Obama blinked, allowing Netanyahu to smile!

After some ten months of insisting that Israel stop all settlements before peace talk with the Palestinians continue, the Obama Administration, on November 1, 2009, via Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, agreed that talks be: “Without preconditions…” The words gave Benyamin Netanyahu what he needed domestically, and what he wanted politically.

Did the reversal in United States posture was the result of upcoming close elections in the US, elections that may well be influenced by the Jewish vote, and will also be affected by money that pro-Israel sources are expected to donate to the DNC? Or, was Obama convinced that the unwavering sixty-year alliance was worth while preserving?

Obama’s new Israel policy is a reversal of his promises in the historic Cairo speech to the Islamic world suggesting that the US will not continue its unconditional support of Israel. Consistent with Obama’s habit of abandoning commitments, his attempt to appease the Islamic world was short-lived, it lasted not beyond the time when political consideration kicked-in.

The Islamic world, and especially that of the Palestinians, loss, in the case of the Obama’s Administration reversal of its even-handed approach to the Middle East, is Israel’s gain; not a catastrophe since Obama’s overtures towards Islam were not reciprocated.