In America this November the mid term elections take place, and what this usually means is that any offence shown toward an ally with a strong ethnic electoral representation within American society, should be quickly pacified and rewarded.
Thus the arrival of the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington for a meeting with President Obama today.
The last time these two met was just two months ago when Obama cold shouldered one of his country's main allies by, according to today's Washington Post: "......leaving the Israeli leader and his aides in the West Wing alone for hours as a subtle rebuke over Israeli settlement policies.", He was also, according to the same source refused a photo opportunity with the American president.
One thing is for certain, whatever the two leaders talk about; there will be a photo session to follow (unless, that is, Netanyahu black-balls Obama).
The Jewish vote within America is important to both parties. I think that on a personal level President Obama is more a friend to the Palestinians than he is to Israel. But he has to take heed of the political realities, and show the American people that the historical alliance between America and Israel is as strong as ever.
President Obama has been scarred by his past like no other holder of this, the most important office in the Western world. He carries with him (as we all do) the detritus of his family history. His relatives have been persecuted in one form or another by colonialism which, he believes, was masterminded by the British. He does not like us because of what our history did to his relatives - thus he shares the experiences of over half the world.
Obama has a natural sympathy for the Palestinians because he perceives their plight as being comparable to that of his family as well as Afro-Americans as a whole. But his party needs to win the mid terms, and so he has to go through the pantomime of Netanyahu's visit. A visit he no doubt would preferred to have never happened.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is in a position to do Obama a favour, and will do everything in his power to oblige. The relationship between the two will, however, look like a gay wedding ceremony when they emerge in front of the White House for that photo session; simply because they will both overact their parts for their own political reasons.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's reasons for such a rapprochement is, as it turns out, the same as President Obama''s. Netanyahu needs America's continued support for her own reasons, just as America needs Israel's.
As far as Netanyahu is concerned, he is up against the most skeptical American President as far as American-Israeli relations are concerned. So what Netanyahu, as well as the next president of Israel has to consider is how he or she is to diplomatically finesse the alliance until Obama leaves office, and a new pro-Israeli president takes office in the White House.
The Israeli prime minister seeks only one thing - his nation's survival: and whomsoever replaces Israel's current leader, he or she will be tasked with the same objective.
For no matter which party governs the state of Israel - their purpose will remain the same. The survival of the Israeli state will always be paramount to Jewish survival.
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