More from the American street: USA Today takes a strong line for Obama vs Netanyahu. Notice that it specifically contradicts the Israel lobby on its claim that this matter should somehow be resolved privately:
It has never been a secret that the United States pays a steep price in the Muslim world for being
Israel ‘s staunchest ally. But when a U.S. official actually says so, as Gen.David Petraeus did during a Senate hearing last month, it’s a sure sign that tension between the allies is rising. And so it has, reaching a peak not seen in some time…
Fighting publicly with a close friend over intolerable behavior is always ugly. But a frank discussion is unavoidable if the administration is to have any hope of getting the two countries’ interests aligned. This isn’t an argument over whether the U.S. should support Israel. It should, for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that the Jewish state is a beacon of democracy in a vital region. It is a question of whether doing so requires the U.S. to blindly accept every Israeli action, no matter how provocative, unnecessary for the country’s security or contrary to U.S. goals.
Further expansion of settlements into the potential territory of a future Palestinian state is objectionable on all three counts. More so in Jerusalem, which both sides see as holy and claim as their capital.
