It’s doubtful he will get any credit for it, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting a full-throttle charm offensive on behalf of President Obama. Netanyahu’s praise for the president’s UN speech on Wednesday was fulsome and included no caveats about Obama’s bragging about trying to tilt the diplomatic playing field in the direction of the Palestinians on the 1967 lines or his predilection for moral equivalence between the two sides in the Middle East conflict. Subsequently, Netanyahu also rebuked a member of his party who appeared with Texas Governor Rick Perry last week at a press conference during which Obama’s negative attitude toward Israel was denounced. And this was not long after Jerusalem treated Obama’s helpful phone call to Egypt during the attack on the Israel embassy in Cairo earlier this month as heroic rather than routine.
For those who think the primary image of the U.S.-Israel relationship is that of Netanyahu lecturing Obama about the dangers of a return to the 1967 lines during a White House photo op, the idea the prime minister is sucking up to the president is somewhat amusing. But it is nevertheless true. And as much as there has been no diminishment of the White House’s resentment of Netanyahu, the willingness of the Israeli leader to vouch for Obama may prove quite useful for the Democrats next year.
The Israeli leader has actually done his best to avoid spats with Obama. Netanyahu’s infamous lecture was an understandable reaction to Obama’s decision to ambush the prime minister in his Middle East policy speech on the eve of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this spring. That spat, like the all too public arguments with Israel that have been an ongoing feature of the Obama administration from its first days in office, was the result of a deliberate decision by the president to pick a fight with Netanyahu. But even during the worst of the White House’s attempts to humiliate him, such as the argument over the supposed “insult” to Vice President Joe Biden over building in Jerusalem in 2010, Netanyahu has kept his cool. He refused to publicly answer the slights and genuine insults. It should also be remembered that during his triumphant address to Congress days after Obama’s ambush, Netanyahu spoke for the most part as if the president agreed with him and sought to highlight their points of agreement, not their differences.
Netanyahu’s critics will argue the current charm offensive with the White House is a matter of necessity. Israel needs Obama to veto a unilateral declaration of Palestinian independence. They are right about that, but there’s more that motivates the Israeli’s actions. Should Obama follow up his veto at the UN with another campaign of brutal pressure on Israel, Netanyahu will hope to position himself in such a way as to rally his nation’s American supporters in both political parties to act as a brake on the president’s policies without openly offending the White House.
Netanyahu’s willingness to pile on the praise in quotes that can be used by Democrats next year to bolster Obama’s re-election campaign may annoy his Republican admirers, but it makes sense. If Obama is re-elected next year, that will present a challenge for Israel, but he won’t be able to blame Netanyahu for helping the Republicans. And if, as many in Israel hope, Obama is defeated, then none of this will matter.
