Jonathan S. Tobin
Commentary/Contentions
24 May ’11

President Obama may have thought he could upstage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to a joint meeting of Congress by delivering his own Middle East policy speech that tilted the diplomatic playing field in the Palestinians favor the day before the Israeli arrived in Washington. Obama’s declaration that the 1967 lines must be the basis for peace talks was widely interpreted as a challenge to Netanyahu for which the prime minister was thought to have no effective answer.

But Obama was wrong. Netanyahu’s gutsy decision to refuse to take the ambush planned by the White House lying down was thought impertinent by many observers but it was the right decision. Rather than being cowed by the administration’s pressure play, Netanyahu’s assertion of Israel’s rights and security illustrated something that his country’s critics don’t seem to understand: the American people back Israel.

Read More: http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com/2011/05/tobin-netanyahus-triumph.html