How We Alienated a Valuable Ally

Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, has recently released an Op-Ed entitled How Obama Abandoned Israel, in anticipation of his book to be soon released called Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israel Divide.

Oren, who served as ambassador from 2009 to 2013 highlights the problems that eroded the relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oren claims both have made mistakes, but it is President Obama who has intentionally undermined traditional core principles in the U.S-Israel relation in an attempt at regaining the trust of Arab nations.

“No Daylight”

The first essential principle of the U.S.-Israeli relationship that has kept the alliance stable throughout numerous presidencies is that of the “no daylight” doctrine. This essentially allowed disagreements between Israel and the United States, but never openly. Public disagreements would encourage common enemies of Israel and would allow for gross misinterpretations by the Arab people and mainstream media.

Nonetheless, disagreements between the U.S. and Israel have been frequent throughout history. While Obama’s predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, often disagreed fiercely with Netanyahu, they did it behind the scenes as we can read in the memoirs of Bill Clinton, Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross and Elliot Abrams. President Obama, on the other hand, broke the “no daylight” principle deliberately as part of a public diplomacy aimed at sending the message to the Arabs that he was capable and willing to confront Israel if necessary. He believed that this attitude would build Obama’s credibility as a reliable mediator. However, this approach has only proven to backfire against him.

For example, when Obama insisted upon Israel to freeze all construction of settlements including those areas that are most likely to stay part of Israel in a final peace agreement. “Not a single brick” demanded the president, while demanding absolutely nothing in return from the Palestinians. Netanyahu refused, as he did not believe this should be a precondition for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Thus, Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas seized the opportunity to boycott the negotiations, reconcile with Hamas, and seek statehood from the U.N., deliberately violating his commitments to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Obama passively accepted these acts of aggression but condemned Netanyahu for building settlements including in areas likely to remain part of Israel anyway. Furthermore, Obama considered supporting a U.N. Security Council investigation of the settlements, and an Egyptian-Turkish effort to force Israel to reveal its alleged nuclear capabilities. Most recently, the Pentagon released a report on Israel’s nuclear capability, a step that seems to be consistent with Oren’s assessment of Obama’s policies.

“No Surprises”

The other traditional doctrine of Israeli-American relations that ambassador Oren claims Obama rejected was that of the “no surprises” principle. Obama discarded this doctrine no more than four months following his inauguration, demanding Israel to cease all settlement construction and called for the acceptance of a two-state solution.

The following June, Obama toured the Middle East, skipping Israel, and gave his famous “A New Beginning” speech in an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim world. It is here that he announced his support for the creation of a Palestinian state, for Iran’s right to nuclear power, and his goal to revive peace talks. The speech was written without previous consultations with Israel, as it has been historically the case.

In his article, Oren also accuses Obama of reversing nearly 40 years of U.S. policy by allowing mutual land swaps in order to revert back to pre-1967 borders, a stance promoted heavily by the Palestinians. Netanyahu was hesitant to allow this measure, but realized that he would be required to sacrifice parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland in order to reach a compromise. Netanyahu eventually agreed to a 10-month cease on all settlement construction, but Abbas did not enter the negotiations until very late in that period and the initiative failed again. The Prime Minister was taken aback by Obama’s public spurn of Netanyahu on more than one occasion.

President Obama believes that if we solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the world will be calmer and all hostility between the Arabs and the Jews will be restored. His confrontations with Netanyahu have been part of a strategy aimed at applying pressure on Israel. However, the flaw in Obama’s diplomacy has been apparent. He has appeared weaker and weaker in the eyes of Middle Eastern countries among others. Likewise, his attempts to appease and gain trust from Iran have only alienated him. The U.S has lost credibility in the eyes of Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Netanyahu has also made mistakes in the fragile relationship of Israel and the United States; there is no denying that. His speech before Congress in March criticizing Obama’s “bad deal” with Iran angered Obama, and was boycotted by many Democrats. That confrontation was unnecessary and was a misstep on Netanyahu’s part, but a benign one compared to Obama’s deliberate and aggressive agenda which has alienated Middle Eastern allies and even fomented unlikely relationships, such as the Saudi-Israeli secret diplomacy, according to Michael Oren.

Uncertain Future of Israeli-U.S. Relations

It is time for the Obama administration, as well as administrations to follow, to reexamine America’s damaged relationship with Israel and learn from the mistakes that President Obama has made. What’s left of the alliances between the U.S. and Middle Eastern countries is unraveling and reaching a climax with the approaching and highly questioned nuclear deal with Iran, which most likely will be a bad deal, as Netanyahu has been denouncing it for a long time.

Not only is it important to retain relations with Israel, but to redeem our reputation as a trustworthy ally. Foreign countries have taken advantage of Obama’s apparent weakness, as seen in Iran’s unchecked violations, China’s military proliferation, and Putin’s increased military aggression. America is seen as weak almost in every corner of the planet. It has engaged bitter enemies of the U.S such as Cuba without demanding anything in return. It has betrayed the Cuban and the Venezuelan people by adopting a conciliatory view towards both dictatorships and not demanding a serious improvement in human rights.

Israel has proven to be a solid and trustworthy ally of America. It has no potential for radicalizations or betrayal, as do other allies in the Middle East. Even countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, considered to be U.S allies, are often problematic. They have sponsored Hamas and funded radical Sunni groups. This ambiguity and duplicity is unlikely to be found when dealing with Israel. It is time the administration takes a step back and reevaluates their approach to Israel. As Michael Oren has correctly stated, it is vital for the United States to set the record straight with Israel and repair damage caused by President Obama’s reckless actions. But even more important is to restore American credibility in the world that has unprecedentedly deteriorated under the six and a half years of Obama’s presidency