Obama to AIPAC: Unconditional Support to Israel but Not to Netanyahu

What did Obama and Netanyahu say to each other in the meeting yesterday which the Israeli press considers the most important for the Israeli prime minister’s political career? Until more is known, it is reasonable to believe that they talked of “red lines” rather than politics. These red lines are the dates on and/or conditions under which it will be decided to move from words to military actions.

The American president, in his highly political discussion on Sunday in front of the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee affirmed that his administration does not rule out military action if it believes that Iran is close to possessing nuclear weapons (a red line that Washington is committed to not allowing the leaders of Iran to cross). Nevertheless for Obama this moment is still far away, as he is convinced that the sanctions will end up forcing Tehran to be reasonable. Netanyahu believes instead that the sanctions will have no other effect than to accelerate the Iranian race to a bomb and calls for a clear U.S. commitment on how and when to intervene militarily. The president has supported Israel’s sovereign right to act in defense of its vital interests. Without making an explicit automatic U.S. commitment, he reiterated clearly the support the United States will always offer to Israel.

That is, to the people of Israel — if you read between the lines of this long and rhetorically beautiful speech — but not to their prime minister with whom the differences on the Palestine issue remain deep.

The gap between these two positions — unconditional support to Israel, but not to its prime minister — is shown by the public recognition that Obama wanted to offer to President Shimon Peres, who has been given the highest civilian decoration of the United States. The president of the Israeli state does not have any executive power, but Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize winner, has enormous political and moral influence on the Israeli society as well as being a supporter of the Oslo accords (execrated by the Israeli right) and of an agreement with the Palestinians.

The critical message sent by Obama to Netanyahu could not be clearer in its diplomatic finesse. The events will tell us what will happen, because in the Iranian matter, those who talk do not know and those who know do not talk. The impression that is taken from this meeting is that the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States is closer than ever, but the dialogue between Obama and Bibi remains problematic.