Monday's meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is critical for both nations. U.S.-Israeli relations are in danger of deteriorating to the lowest point since Dwight Eisenhower ordered Israeli troops to evacuate Sinai in 1956 - an event that contributed to the 1967 Six-Day War. The summit may define relations between these two democracies for the duration of the Obama administration and beyond.
The White House seems to be intentionally slighting Israel in advance of the summit, even as it raises the stakes. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones appear to have linked U.S. willingness to stop Iran's nuclear program to receiving Israeli concessions regarding the two-state solution.
This is both immoral and counterproductive. Immoral, because it is dangerously close to blackmailing the Jewish state with a nuclear holocaust, planned by the Holocaust denier-in-chief, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Counterproductive, because potential Iranian nukes would threaten American interests and allies in the Middle East, including the oil-producing Gulf states.
The Obama administration is advocating steps that would jeopardize Israeli security. There is concern that it might approve an Arab-backed plan that could compel Israel to withdraw to indefensible 1967 cease-fire lines. The administration supports dividing Jerusalem to make a Palestinian capital. Jerusalem should not be cut in half by barbed wire fences.
It also wants Israel to join the ineffective Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The U.S. had committed in a bilateral agreement not to tamper with the Israeli nuclear shield. At a time when Iran seems on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, this is like demanding that a man in a rough neighborhood give up his shotgun when the criminal next door is getting a Kalashnikov.
All this occurs while the terrorist organization Hamas is gaining strength. Polls predict that it would win Palestinian elections.
The bigger picture is even more alarming. The administration is trying for a quick fix to an intractable conflict. Mr. Obama and his top officials are meeting with the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the Egyptian president, the Europeans and the Russians to effectively develop a plan that Israel had no part in formulating - and which would be imposed on it by extreme pressure.
