Obama Extends His Hand, Netanyahu Clenches His Fist

By David Sforza

President Obama has proven that he understands the Israeli-Palestinian conflict better than both Palestinian President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. On May 19th President Obama laid out his policy regarding the region. His speech was remarkably Pro-Israel. Many in Israel have recognized this, but PM Netanyahu has met President Obama’s extended hand with a clenched fist, damaging his reputation and giving us reason to believe that he is not committed to a peace deal with the Palestinians.

President Obama’s speech has been mischaracterized by the media as being anti-Israel. Netanyahu’s reaction to it helped foster that idea. However, if you look at the President’s speech and compare it to Netanyahu’s now irrelevant Bar Ilan policy speech that he gave in 2009. In the Bar Ilan speech, Netanyahu laid out his goals for creating a Palestinian speech. In it he called for a negotiation without any preconditions. He wanted to create a peaceful Palestinian state that would be demilitarized. He rejected Hamas and there will to destroy Israel. Netanyahu proclaimed to his audience:

“Friends, with the advantages of peace so clear, so obvious, we must ask ourselves why is peace still so far from us, even though our hands are extended for peace?”

President Obama too recognized the benefits of peace. He too called for a demilitarized Palestinian state. He too recognized that Hamas must recognize Israel and reject violence. He too recognized that in order for a Palestinian state to be achieved, they must put aside their aspirations for Jerusalem as there capital to a later date. President Obama even took it a step further and called for the Palestinians to put aside the issue of refugees and the right to return, something Netanyahu did not call for in Bar Ilan.

So why has Netanyahu reacted so harshly to the President’s speech? The line getting the most attention was Obama’s call for a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. This recognized what the Palestinians have been asking for all along. However, President Obama did not meet the Palestinians all the way. He also noted the Israeli stance that there must be land swaps. Netanyahu’s reaction ignored this part of the speech and has inflated the first part of the sentence. Why would he do this?

It appears that Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to play games within American politics. Right now President Obama’s approval rating for foreign policy is at an all-time high. Netanyahu, who has taken every chance he can to embarrass the president, appears to be doing so again. By making President Obama appear to be anti-Israel, he is hoping to reduce President Obama’s standing in the United States and hurt his image amongst U.S. Jews.

As an American Jew, I am not buying Netanyahu’s game. Neither is Israel nor other Pro-Israel American groups. Opposition Leader Livni has called for Netanyahu to resign for his comments attacking Obama’s speech because he is damaging Israel’s most important relationship. Ynet News, Israel’s most read online news source, is praising Obama as a Zionist. The Anti-Defamation League commended Obama for “his strong affirmation of the deep and "unshakeable" relationship between the United States and Israel.” Haaretz editorialist has stated Netanyahu’s response to Obama’s speech is making Israel a “pariah state.”

President Abbas has been silent on Obama’s speech, though it certainly has been a blow to his current efforts. In recent months, President Abbas has sought to delegitimize Israel by pressuring European countries to recognize Palestine as a state and threatening to go to the U.N. to get recognition of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders. Obama has rejected Abbas’s efforts. In his speech, Obama stated that Palestinian

"efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure. Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won't create an independent state. Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection. And Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist."

If that is not a Pro-Israel stance, then I do not know what is.

This week President Obama will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the White House. Netanyahu will be given the opportunity to outline his goal for peace on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in front of a joint session of congress. I hope that the Prime Minister takes this effort to outline his effort for peace and to walk back on his outrage to President Obama’s speech. This is the Prime Minister’s chance to act like an adult instead of a politician. If his recent behavior is indicative of what he may say next week, then I am afraid that Netanyahu will wind up on the wrong side of history and damage Israel’s chances of having peace with its neighbors. The advantages of peace are so clear, Mr. Prime Minister. Why have you given up on the peace you claimed to have believed in?