Obama's fractured Israel policy

Obama has pro-Israel credibility among Arabs, where it does him no good. But he lacks it where he most needs it, leaving him powerless to enforce his demand for a freeze on Israeli settlements.

Daniel Larison

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Israel revealed, the Obama administration’s half-hearted policy on settlements in the occupied territories is a bust.

Anxious to placate hawkish critics at home and in Israel, Clinton declared Prime Minister Netanyahu’s settlement slowdown an "unprecedented" gesture. In reality, it was a calculated show of defiance against Washington’s call

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Daniel Larison has a Ph.D. in history and is a contributing editor at The American Conservative. He also writes on the blog Eunomia.