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Senior Israeli officials have reportedly expressed concerns recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since both President Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu took office.
“Obama’s people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to,” the officials said.
In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don’t consult with them or coordinate their statements in advance.
This has caused several coordination “malfunctions” between the two states in the past two months, they said.
The last incident was the statement of Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The statement had not been coordinated with Israeli officials in charge of the nuclear issue and they heard it first from the media.
This followed other equally problematic incidents. The American policy shift toward Syria and opening direct talks with Damascus followed minimal coordination with Israel. For example, Israel was not briefed about senior American diplomats’ trip to Damascus, which the U.S. had initiated.
Another incident concerned U.S. envoy for Iranian affairs Dennis Ross’ trip to the Gulf states a few days ago for talks on Iran. Israel was briefed on the trip in general details, but no consultations or message-coordination took place before the trip. In addition, Ross did not pass through Israel on his way to the Gulf or back to brief Israel on the talks’ outcome.
The American policy toward Iran has remained generally ambiguous as far as Israel is concerned and the administration has not outlined to Israel its plan for a dialogue with Iran in an orderly way. Many of the details Israel learned about this plan were obtained via European channels.
The Israeli officials said the problem also stems from the government change in both states and because clear work procedures between the sides have not been set established.
“This will be one of the most important things Netanyahu will have to settle with Obama,” a senior official said.
However, the official said the new administration no longer seems to see Israel as a “special” or “extraordinary” state in the Middle East, with which the U.S. must maintain a different dialogue than with other states.
“The feeling is that the dialogue and coordination with the Arab states and with Europe is today no less important to the U.S. and perhaps more so than with Israel,” the official said.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
12:46PM: A light plane has crashed into a house in Ness Ziona (south of Tel Aviv), with one person sustaining severe wounds and another being lightly injured.
11:08AM: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman believes the Europeans are willing to listen to him.
“We managed to raise many questions about the essence of the processes and perceptions which were accepted until now, he said Friday morning in an interview to Ynet, shortly after returning from his first official visit abroad since taking office.
“My feeling, which is different from what is reported here, is that I was greeted in Europe with a willingness to listen,” he noted.
8:22AM: This column by Mark Steyn is a great, if not depressing, read (hat tip: Israellycool readers).
7:22AM: Barbershop Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair is trying to use his Jedi mind trick on Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu.
