Israel's 'warm' strategic ties with U.S. under Bush have cooled significantly
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
TEL AVIV — Strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States has faded under the administration of President Barack Obama.
Officials in both Washington and Jerusalem said no high-level strategic meetings have taken place in more than three months and the weekly informal discussions on such issues as Iran, Iraq, Al Qaida and threats in the Middle East have ended.
"We had extremely warm and intimate relations on a strategic level under [President George] Bush," an official said. "Now, we have returned to being just another country friendly to the United States."
"The area where this really hurts is Iran," the official said. "Iran is making advances in its nuclear weapons program, and there is nobody on the U.S. side to really discuss this with."
Officials said the strategic dialogue has become virtually non-existent since the launch of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They said the White House has maintained no more than formal contact with either the Israeli prime minister or Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman has been assigned responsibility over Israeli relations with the United States.
Over the last two weeks, officials said, neither the White House nor the State Department has consulted with Israel on issues that directly affect the Jewish state. They cited the U.S. dialogue with Syria as well as the speech by Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, who called on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"With Bush, we had a firm rule that neither country would surprise the other," the official said. "I wouldn't say this rule was inviolate. It was. But now there's not even that basic commitment."
Under the Bush administration, Israeli officials maintained a direct line with senior members of the White House and State Department. They included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, his deputy Elliot Abrams. Every few weeks, Bush and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would talk on the phone on Middle East issues.
Netanyahu's senior adviser, Uzi Arad, has sought to arrange for a direct line with National Security Advisor James Jones. Officials said Jones, a former NATO commander and envoy to the Palestinian Authority, has been largely unavailable. The two men were scheduled to meet on May 12 in Washington to discuss the agenda for the Obama-Netanyahu meeting six days later.
The administration has also sharply reduced coordination with Israel regarding Iran's nuclear program. Officials said U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross was ordered not to visit Israel during his tour of the Gulf Arab region in late April. The Netanyahu government had sought to acquire a briefing by Ross after his trip to Gulf Cooperation Council states.
U.S. officials acknowledged that relations with Israel were not the same as those under the Bush administration. They said Obama was still forming policy toward Israel and other Middle East states.
"There are now two new administrations and this will take time and patience," a U.S. official said.