Benn has a great piece in Friday’s Haaretz about the overweening self-confidence with which PM Netanyahu launched his ‘triumphal visit’ to AIPAC this week– and how seriously he misread the situation in Washington:
- Netanyahu hoped things would turn out differently when he set out Sunday night to make a serious show of strength in Washington. By means of his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee convention, the prime minister wanted to prove to Obama that American Jewry and Congress are backing him in face of the administration’s demand to stop construction in the settlements in the West Bank and to desist from judaizing East Jerusalem. Apparently the premier believed the public opinion polls that said Israel is more popular than Obama in the eyes of the American public.
… [Netanyahu] notes frequently to aides, politicians and journalists that Israelis don’t understand America like he does. That they see only the president and the administration, and don’t understand the power of Congress, the lobbying groups and the think tanks.
This week the premier put his experience and outlook to the test. But Obama also had received a shot in the arm. Just hours before meeting with Netanyahu, he had signed the health care reform law for which he had fought so hard. That was the president’s test… the president emerged as a winner and a hero. Thus, after months of eulogies by politicians and public disappointment with his performance, Obama is perceived once again as the leader of the pack.
Netanyahu, by comparison, is perceived as a pushover when he concedes to his partners and political rivals.
I hope this is true…