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Why a Netanyahu Victory Isn't Likely to Make U.S.-Israel Relations Worse

(Christian Science Monitor) Howard LaFranchi - "It didn't take Netanyahu's reelection to convince anyone that while the Israeli-Palestinian process maybe wasn't dead, it was frozen pretty hard," says Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert who has held government posts in both Republican and Democratic administrations. A number of factors will "tend to constrain what the administration is prepared to do to press the Israelis," Miller says. These include unabated pro-Israeli congressional pressure, a U.S. presidential campaign where all the candidates will be trumpeting their support for Israel, and shared U.S.-Israel national security interests. Miller points out that the Obama administration has "never gone beyond words to demonstrate its dissatisfaction with Israel," and he doesn't anticipate that happening now - simply because he doesn't see how the U.S. benefits by getting tough with Israel. "I just don't see what ratcheting up gets the administration," he says.
2015-03-20 00:00:00
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