Israel v. USA: Not a surprise to me.

In an earlier post, I commented that the election of Netanyahu as prime minister was not an outcome that I wanted in Israel's elections. He is simply the wrong guy at the wrong time. In fact, he joins a list of wrong guys at the wrong time, including Zardari in Pakistan, Karzai in Afghanistan, and Ahmedinajad in Iran. And, these are all the wrong guys who are going to shape the life for all the nearly 7 billion of us on the planet. Our life depends on these screwballs!

So, it is far from an expected news to me to read in Newsweek that

"Relations between Israel and the U.S. are unbreakable," Emanuel said. But he added: "This is the moment of truth for Israel and the Palestinians."

It just as likely a moment of truth for Israel and the United States. For the last eight years Washington acted mainly as an unswerving supporter of Israel's actions—some critics would say cheerleader—despite a few serious differences, such as the timing of the 2006 Palestinian elections. But the potential now exists for the most serious rupture of relations at least since 1989, when Secretary of State James Baker stunned AIPAC by calling on Israel to abandon its "unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel" that included Gaza and the West Bank ....

Both Obama and Netanyahu have big political reasons to make their first summit come out looking like a lovefest. But the first flashpoint is not far off: the end of the year on Iran. And after that things could get very heated over the Palestinian issue.