Israel and the current administration have not had the best of relationships. In a world where nearly everyone is sucked in to the Obama mania, Israelis recently held an anti-Obama rally, going so far as to call him ‘racist.’ This is a result of an openly anti-Israel stance taken by the president, in fact, the president’s first official call to a head of state was to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Add to that relatively small gesture the policy of reaching out to Israel arch-nemesis Iran and regular nemesis Syria and their worry turned into real fear, fear of being abandoned in a sea of Arab resentment. Then comes the words from the administration pressuring Israel to not attack Iran if it acquires or is about to acquire nuclear weapons, intimations from Clinton that a nuclear Iran is acceptable, and Obama’s public call that Israel dismantle its settlements and that fear turns into anger. By and large, we can say that this administration is decidedly not pro-Israel, and many may argue it is anti-Israel.

Apparently, the administration is trying to repair this hurt relationship by sending government official after government official to Israel. While I am usually critical of the president, I applaud this action. Keeping Israel in the loop is something that the United States needs to do, just like we should be doing with our other allies. The truth is that actions speak louder than words and for the administration to rescue our relationship with Israel, we need to take their national security interests more seriously. Obama should keep trying to mend fences with Israel, but diplomacy is but a first step; he needs to take a strong stand against terrorism and Iran, which is something that not only benefits Israel but our security as well.

-AG