Rumble in the Oval
Rumble in the Oval With PM in DC to wrangle some defense aid from his best frenemy, papers try to predict whether he can net any spoils from a rancid relationship
By Joshua Davidovich
November 9, 2015, 2:52 pm
Source: Rumble in the Oval | The Times of Israel
With a year of bad blood and bickering behind them, it’s finally the day of the big meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama, and papers Monday play up the powwow like it’s some sort of title fight, with aid proposals being floated like butterflies, and more than a fair share of bee stings.
All three major papers weigh in with prognostications on what the White House meeting, to take place Monday afternoon Israel time, will hold, with nobody guessing that Netanyahu will have an easy time sitting down with his best frenemy, despite what their smiling faces at the press appearance before the meeting may try to telegraph.
While the purpose of the meeting may be business, the famous donnybrook between the leaders casts a long shadow over the coverage.
“Who’s the boss,” reads the headline on tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth, which reports that it’s not Tony Danza, and not Netanyahu either. Unlike Israel Hayom and Haaretz, which leave the door open to the possibility of the meeting bearing some fruit, Yedioth slams the door on that chance.
“The ties between [Obama and Netanyahu] have known more downs than ups over the seven years of the American president’s term, but today at 5:30 when the two meet in the White House, Netanyahu will hope that the public fighting won’t be an obstacle for him when he asks to up military aid to Israel in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal. According to US government officials, he’s expected to be disappointed,” the paper reports, summing up the crux of the visit.
The paper’s Shimon Shiffer, noting Netanyahu’s various failed attempts regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, which stand in contrast to Obama’s perfect record in pushing forward his plans, predicts as well that Netanyahu won’t have a good time in Washington.
“It’s no big wonder that Netanyahu is expected to notch a fresh defeat – and not to get the generous compensation package of billions of dollars of aid, advanced fighting equipment and a strategic memorandum of understanding. US government spokespeople have in recent days played down expectations ahead of the visit and reminded Netanyahu that in America, there is no such thing as a free lunch,“ he writes.
Others though are not so sure, and see Obama willing to bury the hatchet in the name of the greater good of giving Israel some bags of cash and kick-ass fighter jets and bombs.
“The fact that Israel remains the only democratic fortress of pro-West stability amidst an area where violence overflows and radicalism and Islamist zealotry run rampant should lead the White House to a significant improvement in its strategic and defense relationship with Israel, not to mention that an ambitious Russia is upping its military engagement in the Syrian arena, “ analyst Avraham Ben-Tzvi writes in Israel Hayom. “This should lead to an upgrade, both in term of military aid in the short and long term, and in terms of the nature of future joint operations from a technological and intelligence standpoint, whcih falls in line with the spirit of the ‘Nixon Doctrine’ embraced by ‘all Obama’s men.’”
In Haaretz, Chemi Shalev sees a possibility of the meeting going swimmingly, so long as Netanyahu keeps quiet and doesn’t try pulling any shtick with the American president.
“According to the logic of the outside world, Netanyahu’s objectives should be to make nice to everyone in the US capital, extract whatever he can from Obama and Congress and return home quickly and safely,” he writes. “The organizers of the General Assembly of Jewish Federations, which Netanyahu is to address on Tuesday morning, are certainly hoping for a quiet and productive meeting with the president that will enable them to roundly cheer and wildly applaud the Israeli prime minister, as they always have. But they would be calmer right now if they were absolutely certain that Netanyahu had not brought a hat with him from Israel — and if he had, that it doesn’t contain another one of his peculiar and often rabid rabbits.”
In the same paper, top Obama aide Ben Rhodes tells Barak Ravid that even if Obama has given up on seeing a peace deal in his term, that doesn’t mean the administration is going to go easy on Netanyahu’s moves, or that whoever is in the White House next will also take a pass on pursuing an agreement.
“You know, this focus doesn’t come from Obama or Kerry. The lack of a two-state solution was there when Obama came into office and it may unfortunately be there when he leaves office. And people will still be focused on it. Whoever the next president is, there is going to be significant international concern over the lack of a two-state solution and settlement expansion,” Rhodes is quoted telling Ravid.
While Netanyahu is off jet-setting to Washington, a terror wave in Israel showed no signs of letting up Sunday, with three attacks and a soldier injured in a car-ramming last week dying of his injuries.
Both Yedioth and Israel Hayom make much of the fact that the family of Border Police Officer Binyamin Yacobovich elected to donate his organs after his death.
“That’s the education that Binyamin got at home. An education of values that led him to help out in any situation,” a family friend tells Israel Hayom. “I don’t know if he signed a donor card, but from my interaction with him I have no doubt that’s what he would want. He was an amazing kid, good-looking and salt of the earth. He had ambitious plans and a bright future and now it’s all been cut short. The hope now is that his organs will go to others, and give them hope.”
In a sign that things aren’t likely to get better anytime soon, Yedioth reports that the IDF will deploy four reserve battalions, which will replace four standing army battalions who have been dealing with the troubles in the West Bank until now.
The paper reports that the army was hoping to avoid the call-up and wishing against wish the terror wave would disappear, but with that becoming increasingly unlikely, the “drastic step” needs to be taken.
“The call-up is designed to return the standing army battalions to their planned training, which was badly affected in the last few months,” the paper reports. “Troops from the Paratroopers, Golani, Givati and the Nahal brigades found themselves in the middle of operations in the territories, instead of completing their training.”
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