Iraq and the recent developments on the ground in Afghanistan, and one could reasonably estimate that the draining of power from the Palestinian people is paving the way for something far graver than declaring victory in previous unbalanced conflicts. History has shown that Israel’s intentions and actions have always been based on the spontaneous tendency to cause discord, but fortunately American taxpayers know that their money that goes to Israel is not being used to improve life for the Jews there, but rather to uproot the Palestinian people from their land. It would appear that the future will be full of surprises, as President Obama is acting on the interests of his voters and the future of their relationship with the nations of the Middle East, while Netanyahu is trying to implement policies that only Israeli interests in mind.