Hey, how about a reset with Israel after their elections?
The question is whether the incumbent will choose, or perhaps be obliged by the electoral math, to include parties from the center and left in his coalition. If he does not, Mr. Netanyahu could find himself isolated both within his own government and internationally: He is one of only two of the top 30 candidates from his own Likud Party to endorse Palestinian statehood.
For that reason, the wise U.S. policy would be to concede, and maybe even welcome, Mr. Netanyahu’s reelection while quietly urging him to construct a centrist government. In the coming months Israel and the United States will likely have an urgent need to communicate clearly and cooperate closely on the threat of Iran’s nuclear program; and they must try to preserve the prospect of Palestinian statehood. Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu may be political foils, but as each begins a new term their deeper interest lies in a reset of their relationship.
Blowback
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How about we reset the Middle East…by giving any American soldier or citizen a 24 hour warning to leave and then carpeting the entire region sans Israel with neutron bombs?
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 2:44 PM
Polls close in just a few minutes (10:00 pm Israel time)!
Pork-Chop on January 22, 2013 at 2:46 PM
Go Bibi!
annoyinglittletwerp on January 22, 2013 at 2:48 PM
Oh yes, and we can duct-tape chumpthreads to one of the bombs.
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 2:50 PM
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 2:50 PM
Seconded.
annoyinglittletwerp on January 22, 2013 at 2:52 PM
If Bibi IS re-elected, he sure the heck knows who/what bho is and knows not to trust that lying forked tongue snake, EVER! bho will smile and shake your hand but the other hand has a knife to put in your back!
Good luck Bibi, may God bless Israel. I pray for Israel daily.
L
letget on January 22, 2013 at 2:57 PM
No.
vityas on January 22, 2013 at 3:05 PM
I don’t even want to know who wrote this drivel.
No clickie!
Dusty on January 22, 2013 at 3:06 PM
Bibi looks like he can have a narrow majority (61/120) for a conservative/religious government, or a strong majority (78-80/120) for a center-right government if he wants to work with Lapid.
Gingotts on January 22, 2013 at 3:13 PM
Israel is a democracy. They don’t need the WaPo/Obama telling them how to set up their government. Sheesh!
Blake on January 22, 2013 at 3:19 PM
I’d almost hope he goes for the narrow majority and tries like mad to keep them from ‘straying’ to liberalism.
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 3:23 PM
What have the people in the Middle East done to you that makes you want to indiscriminately murder tens of millions of them? Hot Airheads truly are a sick bunch.
antifederalist on January 22, 2013 at 3:25 PM
Not worried either way. This is far from his first rodeo. The past four years has been a steady show of Netanyahu triangulating, co-opting centrist parties when necessary, destabilizing his strongest rivals, and winning over the few worthwhile members of the opposition to his side when they can be useful. I wish we had somebody half as capable in the GOP. (Hell I just wish we had somebody who could enter into negotiation without publicly crying…)
The last major “centrist” party, Kadima, was actually first in the 2009 election, with one more seat than Likud (not merged with Israel Beiteinu). Today, that party won a grand total of 0 seats.
Gingotts on January 22, 2013 at 3:42 PM
What have the people in the Middle East done to you that makes you want to indiscriminately murder tens of millions of them? Hot Airheads truly are a sick bunch.
antifederalist on January 22, 2013 at 3:25 PM
Go to another site then you mewling little child, we are not obligated to please your pathetic expectations of what is ‘nice’.
Murdered millions of civilized people, spread their bloody moon-god cult over entire nations, directly attacking my nation and my nation’s military repeatedly.
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Forget it, I hope they give you the finger and keep on keepin’ on.
thebrokenrattle on January 22, 2013 at 3:53 PM
I think Obama is a more “From the River to the Sea” kinda guy, so I suspect any reset will be to adopt a more hands-off, “we-told-you-so” relationship, especially with any worsening Mid-East military situation.
eeyore on January 22, 2013 at 4:00 PM
And this is how you justify your advocacy of mass murder?
antifederalist on January 22, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Islam justifies lying and murder in their own holy book, pumpkin.
Now go somewhere that won’t upset you, like a knitting forum.
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 4:32 PM
And of course all Muslims advocate mass murder. /
That’s why they deserve to be carpet bombed with neutron bombs as you have suggested. Let’s ask the question who is the realterrorist? Hint, it’s you.
antifederalist on January 22, 2013 at 4:42 PM
People are forgetting the internal electoral math. If Bibi builds a coalition with Left parties then the vast majority of his party’s members will break away, like Barak did with his Independence party to stay in the government when Labor decided to leave the government. Pretty much the only centrist party that can get away with being in the coalition without risking a Likud breakup is Yesh Atid, and as much as Yesh Atid will dislike being in a right-wing government, they will swallow their pride and do it to pass their biggest checkboxes, Hareidi integration and combating the high cost of living which are both also high on Likud and HaBayit HaYehudi checklists.
solatic on January 22, 2013 at 4:55 PM
Another maniac with another final solution.
lexhamfox on January 22, 2013 at 5:06 PM
A fox you’re not, sockpuppet.
MelonCollie on January 22, 2013 at 6:49 PM