Aaron David Miller, Vice President for New Initiatives and a Distinguished Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and an advisor to Secretaries of State from both parties, argued the US-Israel relationship is “by far the most dysfunctional” it’s ever been on Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
“It is not good [current US-Israeli relations]… I’ve watched quite a few American Presidents and Israeli Prime Ministers deal with one another. This is by far the most dysfunctional relationship” Miller said. Although he added the relationship was, “too big to fail.”
Miller continued “this is frankly more soap opera than it is serious policy. And I think it reflects to a certain degree a lack of discipline in the administrations of both Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama. There’s no reason that anybody should have given Jeff Goldberg that kind of interview with that kind of language. What purpose could it ultimately serve other than to annoy, to disturb, and to demonstrate yet again that it’s very tough for these two guys to find common ground either personally or frankly on issues like the peace process, settlement policy, and maybe even Iran?”
He concluded, “let’s be clear. I said it was the most dysfunctional personal relationship…no doubt that’s the case. And from the president’s point of view, I think he looks at Benjamin Netanyahu and sees a guy who’s not prepared to accord the US the respect it deserves with regard to its interests. And when Netanyahu looks at Obama, he says ‘this guy just doesn’t get the reality, my reality. He doesn’t get my politics and the fact that I’m heading a tiny country in a dangerous neighborhood with a dark past.’”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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