Mr. Obama, Bibi Netanyahu is here to stay. It's time to grow up
By Douglas E. Schoen
Published March 20, 2015·
FoxNews.com
Two days to make a phone call. U.N. threats. A recommitment to the Iran nuclear deal.
And that's just the way Mr. Obama says congratulations.
In the three days since Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection, the Obama administration has made a concerted effort to further distance themselves from the Israeli prime minister, his policies and positions.
To this end, it’s actually hard to believe from the way administration officials have been talking about Israel, that they’re actually discussing our strongest democratic ally in the Middle East.
Three examples are illustrative.
Obama himself told Netanyahu that the United State would have to “reassess our options” after his “new positions and comments” on the two state solution, the White House’s preferred policies. (Netanyahu has since backtracked on his commitment to a single state solution).
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a press conference, “The United States and this administration are deeply concerned by divisive rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens. It undermines the values and democratic ideals that have been important to our democracy and an important part of what binds the United State and Israel together.”
And State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki struck a similar tone. “The prime minister’s recent statements call into question his commitment to a two-state solution. We’re not going to prejudge what we would do if there was a U.N. action,” she said.
I remain incredibly confused by the administration’s attitude towards Israel and its leader, who can surely be difficult, but who boldly represents the interests of Israel and Jews in the region and around the world.
At a time when ISIS’s power is growing and other terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah are wielding control across the Middle East, it seems like the absolute worst time to be giving an ally the cold shoulder.
We don’t have enough friends to be treating Netanyahu this way, even if he did advocate a single state solution in his campaign. And considering that just this week, we saw two horrendous acts of terrorism in the Middle East in Tunisia and Yemen, the reasons that Obama should firmly commit himself to Israel and Netanyahu continue to mount.
Further, the fact that just a few days ago John Kerry (who has a history of shooting himself in the foot) said the U.S. would be willing to negotiate with Syrian President Bashir al-Assad – who is responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 of his own people – while Netanyahu has to wait two days for a congratulatory call from Obama is completely out of whack with everything I know about diplomacy and politics.
All this is to say that it’s high time President Obama put aside his personal animus towards the Israeli Prime Minister. Netanyahu has a strong, convincing mandate to govern and there should be no doubt that we will need his friendship as the Iranian nuclear negotiations continue and beyond.
The prime minister is here to stay. It’s time for the Obama White House to grow up and make the relationship work.
Douglas E. Schoen has served as a pollster for President Bill Clinton. He has more than 30 years experience as a pollster and political consultant. He is also a Fox News contributor and co-host of "Fox News Insiders" Sundays on Fox News Channel and Mondays at 10:30 am ET on FoxNews.com Live. He is the author of 11 books. His latest, co-authored with Malik Kaylan is "The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America’s Crisis of Leadership (Encounter Books, September 2014). Follow Doug on Twitter @DouglasESchoen.
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