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Challenges to U.S.-Israel Relations
(Wall Street Journal) Michael B. Oren - From the moment he entered office, President Obama promoted an agenda of championing the Palestinian cause and achieving a nuclear accord with Iran. Such policies would have put him at odds with any Israeli leader. But Obama posed a fundamental challenge by abandoning a core principle of Israel's alliance with America: "no daylight." The U.S. and Israel always could disagree but never openly. Doing so would encourage common enemies and render Israel vulnerable. Obama also voided President George W. Bush's commitment to include the major settlement blocs and Jewish Jerusalem within Israel's borders in any peace agreement. Yet Obama was never anti-Israel and, to his credit, he significantly strengthened security cooperation with the Jewish state. Palestinian President Abbas boycotted negotiations, reconciled with Hamas and sought statehood in the UN - all in violation of his commitments to the U.S. - but he never paid a price. By contrast, the White House routinely condemned Netanyahu for building in areas that even Palestinian negotiators had agreed would remain part of Israel. Israel has no alternative to America as a source of security aid, diplomatic backing and overwhelming popular support. The U.S. has no substitute for the state that, though small, remains democratic, militarily and technologically robust, strategically located and unreservedly pro-American. The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.