It is a measure of how far matters have deteriorated in the Middle East and how far we will go to alienate an ally that Obama is placing a precondition on a meeting with Bibi Netanyahu. That’s right, as the Wall Street Journal reports:

The White House waited several days to confirm that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could meet with President Barack Obama Monday, and sought conditions first — underscoring the new depths of difficulty that Middle East peace efforts have reached in the last week.

U.S. officials said the delay, which stretched until late Sunday, stemmed from last-minute discussions aimed at gaining a more robust and public commitment to the peace track from Mr. Netanyahu. One official said the U.S. wanted Mr. Netanyahu to express stronger support for negotiations on an independent Palestinian state at his speech Monday before the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington. “We’re in the part of the process where you can’t expect something for nothing,” the official said.

Imagine if during the campaign, Obama, who declared he’d place no preconditions on meetings with the Castro brothers, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-il, had told us that he would not be meeting with the prime minister of Israel unless he “got something” for it. As Elliott Abrams observes:

Think of it: Our closest ally in the region, critical issues at stake (from Iran’s nuclear program and the recent Israeli seizure of an Iranian arms shipment meant for Hezbollah to Abbas’s announcement), yet the Israelis get no answer. Obama and his “experts” may think they are reminding Netanyahu who is boss, but they are in fact reminding all of us why Israelis no longer trust Obama–and making closer cooperation between the two governments that much harder.

The Journal report contends that this is a “rare display of pique by the White House toward Israel.” Excuse me? Obama’s entire policy is built on pique — that Netanyahu remains prime minister, that Israel continues to allow Jews to live where they want, that Israel’s courts in legal proceedings evict Palestinians who unlawfully occupy property, that Israel insists on talking about a military operation against Iran, that Israel won’t knuckle under to bullying and threats, and that American Jews who ever so timidly object to the unworkable and foolhardy settlement freeze are insufficiently self-reflective. Hardly rare.

But the report does get one thing right: “The prime minister’s visit comes as fears grow inside the Obama administration that its aggressive plans for promoting Mideast peace could be unraveling.” Well, to be accurate, it has already unraveled, and the Obami have aggravated both sides. This most recent bit of shameful and ham-handed “diplomacy” is the fitting capstone to nearly a year of missteps, arrogance, and failure. In any other administration — one remotely in touch with others’ perceptions or, yes, that was self-reflective — those responsible for this would be canned. But don’t expect that to happen any time soon.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 8:42 AM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.