The Breakdown of the ‘Special Relationship’
No surprise from me over this news; during the campaign, Barack Obama’s ties to numerous radical Palestinians and leftists made it very clear that this was in the cards if he were elected: Jerusalem worried over breakdown of U.S.-Israel cooperation under Obama.
Obama’s foreign policy plan seems to be to reach out diplomatically to America’s worst enemies, and shun America’s best friends.
Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama’s entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel’s new government.
Senior White House officials told their Israeli counterparts that Obama will demand Netanyahu completely suspend construction in the settlements, the officials said. “Obama’s people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to,” the officials said.
In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don’t consult with them or coordinate their statements in advance. This has caused several coordination “malfunctions” between the two states in the past two months, they said.