Inflaming U.S.-Israel Relations

"(It) is the ongoing soap opera between Netanyahu and the president, which has been playing non-stop since 2009, characterized by fundamental suspicion, misunderstanding and mistrust."
"We willfully interceded and intervened in Israeli politics, with a specific purpose. American presidents and secretaries of state have preferences in who they think is better designed to serve American interests."
Aaron David Miller, vice-president, Wilson Center, former U.S. State Department Mideast expert

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images/Files   US President Barack Obama (R) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, May 20, 2011.

So, there it is in a nutshell: The United States' various administrations have always taken steps to persuade, interfere, coerce and even violently intercede in the government business of other countries on those occasions when they feel that other countries' actions and directions may impact deleteriously on the fortunes of the United States. And of course, since the U.S. is still the world's only super-power, its influence is enormous.

What's another country which sees itself existentially imperilled -- and with good reason -- to do in circumstances where the power and might of the United States is directed in a manner that it fears will be harmful to itself? The lesser, dependent power will use whatever moral and reasoned authority it can muster to attempt to persuade that powerful, interceding country to consider the impact that its decision-making will have on that other country.

When Bill Clinton led the Democratic presidency and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in his first prime ministerial stint, the two men had quite strained relations; each personally took a dislike to the other. Now that another Democratic President sits in the White House and Mr. Netanyahu returned to power, relations between the president and the prime minister of those two countries have plummeted.

In place of courtesy and diplomatic niceties, Barack Obama curtly dismissed and scorned Benjamin Netanyahu, humiliating him by leaving him to stew on his own in an antechamber of the White House in disapproved rejection, while the president went off to dinner with his family, demurring to extend an invitation to join them to the man whom he clearly despised. Two heads of state whose countries were supposed to be firmly entrenched in a partnership of democratic liberalism.

Now, in Mr. Obama's second stint as president of the United States, and Mr. Netanyahu's third as prime minister of Israel, interpersonal relations have deteriorated beyond resuscitation. When White House elites are able to speak not only dismissively but insultingly disparagingly about the head of government of a supposedly close American ally, the signal of permission comes directly from their leader.

Mr. Obama does not like to be upstaged. He most definitely does not appreciate being contradicted. And for Mr. Netanyahu to have embarrassed the American president by a public lecture on Middle East politics during a photo op at the White House was the death knell of even the remote relationship the two leaders shared. Of course it's a given that the Israeli leader would know far more about the mechanisms and machinations, the intrigues and conditions prevailing in the Middle East than any American.

That lecture on the Middle East realpolitik relates directly to Mr. Netanyahu's concern for the longevity of his country, threatened by an Iranian theocracy which has stated time and again its intent to destroy the Jewish State. Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Iran is undeniably one of the world's most persistent supporter of terrorism and terrorist groups, using its proxy militias to sow carnage around the world on behalf of their mentor, from kidnappings to bombings and murder.

The Obama administration has gone out of its way to be instrumental in hoping to unseat the Netanyahu administration. And it feels justified in so doing, since to do so, as Mr. Obama sees it, is to the benefit of the United States. Somewhat similar to the way that the U.S. abandoned its long-time ally in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak for its choice of replacement, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammad Morsi. That the Obama administration maintains close contact with the well-entrenched Brotherhood in the U.S. is beyond dispute.

That the Brotherhood, and its offshoot, Hamas in Gaza, are dedicated to the destruction of Israel is another indisputable truth. They, along with the terrorist group Hezbollah, the proxy militia of Iran with whom the U.S. is now in discussions that appear likely to give the Republic permission to consider itself a legitimate nuclear power, to the existential detriment of Israel, is an event that is geared to be of concern to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and John Boehner Photo: AP

Hence, Mr. Netanyahu's determination to accept the invitation of influential Republican John Boehner, to address both Houses of Congress. Which invitation and Mr. Netanyahu's grateful acceptance has enraged President Obama who huffs and puffs about insulting the presidency by bypassing traditional protocol, and using his refusal to meet with Mr. Netanyahu and instructing the vice-president to do likewise as a prudent desire not to interfere in Israel's upcoming general election.

Mr. Netanyahu has explained repeatedly that his intention in going to Washington to address Congress is "not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but to speak up for the very survival of my country", and no one conversant with the details involved can accuse him of anything but his declaration of concern for the survival of his country.