Israel has never lacked enemies but now it risks losing its friends
Netanyahu went into his meeting with Obama believing he has time on his side. But he's wrong: the clock is ticking
Jonathan Freedland
The Guardian
The advance word was that this was to be a "holding meeting" and not much more. Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu would not launch some grand initiative for the Middle East. Instead they would sit together, chat chummily and pose for photographers – particularly important given what happened a couple of months back, when an angry Obama kept Bibi waiting for hours in the West Wing, only to cut their meeting short without so much as posing for a souvenir snap.
Accordingly, today's summit was all warm hugs and making nice. Obama spoke of the "special bond" between the two nations – even if there did have to be the occasional "robust discussion". Bibi nodded, adding that disagreements were what you got in a close "family" relationship like this one. Reports of any strain between them were "flat wrong", and to prove it Bibi invited the Obamas to Israel; Michelle showed Sara round the White House; and reporters were kept waiting during a long Bibi-Obama lunch, surely proof that the two men just couldn't get enough of each other.
For all that, the advance billing of a holding meeting was not so far off the mark. The US president was certainly in no rush to make waves: he is four months away from midterm elections, in which support for Israel threatens to become an issue, at least in the handful of states where Jewish voters might make a difference. In several congressional contests Republicans are making mischief over the administration's recent relative firmness towards Israel, with one candidate accusing Obama of "browbeating" the Jewish state, while others suggest the Democratic administration is fraying the historic ties that have bound the two countries. Small wonder, then, that Obama was and remains keen to be all smiles with Bibi – at least until polling day on 2 November.
(More here.)
Jonathan Freedland
The Guardian
The advance word was that this was to be a "holding meeting" and not much more. Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu would not launch some grand initiative for the Middle East. Instead they would sit together, chat chummily and pose for photographers – particularly important given what happened a couple of months back, when an angry Obama kept Bibi waiting for hours in the West Wing, only to cut their meeting short without so much as posing for a souvenir snap.
Accordingly, today's summit was all warm hugs and making nice. Obama spoke of the "special bond" between the two nations – even if there did have to be the occasional "robust discussion". Bibi nodded, adding that disagreements were what you got in a close "family" relationship like this one. Reports of any strain between them were "flat wrong", and to prove it Bibi invited the Obamas to Israel; Michelle showed Sara round the White House; and reporters were kept waiting during a long Bibi-Obama lunch, surely proof that the two men just couldn't get enough of each other.
For all that, the advance billing of a holding meeting was not so far off the mark. The US president was certainly in no rush to make waves: he is four months away from midterm elections, in which support for Israel threatens to become an issue, at least in the handful of states where Jewish voters might make a difference. In several congressional contests Republicans are making mischief over the administration's recent relative firmness towards Israel, with one candidate accusing Obama of "browbeating" the Jewish state, while others suggest the Democratic administration is fraying the historic ties that have bound the two countries. Small wonder, then, that Obama was and remains keen to be all smiles with Bibi – at least until polling day on 2 November.
(More here.)
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