(Telegraph-UK) Benny Morris - Today, Israel faces an Israel-hating Islamist coalition of Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas, which may soon have nuclear weapons - but does so without any certainty about American goodwill and protection. Most Israelis see Obama as lacking in that basic commitment to and sympathy for Israel that characterized American presidents since Truman. Obama's deliberate coldness has not been lost on the Israeli public. He pettily humiliated Netanyahu during last week's visit to America and Washington's overbearing tone will not be quickly forgotten. Many Israelis will not endorse American interference in Israel's politics or with its vital interests and most Israelis resent Obama's arm-twisting. Obama has ignored evidence that the Palestinians are averse to a two-state solution. How else to explain the majority Palestinian vote in 2006 for Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction? Or the rejection by Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of Clinton's two-state proposals six years before? Or Abbas' effective "no" to the peace proposals in 2008 of Ehud Olmert? The writer teaches at Ben-Gurion University.
2010-03-29 08:03:44Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive