1 April 2015

Obama’s Coming Break with Israel

By REIHAN SALAM 
March 30, 2015 

First, let me just say that I hope Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post is wrong and that President Obama has no intention of making a dramatic break with Israel in the coming months. But alas, the story he tells is very convincing. According to Diehl, the Obama administration is getting ready to back a U.N. Security Council resolution that would, in his words, “mandate the solution to the questions Israelis and Palestinians have been unable to agree upon for decades, such as the future status of Jerusalem.” Why does this matter? If Israel rejects peace terms imposed on it by outsiders, the effort to turn the Jewish homeland into a pariah state will gain enormous ground. This is a consequence that the president must fully understand. If Obama’s champions are to be believed, he is a subtle strategic thinker with a deep understanding of history. So no, his efforts to radically remake our relationship with Israel isn’t a reflection of ignorance or a lack of familiarity with the basics of the conflict. If the president chooses to pursue this dangerous course, let no American who values our alliance with Israel, or for that matter our national honor, ever forget it.

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