Obama cools Iran war talk
Netanyahu fails to get unconditional backing for an Israeli strike
WASHINGTON— You had to listen carefully, but the ominous drumbeat for war with Iran dropped a decibel Monday as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House no nearer to the unconditional American backing he needs.
In body language parsed the world around, the brittle, for-the-cameras encounter with U.S. President Barack Obama offered few clues — a frown here, a smile there, lots of solemn, thoughtful gazes. And all the right diplomatic language from both to avoid embarrassing headlines of the sort these oil-and-water personalities have triggered before.
But two hours of private one-onone talk later — and a 90-minute lunch after that, joined by advisers — Netanyahu departed by all accounts bereft of ironclad assurance that Washington’s red lines match up with Israel’s.
Whatever Obama’s chances of reelection in November, war with Iran offers potentially the ultimate spanner in the works. In the words of former Pentagon official Michael Rubin, “The Republican field may be weak, but no incumbent wants to run against $8 gas.”
Obama may well have Israel’s back — but he has it in 2013 and beyond, long after the current diplomatic/ sanctions strategy and the agonies of an election year sort themselves out.
And in tabling those pledges ahead of time during a Sunday speech to the pro-israel AIPAC lobby, a key interview with the Atlantic and a separate encounter with likeminded Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres, Obama effectively bought himself time against Netanyahu’s campaign for more robust pre-emptive action.
Sources familiar with the delicate diplomatic back channels describe weeks of advance work, with the Israeli government goal of a robust joint statement showing Jerusalem and Washington on the same page.
“Both the prime minister and I prefer to resolve this diplomatically.” BARACK OBAMA
Instead, Netanyahu awakened in war-weary Washington on Monday to a full-page ad in the Washington Post in which a cluster of retired U.S. generals and intelligence officers pleaded, “Mr. President: Say no to war of choice with Iran.”
Netanyahu is no stranger to domestic American politics, and counts among his political acquaintances many of Obama’s loudest Republican critics. As the U.S. election nears, the rhetorical stakes rise. But Netanyahu has his own domestic politics to contend with, including a hawkish coalition doubtful of a U.S. president who has yet to make a visit to Israel during his first term. And so in a summit papered over with gauzy pledges of unity, Netanyahu made do with a reassertion of Israeli sovereignty. The Iranian regime may well see Israel as “little Satan” and America as “big Satan,” he told Obama. But in this instance, it will be the junior partner that reserves the right to decide for itself if — and when — it might act militarily to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Paraphrasing Obama’s speech to AIPAC, Netanyahu repeated: “Israel must have the ability always to defend itself, by itself, against any threat; and . . . when it comes to Israel’s security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right, to make its own decisions.” Unlike Obama, Netanyahu made no mention of diplomacy. And behind closed doors, Israeli and U.S. sources acknowledged, the Israeli leader placed no demands on Obama asking that the Americans specify what developments in Iran might trigger U.S. resolve to launch military action. Nor, apparently, did Netanyahu present any ultimatum about when Israel might be motivated to launch an attack. Obama, instead, put the words in Netanyahu’s mouth, saying: “Both the prime minister and I prefer to resolve this diplomatically. We do believe that there is still a window that allows for diplomatic resolution.” The size of that window is where they don’t match up. And despite Netanyahu’s best efforts, the differences in Israeli and American positions are unchanged.