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Netanyahu’s Consequence-Free Stunt

His mismanagement of the relationship with the U.S. hasn't cost him or Israel anything.
israelboehner

Michael Koplow sees the controversy over Netanyahu’s address to Congress as part of a larger pattern of behavior that will end up harming Israeli interests:

The GOP has an obvious political interest in making Israel a full-fledged wedge issue and using it as a cudgel to hammer the Democrats as often as it can. The burning question for me is why Netanyahu is so willing to allow himself to be used in furthering this outcome when it is so obviously not in Israel’s interests [bold mine-DL].

Koplow makes a number of good points, but I think his “burning question” almost answers itself. Even if we take for granted that turning American support for Israel into a partisan issue is bad for Israeli interests, there are many other things that would seem to be “obviously not in Israel’s interests” that Netanyahu has no problem doing or supporting. Perpetuating the occupation and continuing to expand settlements appear to many observers to be “obviously not in Israel’s interests,” but Netanyahu isn’t trying to end the one or halt the other. This isn’t just a matter of “putting his personal political prospects ahead of Israel’s longterm interests.” That may be part of it, but it doesn’t explain how he so consistently errs on the side of doing things that are by most accounts “obviously not in Israel’s interests.” It should be clear enough by now that his understanding of Israeli interests is a very flawed one, and that affects how he chooses to manage relations with the U.S. It’s also clear that his mismanagement of the relationship with the U.S. hasn’t cost him or Israel anything, and it has arguably helped him at home.

Netanyahu knows that he can now mismanage those relations and sour them so long as there is a president that American hawks are willing to label “anti-Israel,” and as long as that is the case he assumes that neither he nor Israel will suffer any backlash. So far, he’s been right. Maybe this latest stunt will prove to be a bridge too far, but in all likelihood it won’t hurt him politically at home and it isn’t going to affect the relationship with the U.S. in any substantive way. To the extent that there is a backlash among Democrats over this, it will probably be against Netanyahu personally and against his Republican fans. It won’t do much to change the U.S.-Israel relationship because there is no one in our government willing to try to change it.

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