The story and repercussions of Israel’s insult to Vice President Joe Biden and the US by announcing hugely controversial expansion of East Jerusalem settlements right as the VP visits doesn’t seem to stop. Allan Loudell has been following this and has up a blog post that he has been updating as the story develops:
If Israelis wanted to peek at the FUTURE world – dominated by now emerging Third World powers with no particular religious / historical affinity for the State of Israel, and in which the United States is not always or necessarily the centerpiece of the diplomatic world – they got a glimpse.
It should have been frightening, especially against the still escalating rift between the United States and Israel.
Long-held assumptions are evaporating. There was a time when U.S. conservative talk-show hosts reverently quoted the words of General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command.
That love affair may be ending: General Petraeus has questioned – out loud – Israel’s value as a “strategic” ally of the United States. He questions whether unilateral Israeli moves, and intransigence on the peace process, threaten U.S. lives.
That’s huge. It’s more than just about Obama.
I think that Allan is on to something here and even more I think that Hillary Clinton and President Obama are deliberately capitalizing on it. Mrs. Clinton’s 45 minute call to Netanyahu reminding him “who the junior partner in this relationship” is (thanks to John Cole at Balloon Juice for that) may have hit the necessary reset button here. One that reminds the Israelis that we are on their side and we are committed to their security, but that license to do what they want with impunity is pretty much up. Netanyahu was reported to be thinking that the Obama Admin was weakened, so he could do what he liked. And apparently the Obama Admin capitalized on this situation to remind Netanyahu of the US’s seriousness here. General Petraeus told Congress this week that the persistent hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians is not in the long term security interests of the US which — as Allan notes — is occasionally said by senior officials and often shouted down. It is tough to know where this will go — Netanyahu is expected in the US this weekend — but if it results in Netanyahu forgetting any strategy of taking the US for granted any time soon, that looks like progress to me.
Make sure you go over to Allan’s place to read his entire piece. I expect he’ll be updating this as events unwind.