The military aid bill for Israel that Barack Obama signed into law underscores, in the US president’s own words, “our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.” The bill also means Obama has ultimately become a fan of Israel no less loyal than his predecessor George W. Bush. Obviously, Obama wants to ensure that he has the support of Jewish voters in the Nov. 6 election.
The signing ceremony, a relatively uncommon event in the Obama White House, also appeared timed to upstage Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney who is currently visiting Israel and whose foreign policy credentials are his Achilles heel. Obama received 78 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election, but a nationwide Gallup poll in June showed him down to 64 percent versus Romney’s 29 percent. It remains a huge difference but with both sides predicting a hard-fought election, neither candidate is writing off any potential gains.
In this year of every Jewish vote counts, Obama also announced he would speed up another $ 70 million to Israel to advance the so-called “Iron Dome” short-range missile defense system, a response to rocket fire from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
And in a remarkable scene of yet more camaraderie between the two countries, Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney refused to clarify the official US position that Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, is the capital of Israel. Since taking office, Obama has lined up behind every president before him in delaying the transfer of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, making Carney’s hesitancy puzzling and worrying in the extreme.
Or perhaps the faux pas was not so unintentional. One constant in mainstream politics in the US has been unquestioned and unqualified support for extreme Israeli policies and indifference to the Palestinians’ plight - with severe retribution meted out to anyone straying from the official dogma. Thus, for the entirety of Bush’s term, Israeli prime ministers were given free rein to do whatever they wanted to the Palestinians with barely a peep of protest from the White House.
That seemed to change when Obama came to office. In his Cairo speech in 2009, he reached out to the Arab world and made clear that, in exchange for peace and secure borders, he expected Israel to give up the occupied territories.
But nothing happened. Every effort Obama made to resolve the conflict was blocked by the combination of the Israeli government, the pro-Israel lobby, and members of Congress who were organized by that lobby. Ultimately, Obama gave up.
In truth, the recent show of unity is being seen as more of a concession to members of Obama’s party who are afraid of angering Jewish American voters ahead of the elections than as a sign of genuine rapprochement.
However, that does not change the fact that thus far, the Obama administration has accomplished very little on the Palestinian-Israeli front. Obama turned out to be no more an “honest broker” than Bush. The only difference is that, while Bush seemed to believe the “Israel is always right” line, Obama was beaten into submission.