The complicated history between the U.S. and Israel has been largely replicated by the often tense relationship President Barack Obama has had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But what are Obama’s supporters saying he’s doing right that gives the president confidence he’s handling the Israeli vs. Palestinian conflict in the right way?
Throughout his 2008 and 2012 campaigns and now in the waning years of his presidency, Obama has largely been a supporter of Israel for political and security purposes in the Middle East. However, among most of the base of his Democratic supporters, Israel hasn’t garnered as much support.
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With the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas organization, Obama is being questioned about his support for Israel, given his reluctance to send Hellfire precision missiles there, a move believed to be supported largely by his Democratic Party supporters.
“It’s a the-chicken-or-the-egg question,”
wrote William McGurn for the New York Post in July. “Which came first: the Obama administration’s public contempt toward our allies in Jerusalem, or liberal Democratic animosity toward Israel? Either way, when Barack Obama steps down as president in January 2017, the Democratic Party he leaves behind will be one whose sympathies no longer embrace the Jewish state.”
“It’s an extraordinary legacy. And it’s underscored by the more or less constant snubs President Obama has directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” McGurn continued.
According to a July 2014 Gallup poll, support for Israel against the Palestinians has continued to be less among Democrats than Republicans.
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“Consistent with Republicans' more pro-Israel outlook, the majority of Republican identifiers back what Israel is doing. Meanwhile, Democrats take the opposing view, with nearly
half saying Israel's actions are unjustified,” according to Gallup’s website.
In a September 2012 edition of The New York Times and prior to President Obama’s re-election, Haim Saban, founder of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, wrote in an op-ed that Obama has always been a strong ally of Israel, mainly for Middle Eastern security purposes that are in the United States’ best interests.
“Even though he could have done a better job highlighting his friendship for Israel, there’s no denying that by every tangible measure, his support for Israel’s security and well-being has been rock solid,” Saban wrote.
“Mitt Romney claims Mr. Obama has ‘thrown allies like Israel under the bus, but in fact the president has taken concrete steps to make Israel more secure — a commitment he has described as ‘not negotiable,’” Saban continued.
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