Dan Senor, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, has a noteworthy piece in the Daily Beast on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the White House today.

Senor dilates on the convergence of four issues — relations with the Palestinians, Iran’s progress in gaining nuclear weapons, the UN, and Israeli politics — to underscore what a crucial moment this is for Israel as well as for Israeli-U.S. relations. In Senor’s (wise) words:

If Obama wants to head off what could be a September train wreck for Middle East diplomacy, he must first cement his partnership with Netanyahu today, and explain it in no uncertain terms to Israel’s friends and adversaries around the world.

This should be both unnecessary and self-evident — but given how badly the Obama administration has handled our relationship with Israel, to the point of causing a near-rupture, nothing should be assumed. The Obama administration has set back relationships with many allies around the world, but he has handled none worse that our relationship with Israel. It has been, on every level, a debacle. Let’s hope Obama begins to correct things soon. Today he can start.