FPI Director Dan Senor: US/Israel - Unsettled Relationship

The unauthorized announcement by an Israeli minister to build new housing units in the Jerusalem area was a diplomatic bumble. But the Obama administration's decision to "condemn" this mistake was a much larger blunder. The problem is not this particular flap, which will pass, but the underlying misunderstanding that our government's outburst reflects.

Vice President Biden himself said in Israel that the peace process is best served when there is no "daylight" between the United States and Israel. He was right, but he broke his own rule. The word "condemn"--which has only been used by the United States against Iran, North Korea, and egregious human rights violations--created precisely such daylight. The result was predictable: The Arab League immediately announced that it was reconsidering its support for Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks.

It should be no surprise that when the United States distances itself from Israel it does not win influence with the Arab world. What happens is the opposite: The Arab world follows suit and backs away from the peace process and Israel.

The damage, however, does not end with the peace process. The whole flap is a distraction from the most urgent task, which is to stop Iran from going nuclear. The greatest danger--and opportunity--for peace hangs upon the confrontation between Iran and the West. America's laser focus should be on standing with the Iranian people against their regime.

If President Barack Obama wants to advance Mideast peace--not to mention human rights and an array of other American interests--he should not be picking another counterproductive fight with Israel, and--in so doing--distracting from the real and urgent Iranian threat.

- Originally written for the Council on Foreign Relations