The Tail Wags the Dog: Netanyahu in Washington

Journalist Israel Shamir on why the exacerbation of the conflict between the Israeli prime minister and the U.S. president plays right into Russia’s hands.

The age-old dispute of “does the dog wag its tail, or does the tail wag the dog,” which is to say, “who’s steering the U.S.-Israel tandem,” is close to being resolved. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is preparing to publicly humiliate the American president in his own capital. His plan is ambitious: Netanyahu is trying to ignite a war between the U.S. and Iran, show Obama who’s boss, win in the upcoming elections and shake things up some more.

On March 3, Netanyahu is planning to appear before Congress, despite Obama’s request that he not. He wants to stop the treaty with Iran from being signed, a treaty which Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have spent so much time on. Netanyahu is facing elections on March 17; he wants to win as the man who was able to rub the U.S. president’s face in the dirt.

No American president has ever suffered this kind of humiliation. Obama attempted to dissuade the Israeli prime minister from coming. He sent Secretary Kerry, advisers Susan Rice and Samantha Power, and threatened his displeasure in the newspapers. But nothing worked. Now America is waiting for Netanyahu to put his grooved shoes on the table in the Oval Office and yell: “Bring the coffee.”

This hit on Obama is possible thanks to the speaker of the House, who has his own scores to settle. John Boehner became speaker after the Republicans’ recent electoral victory, and he expected that Obama, having lost support in Congress, would wither away and fall silent. But it didn’t happen. Obama doubled his efforts after the defeat. Boehner even threatened to sue him. Meanwhile, Netanyahu requested that Obama receive him — a visit like this would be advantageous to him prior to the March 17 elections. But Obama cannot stand Netanyahu at the best of times, and refused, saying that the timing was inconvenient. Boehner saw the opportunity to get revenge on Obama, and invited Netanyahu to appear before Congress.

Netanyahu has appeared before Congress twice, where he received 30 standing ovations from senators and congressmen, something even Leonid Brezhnev didn’t achieve in the Supreme Soviet. But this time, is it in defiance of Obama? Any other leader would have declined out of respect, in order to keep from enraging the president. But Netanyahu is a force to be reckoned with. For him, stepping on others’ toes is a pleasure, and he doesn’t take hints. A few weeks ago French President Hollande begged the Israeli prime minister not to come to Paris for a Charlie Hebdo demonstration, but Netanyahu ignored him and came anyway. Not only did he come, he also appealed to French Jews to immigrate to Israel, despite protests from the French president and government.

This scenario is now repeating itself in the United States. The host is asking their pushy guest not to come, but he shoves in like a tank; he doesn’t understand the word “No.” Obama has tried to buy off Netanyahu with promises of aid. He even offered to put Israel under America’s complete protection with the “Allen Plan.” Obama tried to convince members of Congress to boycott the visit, but with no success. For American congressmen and senators, support from the pro-Israel lobby is more important than support from the president, not least because the lobby is the source of the lion’s share of campaign funding.

In America, representatives of the pro-Israel lobby enthusiastically engage in politics. One, Sheldon Adelson, owner of a chain of casinos worth $30 billion, spent $100 million on the campaign against Obama. They spend money on Republicans and Democrats, and so support for Israel has always been bipartisan … until now. Now the bipartisanship is over.

Iran is deeply upset by Netanyahu’s trip. They had already counted on reaching an agreement with the United States, on the sanctions against them being lifted. Netanyahu wants to torpedo the deal with Iran, not just out of spite, but because the sanctions allow Israel to continue not paying off its huge debt to Iran. The debt was assumed during the Shah’s reign. The Shah built an oil pipeline in Israel and invested a lot of money in the Israeli energy sector. Since then, Israel has never paid off its multibillion-dollar debt to Iran. The collapse of the Iran-America negotiations would lead to the downfall of Iranian President Rouhani and the return of Ahmadinejad or his supporters, who are avid opponents of the United States. This suits Netanyahu just fine; he loves walking on the edge of the apocalypse.

Friends of Israel and America are horrified; for them the foundations of the world are collapsing. But looking at it from Moscow, that’s nothing to mourn. Netanyahu is “part of that power which would do evil constantly and constantly does good.”* In any case, he will sour relations between Israel and the United States. A clear demonstration of the Israeli prime minister’s superiority over the American president could undermine the political foundations of Washington. Iran would become a close ally of Russia, abandoning hopes of closer ties with the West. If, having become the most hated politician in Paris, London and Washington, Netanyahu manages to win the election, he’ll be priceless. He’ll drive U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East into a hole the U.S. won’t soon climb out of.

*Editor’s note: This quote is a translation of text from Goethe’s “Faust.” A modern translation would be “one of those who ends up doing good whilst trying to do harm.”