DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

Ahmadinejad: "Islamic Revolution Reaching Beyond Iran" (Iran Tracker-American Enterprise Institute)
    Iranian President Ahmadinejad said: "The Islamic revolution of Iran is a humane revolution reaching beyond the geographic boundaries of Iran."
    "Our existence and our breathing room require that we expand our borders of conflict even closer to the command centers of the enemy. One who sits and waits for the enemy approaching the borders and pressure him will be forced to dress in the robe of misery. We see that they say 'we are concerned about Iran's presence in Latin America, Asia and Africa'."

Taking Relations with Israel to the Brink? - Elise Labott (CNN)
    Aaron Miller, a Mideast adviser for Democratic and Republican administrations, says it's OK to fight with Israel, but that "the fight has to be worthwhile."
    In other words, he says, the fight has to make the president look good, it must advance the American national interest, and it also has to create some measure of a breakthrough in the negotiations.
    The problem is, the current fight with Israel doesn't do any of these things, least of all improve the climate for peace talks.
    See also How to Heal the U.S.-Israel Rift - Aaron David Miller (New York Daily News)
    The current crisis over Israeli housing construction in east Jerusalem has escalated into a perfect storm driven by Israeli ineptness and American overkill. If it's not corrected, this could lead to real damage in the U.S.-Israeli relationship at the worst possible time.
    No Israeli government will freeze all settlement activity or want to appear to be caving to U.S. demands.
    The elephant in the room is this reality: Right now, a conflict-ending agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians on Jerusalem, refugees, security and borders is just not possible. The gaps are too big.
    Israel and the U.S. need to get a grip. Israel can often drive America to distraction, but it is not some banana republic that can be pushed around. Israelis live on the knife's edge; Obama must understand the existential realities that affect their politics and attitudes.
    The essence of the relationship, America's commitment to Israel's identity and security, must not be compromised.

Testing Obama, at Home and Abroad - David E. Sanger (New York Times)
    As one of the president's foreign policy advisers said on Monday, after Mr. Netanyahu gave another defiant speech, "our Israeli friends are not asking themselves the question, if Obama can't set some parameters for our allies, how is he going to set some for the mullahs?"
    "The key way that you project strength is to show that you mean what you say," Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Obama and his foreign-policy speechwriter, said on Monday.
    However, David Rothkopf, a noted expert in the exercise of presidential power, noted, "He's in the position of appearing fierce with the Israelis over an insult, but timid with the Iranians over nuclear weapons."

Obama and Israel: Not Smart - John Podhoretz (Commentary)
    Matters escalated because the U.S. escalated them. Hillary Clinton called up Bibi Netanyahu on Friday and, if one reads between the lines in the reporting on their conversation, basically screamed at him for 45 minutes. Then her spokesman went out and told the world she had done so.
    While Jews are divided over Israel's policies, most of them do not want the U.S. to become part of the beat-up-on-Israel forces.

A Telling Tiff - George Jonas (National Post-Canada)
    Netanyahu ordered an investigation into "the events that unfolded during U.S. Vice-President Biden's visit to Israel." What exactly was there for a commission to investigate?
    Why Israel builds apartments? That's what countries do. Why it builds on disputed territory? Every inch of Israel is disputed. That's what the Middle East conflict is about.
    With Barack Obama in the Oval Office, America may be Israel's ally but it isn't Israel's friend.

Overkill: Rebuke of Israel Goes Overboard - Editorial (The Oklahoman)
    Just in case anyone wondered, the State Department announced Monday that the Obama administration still considers Israel a friend of the United States.
    That Washington felt the need to clear that up shows how difficult things have gotten with Tel Aviv after last week's kerfuffle over Israeli plans - years in the future - to build housing units in north Jerusalem, an area considered off limits to Jews by Arabs and, obviously, the Obama team.
    We suspect lots of Americans are wondering about the Obama administration's sense of proportionality: Iran's government cuts down opponents in the streets and barely creates a ripple with the Obama crew, which has no problem reaming our most valuable friend in the Middle East.
    We realize Netanyahu's reluctance to deal away Israel's security to its enemies is inconvenient to the administration's hope of a breakthrough in the peace process, but really, it's no way to treat a strategic ally.
    Unfortunately, it is this president's pattern: tread lightly with America's adversaries and land like a ton of bricks on friends - especially dangerous for Israel because of those who will be emboldened by it.

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

Obama and the Jacksonian Zionists - Walter Russell Mead (American Interest)

• With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scheduled to address AIPAC's annual meeting next weekend in Washington, the stage is set for high drama.
• The Obama administration's ability to put pressure on its most important Middle Eastern ally ultimately depends on the reaction of American gentile supporters of Israel to administration policy. The administration may be in danger of overestimating its support in a drawn out debate.
• Overall public support for Israel in the U.S. has been rising for most of the last generation. Just as Israel was seen as America's most reliable and important Middle Eastern ally during the Cold War, it now looked like a country whose survival depended on the defeat of America's enemies in the war on terror. That today Israel is engaged in a confrontation with Iran, a country which poll after poll shows that Americans think of as their most dangerous adversary, only deepens this bond. Warts and all, Israel was democratic, not Muslim, anti-Soviet and pro-American. It was everything an ally should be, and strong too. For Jacksonian America, Israel was one of the few signs of light in a dark world and it has kept this status to the present day.
• In much of American opinion, when somebody attacks you, especially in an underhanded terrorist way, you have a natural right to defend yourself using every weapon and every tactic that comes to hand. This is the way most Americans think about war. Such people are not necessarily indifferent to Palestinian rights, and they may not feel that every Israeli action is well judged, but they strongly believe that as long as Palestinians engage in terrorism, Israel has an unlimited and absolute right of self-defense. It can and should do anything and everything it can to stop the attacks. This view may be right or it may be wrong, but its cultural hold on a substantial section of the American people is a fact. It is one of the strongest and most persistent elements in the national character. It is unlikely to change anytime soon.
• For many Jacksonians, Israel is a litmus test. The more clearly you support Israel, the more you look like a reliable American patriot. This may be the ultimate reason why so many American politicians instinctively shy away from taking any positions that can even remotely be seen as anti-Israel. Being pro-Israel is a sign of being pro-American to a very large sector of American public opinion. Jacksonians don't want a long and bitter fight with a country they support as America's most important ally in the most dangerous region in the world.
• President Obama needs to stand tall and settle quick. He cannot afford a humiliating climb down in the face of Israeli pressure, but it is unlikely that either Congress or Jacksonian America will back him in a long and divisive struggle. But whatever happens in the Washington policy wars, one thing should be clear. This is not a battle between "the Jews" and the rest of the U.S. over our policy in the Middle East. It is a battle between opposing conceptions of America's interests in the Middle East, and gentiles and Jews can be found on both sides.