Obama and the Jews

I published this yesterday in a different blog I write for, but upon advisement, I decided to move it here.

In an Op-Ed published today by the New York Times, Aluf Benn--a Ha'aretz editor at large--asked, "Why Won't Obama Talk to the Jews?". Within a couple hours, Jeffrey Goldberg reported the White House reaction at the Atlantic Monthly. Despite the assurance of the unnamed officials Goldberg talked to, that Obama is and will continue to be committed to Israel's security and the Zionist cause, I can't shake off the feeling that there is a fissure developing between our executive and Israel, or worse--the impression of division.

Who is to blame?

On one hand, there is the ever present Jewish fear that forces are conspiring against the tribe. The fact that Tisha B'Av (the commemoration of the fall of the 2nd temple specifically, and everything bad that has happened to the Jews) starts Wednesday probably does not help either. Ever since right-wing American Jews and Israelis discovered Obama's middle name, there have been fringes in the USA and Israel warning of his secret Muslim upbringing and his concealed anti-Semitic agenda. While significantly less extreme, the suspicion of David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel as "self-hating Jews" fits within this tradition of unwarranted paranoia. As the officials argued to Goldberg, complaining about Obama's attempts to reach out to the Arab World is a fundamental misunderstanding of the administration's goals. Emanuel pointed out at AIPAC Policy Conference in May that Arab support is critical both for a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and to address the Iranian nuclear threat.

By the same token, Obama has not exactly been going out of his way to address these concerns either. It is all well and good that the June speech included a statement of unequivocal support for Israel, the president needs to realize that Jerusalem and Cairo are still worlds apart (even 30 years after Sadat). Coupled with the administration's uncomfortably public denunciation of Israeli settlement growth, it is not hard to see how Israel could come to see Obama in such a poor light.This is not to say that he should not take a hard line against outpost growth in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The settlement movement has long been an impediment to the peace process and a deleterious element in Israeli politics. But Obama needs to realize that freezing the settlements is not exactly a piece of cake, even for the most dove-ish politician, given the billions Israel has spent developing infrastructure in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements. Again, this is not an excuse, but it does indicate that ceasing construction is not as simple as many American politicians make it out to be. This is aggravated by the recent shift toward the right in Israeli politics- staring Bibi Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (whose remarks and policies are considered by many to be racist) with Tzipi Livni muted in the opposition. If Obama is going to make settlements part of the wider discussion, he should make the effort to engage the Israel, not ignore it. His current approach makes it too easy for the Palestinian leadership to ignore their own responsibilities in the peace process (mainly, their willingness to engage in discussion).

By addressing Israelis directly, the president will assuage fears that he is secretly apathetic or antagonistic towards the Jewish state. Even better, it would give him a platform to voice to offer some hard talk about the settlements. Having listened to his Inaugural and Cairo speeches, I am confident that he is more than capable of delivering.