The Israel Factor 03.2013, Questionnaire

[additional-authors]

Shmuel Rosner

March 19, 2013

1. The news of Obama's upcoming visit has created quite a commotion in the Israeli media world. In the past few weeks there has been an endless stream of Op-Ed's analyzing what the American President should and should not, can and cannot, focus on, emphasize, achieve, and say. With so many issues and so many opinions in the air, it seems that some order and proportion might be in line. What we would like you to do is give us a sense of what you think it is important that Obama's visit should focus on and what you think it is probable that it eventually will focus on:

Please look at each one of the following objectives and tell us how much you think it should be focused on in the upcoming visit (1- should not be focused on; 10- should take center stage). Then tell us how much you think the subject will indeed be focused on (1- will not be focused on at all; 10- will take center stage):

Objective

Should be focused on

Will be focused on

Reigniting peace talks with the Palestinians

Improving the personal relations between Netanyahu and Obama

Coordinating efforts concerning the Iranian nuclear threat

Coordinating strategy regarding Syria

Working on matters of US-Israeli military cooperation

Discussing Egypt policy

2. The following are statements from Joe Biden's recent AIPAC speech. Please give us a sense of how accurate and reliable you feel these statements are (1- not accurate-reliable; 10- completely accurate-reliable).

“from the moment the President took office, he has acted swiftly and decisively to make clear to the whole world and to Israel that even as circumstances have changed, one thing has not: our deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel”

“I’ve served with eight Presidents of the United States of America, and I can assure you, unequivocally, no President has done as much to physically secure the State of Israel as President Barack Obama”

“big nations can't bluff. And Presidents of the United States cannot and do not bluff. And President Barack Obama is not bluffing. He is not bluffing” [on Iran]

“we will continue to oppose any effort to establish a state of Palestine through unilateral actions”

” the United States and Israel have a shared interest in Syria as well”

3. Looking ahead for 2016, please rank the following presidential candidates on scale of 1 (bad for Israel) to 10 (good for Israel)