Concerning this interesting article on Obama and Netanyahu, a few observations:
P. J. Crowley, the former State Department spokesman, is quoted as saying, “There are serious differences between our interests and Israel’s own security interests.”
Serious differences? Really? Is that the view of the administration overall? How depressing. You don’t have to be one of these “no daylight” people to recognize the coincidence between U.S. security interests and Israel’s.
The author of the article, Glenn Thrush, writes, “Privately, American officials were disappointed but not surprised Netanyahu had gone public, yet again, with his gripes.” (A) The Israeli prime minister is not some White House staffer to be kept under wraps; (B) The leader of a country facing an existential threat — a threat that the wider world does not seem all that keen to confront — is maybe entitled to “gripe.”
No doubt, Netanyahu bugged people when he said, “The world tells Israel, ‘Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”
Those words may be bothersome, but don’t they bother because they are essentially unanswerable?
President Obama likes to say that the philosophy of Republicans is, “You’re on your own.” What many Israelis fear, and not unreasonably, is that, if Obama wins reelection, the attitude of the U.S. government toward Israel will be, “You’re on your own.”
P.S. Readers may have recognized the beginning of this post to be an homage à WFB: who had the practice of beginning a column with, “Concerning [topic], a few observations.”