There is an undeniable shift taking place in the US-Israel relationship. After decades of dependence on the United States as a primary ally, Israeli politicians across the political spectrum are increasingly comfortable using the domestic American political arena as a stage where elections back home are won and lost. This shift is coming from the very top of Israel’s political echelon.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent election campaign ended with his controversial address to the US congress. The speech was seen by many to be a form of meddling in domestic American politics given the fierce opposition to the speech by members of Democratic party. But it was nothing new for the Israeli premier. Some commentators joke that it is unclear whether Mr Netanyahu is an Israeli politician or a member of the Republican Party in the US.
This perceived leverage that Israeli politicians believe they have in American affairs speaks volumes about Israel’s hubristic worldview and is not confined to Mr Netanyahu.
Last week, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, went on a tirade against Barack Obama’s leadership in the Middle East, essentially accusing the president of being “anti-American”.
This would be an extraordinary attack for any foreign official but considering Mr Oren was born and raised in the US and chose to relinquish his American citizenship to become an official for a foreign government, his attack was borderline farcical.
Since leaving his post in Washington, Mr Oren has been elected to the Israeli parliament as a member of the Kulanu party, a centrist party that was elected on a mandate of repairing the economy. A respected historian, Mr Oren is about to publish a new memoir that details his time “bridging the divide” between the US and Israel. It appears he has not yet learnt the art of diplomacy.
In a harsh opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last week, Mr Oren argued that Mr Obama has abandoned Israel and "purposely damaged US-Israel relations" thanks in part to his warming to the Muslim world. According to the piece, Mr Obama allowed "daylight" to appear between the two allies at a time when the US is close to signing a deal with Iran concerning its nuclear programme. Mr Oren writes: "The US and Israel always could disagree but never openly. Doing so would encourage common enemies and render Israel vulnerable."
Mr Oren’s remarks were immediately denounced by the US. The American ambassador in Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro, described the back-stabbing as the sort of thing that happens when a “politician and an author wants to sell books”, adding that Mr Oren’s retelling of events was “imaginary”. According to the Israeli press, Mr Shapiro requested that Mr Netanyahu publicly disavow Mr Oren’s opinion piece. Mr Netanyahu flatly rejected the request.
You have to hand it to Israel’s political establishment. Fresh from narrowly avoiding a suspension from international football at Fifa’s world congress, and after pressuring French telecoms giant Orange to remain in Israel, one of the country’s leading figures who bridge Tel Aviv and Washington is going on the offensive against the president of the US.
At a time when Israel’s international standing is taking a harsh beating and Tel Aviv must rely on Washington more than ever, the Israeli prime minister refuses to reject the toxic remarks of a confused politician trying to sell books.
Indeed, the relationship between Israel and the US has been anything but smooth over the past several years. Mr Obama’s push for an Iran nuclear deal has worried many allies in the Middle East, not just Israel. But this is not the core of the problem between Washington and Tel Aviv, despite what Israeli politicians say.
The emergence of Israeli politicians who view the US as their home political turf coupled with Israel’s stubborn intransigence concerning its occupation and deepening settlement enterprise are the driving forces behind any perceived or real breakdown in the US-Israel alliance. Perhaps the tragic part, at least from the Israeli perspective, is that Israeli leaders like Mr Oren are the ones spearheading the slow destruction of the alliance.
On the other side of the divide, Palestinians stand to benefit dramatically from this Israeli push to poison its relationship with the US.
For decades, the US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in aid and military hardware, protected the country diplomatically in international bodies like the United Nations, and helped maintain the spectacle that is the Oslo peace process. At a time when international pressure is heating up on Israel in the form of boycotts, any reduction in the visibility of the American alliance with Israel will be disastrous for Tel Aviv.
Israel still has many important friends in the US congress, and organisations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee remain some of the most powerful lobbies in the country. Yet, these stubborn attacks by Mr Netanyahu and Mr Oren are chipping away at the foundation of the alliance and there are no signs that they will cease in the run up to the American presidential election in 2016.
If Tel Aviv wants to continue to rely on the US as its primary ally, it would be well served to remember who the superpower in the relationship is.
jdana@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @ibnezra
