Everyone agrees President Obama made a gutsy political call when he ordered the Navy Seals team to take out Osama bin Laden. There would have been a fierce backlash if the mission had failed. But he’s not getting credit for demonstrating even more political courage by calling for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement based on Israel’s […]
Barack Obama
Obama should not be afraid of AIPAC
Despite recent tension with Israel, President Obama’s approval ratings have remained consistently high among American Jews, according to a new J Street poll. He was viewed favorably by 62% in March compared to 64% in October, 2009. That is true even though Americans as a whole are less enamored of him than they used to […]
Once again, Netanyahu deliberately provokes the White House
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recently announced plan of tenders for nearly 700 new apartments in East Jerusalem was not just a gesture to his restless right wing. It was yet another deliberate attempt to embarrass the White House, say Americans For Peace Now’s Lara Friedman and Ir Amin’s Danny Seideman in a provocative, must-read analysis. They […]
The perils of American incrementalism
The pro-Israel peace camp, my camp, has been content to settle for incremental American diplomacy. We’ve rallied around the Obama team and its call for freezing settlements, for small but friendly policy changes from the Arab states, for “confidence-building” measures. That incremental approach didn’t work in the 1990s, but we are hoping beyond hope that […]
If U.S. says talk of sanctions on Israel is “premature,” doesn’t that mean they’re possible?
Am I the only one who finds significance in a new p-word used by the State Department: “premature?” Asked at a press briefing if the U.S. was considering putting financial pressure on Israel to get it to comply with American demands, State Department spokesperson Richard Wood said, “It’s premature to talk about that. What we’re […]
Dan Fleshler, without his glasses, on Press TV…
Before the Iranian elections, I was interviewed for a show called “The Autograph” on Press TV, the Iranian English language network. It focused on me and is about 20 minutes long. You can find the link to the network archive here. Then click on “Autograph” and you’ll find the interview with Dan Fleshler. It was […]
What else Netanyahu needs to know about Obama
The following op-ed just went on-line and will be in Friday’s Haaretz. I’ve been waiting about 25 years to be able write something like this and actually believe it. Something else Netanyahu should know By Dan Flesher Even before President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech last week, there were reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
Will Obama’s speech “force clarity” on Israel?
I took a break from my day job to do a quick scan of the reactions to Obama’s speech in Cairo. The most instructive one thus far comes from Daniel Gordis of the Shalem Center, whose post can be found on the NY Times blog. There has been much talk of late about Obama’ desire […]
“Tough love†for Israel will be tough on the pro-Israel peace camp
A new Zogby International poll shows that 71 percent of Obama backers think the United States should “get tough with Israel” in order to stop settlement expansion, while 26 percent of McCain supporters feel that way. 80 percent of likely Obama voters also agreed with the statement, “It’s time for the United States to get […]
A ray of hope: maybe Bibi has no principles
Under normal circumstances, we want the world’s leaders to have moral and ideological consistency and to know who they are. Perhaps, under current circumstances, it is better for Israel to be led by a man who doesn’t have the faintest idea of who he is and relies on others to define him. “Nothing has changed […]