Israel's Republican governor

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4625320,00.html

"While there are those who are focusing on protocol or politics, a bad deal with Iran is being formed," Benjamin Netanyahu has declared. The remedy for this bad agreement, it turns out, is a speech which the prime minister will deliver in Washington, DC.

Netanyahu is suggesting the following equation: It's true that this speech faces a strong opposition in the United States. It's true that it is infuriating the administration and will create high tensions between Israel and US President Barack Obama. It's true that there is a good chance that the administration will punish Netanyahu (i.e., the State of Israel) because delivering the speech is perceived as breaking the acceptable rules of the game between countries (a head of state does not make an official visit when the head of the state he is visiting makes it explicitly clear that he is not interested in the visit). It's also true that to an innocent bystander, it seems like cynical attempt to grab the spotlight in order to advance the guest's interests in the election campaign. But all that pales into insignificance in the face of the fundamental achievement – stopping the bad agreement with Iran.
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The support for Netanyahu is now turning into an act of defiance against the president. This outcome is the last thing that will serve the State of Israel's interests in its battle against a nuclear Iran.

But Netanyahu, despite his declarations, is thinking less about Iran and more about politics – Israeli and American. He is thinking like a Republican governor of a state in the Middle East. The party members are deriving pleasure from the slap in Obama's face. The price will be paid by us.

[SummerSnow]

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