There were smiles, there were statements, there was a visible sense of relief. Almost an ideal setting, but just almost. Lest we get the wrong impression about the TRUE state of the US-Israel relations, let us get some useful background. Just days before going to DC, PM Netanyahu appointed a new director of PR for Israel [Hasbara as they call it], someone who just days before expressed obnoxious opinions about two state presidents. One is the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, the other is President Obama. The two have something in common, as they both figure very low on the list of Netanyahu's favorites. Whereas the former is a symbolic figure head of the State of Israel, the latter is still the leader of the free world, Barack Obama. Ahead of the meeting in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said that he will not fire his silly head of PR, but VP Biden, on the other hand, made it clear in pubic, to a Jewish audience, that this is exactly what the US expects the PM to do. An episodic note? Not really...
They count the days for January 20, 2017 in the corridors of power in Jerusalem, the day when President Obama will be finally out. They will not admit it formally, but suffice it to read what the court commentators of Netanyahu are writing, to grasp the real sense among his men about what, in fact, he thinks.
Yet, the PM did not miss an opportunity to praise President Obama yesterday, especially about his contribution to Israel's security. Yes, the same president that regretfully too many Israelis like to hate, is indeed a president who proved himself as a great supporter of Israel's security needs. He deserves every word of praise which he got from the PM, and he deserved it throughout his presidency. The question now is what it really means in the aftermath of the Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu declared a jihad against, and now he brushes it all aside as "something of the past." Yes, the PM has always been a man of words, but to dismiss so easily what he himself said about that same deal just few weeks ago is something extraordinary even for him.
More importantly though, is the question of what Israel's security needs are in the aftermath of the Iran deal. The president thinks, and so he said yesterday, that the deal is conducive with Israel's best security interests; Netanyahu thinks otherwise, or not, who knows? But he is now expecting a very generous package of military hardware goodies from the US to help Israel deal with the new strategic situation existing in the Middle East following the Iran deal.
During the unnecessary and acrimonious campaign which the PM orchestrated against the deal, he vehemently rejected any security package, but now he is in favor. He may find out, much to his chagrin, how his political hero Winston Churchill was right when he said that in diplomacy timing is 50 percent of everything. Clearly, the Obama Administration will accommodate some of the Israeli requests, but it will fall very short of the original Israeli list, and not without bitter bickering, in which inflated sums of money will be thrown in the air to create the impression that it is all about money. Not good for Israel's PR, but then go and explain that to the new Director of PR in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian issue was not on the forefront of the meeting agenda, but the recent wave of
Palestinian terror was very much in the background, and the president said the obvious: that Israel has the right to self-defense. What else was said is not clear, but judging by Netanyahu's clear sense of relief after the meeting, it seems that he did not hear anything too bad from his perspective. He must be very pleased about that, but not too much. That is, if he understands that this administration maintains its freedom of action with regard to the Palestinian issue. For example, they have yet to commit themselves to veto any more Palestinian attempts to use the Security Council of the UN in order to pass a resolution supporting an independent Palestinian state in the pre-June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The president can at any time say that supporting such a resolution, or abstaining in the vote, is in line with Israel's best security interests. Now, when he got Netanyahu's belated Kosher certificate for being such a great supporter of Israel's security needs, maybe the PM himself will applaud such a statement; not really...
So, the meeting ended with smiles. A great achievement, but the problems which were there before are still on the table. Mainly it is a challenge for the PM. Time will tell. My best advice though is not to hold our breath collectively in anticipation.