By Matt Bacon
Anyone who enjoys some good, old-fashioned political drama has been following the recent meltdown in U.S.-Israeli relations. In an October 28th article published by The Atlantic, an anonymous Obama administration official told Jeffrey Goldberg “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit.” Bibi is a nickname for Benjamin Netanyahu, the conservative prime minister of Israel. This incendiary comment is the most recent in a series of messages to the Israeli government from the Obama administration. Earlier in October, the Israeli defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, was refused a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, as well as national security advisor, Susan Rice. Ya’alon had recently called Kerry “messianic” and “obsessive.”
The Obama administration took a lot of flak for the “chickenshit” comment. However, pundits are failing to see past the political incorrectness of the comment and realize that however inappropriate the comment may have been, the anonymous official was right. Netanyahu, in the quest for political survival and securing his conservative base, is dragging Israel kicking and screaming down a dangerous path that can only lead to bloody conflict locally, and isolation globally.
Verbally, Netanyahu claims to be a proponent of the two-state solution. His actions, however, indicate otherwise. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he encourages the continued, illegal settlement on Palestinian land by Israeli settlers. In Gaza, he refuses to break a blockade that has had devastating economic effects on the tiny, largely resource-less region. On the international stage, he has worked with his more influential U.S. allies to block any and all attempts for the recognition of a Palestinian state. In fact, over 50% of Israelis don’t even believe their own prime minister when he tells them he wants a two-state solution.
Netanyahu’s two-faced agenda serves one purpose – to placate the orthodox right-wing in Israel that has no interest in peace and from which he draws his support. However, there are dire consequences to this provocative strategy that he either does not care about, or is too short-sighted to see. Netanyahu is goading the increasingly frustrated and beaten-down Palestinians further and further towards open conflict. Some pundits, like the legendary Israeli journalist, Ron Ben-Yishai, have already declared a third intifada to have broken out amidst the recent heightened tensions in Jerusalem following this summer’s war in Gaza.
On the global stage, Netanyahu’s aggressive policies are not making him many friends. Sweden has recently gone ahead and became the first Western nation to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. Britain’s parliament recently held a symbolic vote to recognize Palestine, and plans are being set in motion in the French parliament for a similar vote.
The one nation that has unconditionally stood by Israel since its inception is the U.S., but as recent events indicate that is now changing as well. Netanyahu’s stubborn policy, coupled with his public denunciations of the Obama administration is now costing him his closest and most powerful ally. He has ignored calls from the administration to end illegal settlements in Palestine. For some reason, he thinks he can dictate to the Obama administration how things are going to happen in Palestine. Bibi would do well to remember exactly which country the state of Israel owes its existence to; which country has defended Israel against accusations of war crimes and general isolation in the UN for decades; which country gives Israel three billion in taxpayer dollars in aid each year. The list of things that Israel is indebted to the United States for goes on. If Netanyahu and his government continue to steer Israel down this destructive path, many of these benefits that Israel enjoys on behalf of the U.S. may be at risk.
The U.S.-Israeli partnership will remain strong. At the end of the day, both countries rely too heavily on each other for security cooperation. Israel is one of four democracies in the Middle East (Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq being the others), and is certainly the most functional, liberal, and most aligned with American values. However, Bibi Netanyahu is playing a dangerous game. He now believes he “wears the pants” in a relationship where he truly has little leverage, which can come back to bite him in the seat of those non-existent pants.
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