Israel and the Obama Paradox

One of the more interesting aspects of Obama’s foreign policy has been his outreach to the Islamic world and the subsequent cooling of relations between the United States and Israel.  Since it seems to be reaching a fever pitch, let’s look further into it, shall we?

Really there is no place that is more of a front line for the clash between the West and the Islamic world than Israel, and the issue has been deeply divisive for years.  Israel is strategically an extremely important country for the United States, and as such, the U.S. has led with something of a double standard for years.  While it’s true that it’s one of the only democracies in the Middle East (often mistakenly called the ONLY democracy, when in fact Turkey is also a democratic nation), it seems to have adopted something of an apartheid system in regard to the Palestinian’s.

The reasons behind this may be, if not justifiable, at least understandable, but there are relatively few human rights organizations who think that conditions in Gaza or the West Bank are justifiable.  But because of America’s interests, we’ve ignored the plight of the Palestinian’s for quite some time.  Now that Obama has tried to open a dialogue with the Arab world, he has overwhelmingly heard that a major issue he’s going to have to give some ground on is Israel.

Which puts him in a sticky position.  First of all, American’s are pretty gung-ho about Israel.  It’s seen as a sister-state almost, like one of our own in dangerous land, which is, frankly, true.  Also, there’s a decent amount of anger that can be riled up on the side of Israel regarding the long-deserved right of the Jewish people to be free from persecution.  And finally, despite the fact that this is portrayed as a conspiracy theory by the pro-Israel supporters, there IS a significant Israel lobby in the U.S.

So really, for Obama to engage the rest of the world – and to undo some of the years of hypocrisy in terms of American policy towards the Palestinians – he has to do something that is quite unpopular within his own country.   Another instance that has to make him at least slightly nervous is that the state of Florida, an extremely important swing state, is nearly 5% Jewish, which is a demographic that usually votes Democratic in a state that is almost always at the center of a Presidential race.

So morally, it’s probably right for Obama to move from a “special” relationship with Israel to a “normal” relationship, particularly when the right wingers who seem to be in charge of the government right now decide to approve the building of massive settlements at a time that (in)conveniently scuttles talks with the Palestinians mediated by VP Joe Biden.  So the difficult line that Obama has to straddle is between supporting Israel ideologically, but refusing to apply a double standard.  And let’s be honest, this is one of those issues where the participants lose all rationality when speaking about it.

A pickle indeed.  This is a demographic that Obama can’t lose.  The Jewish population in the United States is not huge – 2% – but they are massive supporters of Obama, and that population of them in Florida is strategically essential.  And that doesn’t even count the millions of people who aren’t Jewish but who are ardent Israel supporters.  It’s the perennial battle between what’s right and what’s politically expedient.