Jerusalem – Crises Brewing In Israeli-U.S. Relations

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    FILE - Israeli President Shimon Peres (L) greets US Secretary of State John Kerry upon his arrival at Peres' residence in Jerusalem, Israel, 06 November 2013.  EPAJerusalem – A pair of testy public exchanges this week appear to have undone whatever good will was created between the Israeli and U.S. governments during a high-profile visit by President Barack Obama early this year.

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    Tensions burst into the open during a swing through the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. In an interview broadcast on both Israeli and Palestinian TV, Kerry questioned Israel’s seriousness about peace with the Palestinians. Hours later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back, vowing not to cave into concessions to the Palestinians – and also saying he “utterly rejects” an emerging nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.

    The rancor signals a tough road ahead for the twin American goals of finding a diplomatic solution for Iran’s nuclear program and forging peace between Israel and the Palestinians. And it raises the specter of a return to the uncomfortable relationship that has often characterized dealings between Obama and Netanyahu.

    Israeli news reports describe Netanyahu as being in “shock” over the possible Iranian compromise. Netanyahu, who sees Iran as an arch-enemy, has vowed to do anything, including a military strike, to prevent Iran from reaching weapons capability.

    “If there were a synoptic map for diplomatic storms, the National Weather Service would be putting out a hurricane warning right now,” diplomatic correspondent Chemi Shalev wrote on the website of the newspaper Haaretz. “And given that the turbulence is being caused by an issue long deemed to be critical to Israel’s very existence, we may actually be facing a rare Category 5 flare up, a `superstorm’ of U.S.-Israeli relations.”

    Obama and Netanyahu took office just months apart in 2009, but seemed to share little in common. At joint appearances they appeared uncomfortable and even occasionally sparred. In one famous instance, Netanyahu lectured Obama on the pitfalls of Mideast peacemaking in front of the TV cameras at a White House meeting.

    The lack of chemistry seems rooted in vastly different world views. Obama is a proponent of diplomacy and consensus, while Netanyahu believes Israel can trust no one and must protect itself.

    Netanyahu also enjoys strong ties with U.S. Republicans. In 2012, he was widely perceived to have backed challenger Mitt Romney.

    And there has been constant friction over Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing to settle Jews on occupied land even as he negotiates with the Palestinians.

    Last March, Obama traveled to Israel for a visit widely seen as an attempt to reboot relations. The two leaders appeared together at a series of events, smiling and sharing jokes. But even then there were signs of trouble. Obama urged an audience of university students to pressure Israeli leaders to change their ways and take bold new steps to reach peace with the Palestinians.

    Since then, officials on both sides have stressed the countries are close allies regardless of politics. But the atmosphere gradually soured again as Obama pressed forward with his two major diplomatic initiatives.

    Over the summer, Kerry persuaded Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table for the first time in nearly five years. The sides agreed to talk for nine months, with an April target date for reaching a peace deal.

    To get talks going, Palestinians dropped a longstanding demand for an Israeli freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured territories that the Palestinians claim for a future state. To get Palestinians back to talks, Israel committed to releasing 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners. The U.S. also apparently gave vague assurances settlement construction would be restrained.

    With negotiations making no visible progress, Israel’s release of a second round of Palestinian prisoners two weeks ago – all jailed for killing Israelis – set off an uproar. Netanyahu followed the release by announcing plans to build thousands of settler homes, infuriating the Palestinians, the Americans and also the moderate camp in Israel itself.

    In surprisingly blunt comments, Kerry told Israel’s Channel 2 TV on Thursday that Israel faced the possibility of international isolation and renewed violence with the Palestinians if peace efforts failed. He also said the continued settlement construction raised questions about Israel’s commitment to peace.

    “How can you say, `We’re planning to build in the place that will eventually be Palestine?'” Kerry said. “It sends a message that somehow perhaps you’re not really serious.”

    Netanyahu responded the next morning ahead of a meeting with Kerry. “No amount of pressure will make me or the government of Israel compromise on the basic security and national interests of the State of Israel,” the visibly agitated premier said.

    Netanyahu also slammed the emerging agreement with Iran. “Iran got the deal of the century, and the international community got a bad deal,” he said. “This is a very bad deal and Israel utterly rejects it.”

    He warned that Israel is “not obliged” to honor the agreement and would do “everything it needs to do to defend itself.” Following a tense meeting stretching more than two hours, a planned joint appearance with Kerry and Netanyahu to the media was canceled.

    While negotiators in Geneva hammered out details Saturday, the discussed deal appeared to include some relief from painful economic sanctions in exchange for limits on Iranian nuclear activity. However, chances of a deal being struck looked slim late Saturday.

    White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Saturday the Obama administration was “in full agreement with Israel on the need to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon” and that the negotiations had that goal in mind.

