The Israeli political-security establishment is increasingly concerned at what seems to be an American desire to reach a deal with Iran regardless of the price, veteran defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai writes on Ynet. “To make matters worse, even those who oppose publicly clashing with the Americans say that de facto, contact between the policy makers in Obama’s White House and Jerusalem has been effectively cut off.”
Israeli officials believe that Israel has pretty much lost its ability to influence Obama regarding Iran and other international issues, Ben-Yishai writes. “The way things look from Israel now, the assumption is that Obama has fortified himself behind a small and closed ideological circle. This circle believes in partial non-interventionism and has an aversion to international conflicts.”
The writer quotes Israeli officials questioning the Obama administration’s eagerness – if not to say anxiousness – to reach an agreement, maybe even more than the Iranians, who, in fact, are the ones suffering of the crippling sanctions enacted against them. “Jerusalem believes that the American desire to reach an agreement originates from Obama’s inner circle which wants the administration to survive the next three years without conflict,” he writes. “The prevalent assessment – in both Jerusalem and other Mideast capitals – is that members of Obama’s inner circle stem from the left wing of the Democratic Party” who want “to secure another presidential term for the Democrats in 2016.”
“A crisis of confidence of this magnitude has not been felt between the two nations for over two decades, “Ben Yishai concludes, “at least since George H. W. Bush suspended US aid because of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s expansive settlement policy.”
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4 Responses
The American left can’t stand the Iranians.
The US is broke,its economy’s “new normal” is one that is serious depressed from the pre-2007 norm (or if you prefer, the pre-2000 norm). There is no support for raising taxes to build up the military. Opposition to a “muscular” foreign policy is growing in both parties, both on the right and the left. Obama and Kerry were just being realistic.
If Israel is afraid of Iranian expansionism, they should open negotations with the Arabs (most of whom also dislike the Iranians).
The article that is the subject of this article, i.e., the article in Ynet by Ron Ben-Yishai, who is identified as an Israeli defense analyst, may be an accurate assessment of the state of mind of the Israeli-security establishment, but there is no basis for believing that the Israeli-security establishment correctly understands the thinking of the Obama administration. As for the suggestion that the US has cut itself off from Israel’s government, that is to be expected, given the Israeli government’s attempt to meddle in the US presidential election in 2012. Mr. Netenyahu overplayed his hand at the UN and attempted to embarrass the US president, something an ally so dependent on the US should not do.
As for the alleged determination of the US to make a deal with Iran at “any” cost, that is pure conjecture, not supported by any information in either article.
Obama is not influenced by anyone. He does only what he wants. If he is undermining Israel, it’s because he wants to, no one else.
And he DOES want to. He studied under his reverend wright for many years and didn’t change to a different church. He clearly liked what he was hearing, now he is implementing it.
Obama has a reputation for bad foreign policy decisions. The USA is losing it’s credibility though out the world. Iran is on the defense, the policy should be: take no prisoners, and stop the whole Iran initiative; no Nukes for Iran,period.