Reason and Israel-US Tensions

On an almost daily basis I receive emails from well-intentioned friends and acquaintances warning, in the most apocalyptic of terms, of the deterioration in the US-Israel relationship. They invariably allege that Israel is being assaulted by an uncaring American president who has put his stock in the Muslim world and its future. The vitriol against the president and the secretary of state are troubling—let alone the frequent misrepresentations and exaggerations.

Some of the emails are so over-the-top that they passionately condemn Obama for following a 60 year old American doctrine that no other American president has veered from, keeping the US embassy in Tel Aviv. One such email self-righteously accuses Obama of violating US law for daring to condemn the planned building program in East Jerusalem.

The common thread among virtually all of these polemics is the notion that Netanyahu’s government is doing everything it can to promote peace and that President Obama is ignoring Netanyahu’s efforts and is freezing Israel out of its special place in American foreign policy.

Amidst the passion and drama of the Middle East situation playing itself out on the American stage—ranging from the kerfuffle about Andrew Sullivan and anti-Semitism to the effort to pass a divestment resolution at UC Berkeley—-it is rare to read a sane and sober analysis that brings some intellectual heft to the discussion. This week’s The New Republic is a breath of fresh air.

In his “Washington Diarist”