    But Netanyahu has said international pressure should be increased, not eased, until Iran dismantles all suspicious nuclear activities. That position puts him at odds with the U.S. as the White House urges Congress to hold off on new sanctions while negotiations are under way.

    For now, Netanyahu’s options appear limited. Despite longstanding threats to carry out a military attack on Iran if necessary, it would be all but impossible to do so in the current diplomatic environment. On the Palestinian front, Netanyahu holds most of the leverage and is showing little inclination to change.

    Nicholas Burns, a former senior State Department official, said that Netanyahu made an error by airing his grievances publicly.

    “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s public outburst was unfortunate and ill-advised,” Burns, who now teaches at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, wrote in an email. “It has gone down very badly in the U.S.”


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    22 Comments
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    10 years ago

    I would place my bets that Israel has the upper hand in the negotiations as Mr. Kerry is spinning his own lost grip on true perfection of time.

    Satmar
    Satmar
    10 years ago

    keep it up Bibi, show your back-bone to Obama, Not only did obama fool all americans with Obamacare that no one will lose he insurance, he misled americans with Syria letting putin run the world and now with iran he is throwing israel again under the bus.

    10 years ago

    Of course Israel has the right to allow its citizens to “settle,” as much or more so than the U.S. has the right to let its citizens “settle” in former Indian lands in New York State and Washington DC.

    Yet it is curious how one government after another shows a backbone of point 5 on a 1 to 10 scale, yet whenever some political crisis arises, they davka grant permissions to settle.

    victorg
    victorg
    10 years ago

    Netanyahu is foolish to ruffle King Barack’s feathers. Remember the difference between liberals and conservatives: liberals hate Israel and love Jews, conservatives hate Jews but love Israel

    Yaakov2
    Yaakov2
    10 years ago

    Netanyahu is playing it very smart.

    Obama is loosing on all fronts now. He is being shamed and shunned by his failures in Obama Care which is now proving it’s self to a Total Failure and will cause Democrats to loose seats because of having brought about the worst disaster to US Healthcare.

    He was mocked and shamed by the entire world as he failed to keep his word to strike Syria as he promised, showing the world that he can’t be trusted to defend Justice and that he can’t be trusted to ever keep his promises to the world

    In Iran, he is also going down the hall of shame has France is holding out which is not just a little “snag” but rather that Obama’s plan to sell out Israel, is now a full blast 100% absolute total failure

    To top it off, Obama is going down the hall of shame to now have lost the least bit of respect he could have hoped to have that he helped push some paper on the so called imaginary “peace” deals between Israel and the Palestinian Murderers. Now he even lost that deal too because Obama has now proven himself that he can’t be trusted now relied upon to defend Israel’s security concerns

    Next President and the Congress Majority will be Republican

    CommonSense
    CommonSense
    10 years ago

    Kerry is 100% correct.

    Don’t claim to want a peace agreement and then do everything you can to torpedo it.
    Who in their right mind believed Bibi wants peace and a Palestinian State?

    Just be honest and stop playing games.

    I_Am_Me
    I_Am_Me
    10 years ago

    Mr. Kerry go home & be with you cancer inflicted wife & leave the Arabs, the only cancer any Jew (& non Jew) should ever have to deal with, to Israel. However, before that let me inform you that your question shouldn’t be how we can build on land those pigs want for Palestine, but rather why you or anyone else thinks we should hand it over to them! Get real!!

    10 years ago

    This is the best news of the day. Maybe now bibi won’t release the rest of the 104 murderers of Jews in this obama peace charade. What needs to be done is give struggling jews a free big piece of land and let everyone build a one or two family large home not stupid multiple apartment complexes. Spread out all over and give land free for those who build up in one year. Also stop attacking frum jews by trying to curb their birthrate with stupid laws like not getting married legally under 18. We need more Jews. Of course the most important thing is to give a good Torah education to all the children of Israel otherwise there is no future.

    10 years ago

    In spite of Obama’s internal domestic problems, he still has a lot of strength on the international front. On the other hand, Netanyahu has lost some credibility pertaining to the peace process. There are many Israelis (not only secular ones), who do not like his policies, both domestically and internationally. Both Shimon Peres and Tsippi Livini, as well as other members of the Knesset have differences of opinion with Mr. Bibi. Regarding the commentator who commentated on Syria, it was the right decision, not to get involved there. The Syrians have never been a friend to Yidden, as or decades it persecuted and murdered Jews who lived there. Also, it tortured and maimed Israeli POW’s, during the Yom Kippur War. Regarding Iran, as Winston Churchill once said, “it is better to jaw, jaw, then to war, war”. If Bibi launches a strike against Iran, it as well as its allies, will launch thousands of missiles at EY, many of which will get through. The Iron Dome system can’t stop all of them, and the result would be thousands of Israeli casualties. Therefore, all of you war hawks should think about the latter, before you go expounding an attack!