Israel is stuck with Obama

“Don’t be mad at us,” President Obama, said Yossi Sarid in Ha’aretz. Please forgive Israel for our prime minister’s rudeness in snubbing you to support your rival. Benjamin Netanyahu swooned over his old friend Mitt Romney during the campaign, and his backer Sheldon Adelson financed a Super PAC devoted to Romney. We know you were frustrated with Netanyahu even before he turned on you so openly. You’re not alone. “Here, too, there are more than a few people like yourself, who have a hard time tolerating our leader.” Those of us who want to see a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians, and want to avert a war with Iran, wish you all the best in your second term.

Obama was “obviously angered” by Bibi’s stance, said Hagai Segal in Ynetnews.com. But he’ll simply have to get over it, because now more than ever, he can’t afford any further poison in his relations with our prime minister. Syria is “going up in flames,” Egypt is cozying up to Iran, and Lebanon is falling apart. “Israel is the U.S.’s only anchor in this disaster area.” Washington needs Jerusalem, and that means that whether he likes it or not, Obama has to work with Netanyahu.

The fear that Obama would take petty vengeance on Israel “is childish,” said Uri Heitner in Israel Hayom. Netanyahu may have made a mistake earlier this year by trying so publicly to force Obama to agree to draw a “red line” for Iran on its nuclear programs. But in the end “he wised up and calmed the arena.” In any case, “Obama is not built for revenge campaigns,” said Nahum Barnea in Yedioth Ahronoth. But that is not to say that he’s above turning “a cold shoulder” to Netanyahu for the next few months. He’ll do his duty by his best ally in the Middle East. But I suspect “he will not hasten to answer every telephone call coming from Israel.”

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Our two countries’ relations won’t be derailed by the personal animosity between their leaders, said Herb Keinon in The Jerusalem Post. “U.S.-Israel ties are wide and broad, and are not at the whim of any one individual.” Even if Obama does want to push hard on the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, he will be constrained by Congress. “While the president may no longer have to consider Jewish voters or donors, those in his party seeking re-election will need to do so.” So don’t expect much change in the administration’s policies toward Israel, or toward the Middle East. “What once was is what now will be, for better and for worse.”

“No change” in Washington is bad news for Israel, said Eli Avidar in Ma’ariv. “Obama has already shown that he is not a president who goes out to war.” Yet the next four years are the crucial window for Iran to attain nuclear capability. With Obama re-elected, Israel will have to apply “great diplomatic creativity so that we may not wake up one day with a nuclear bomb in Iran’s hands.”