Climate Change -- Capitol Hill Frosty For Israeli Prime Minister

It's not like the old days on Capitol Hill.  For the first time in memory, an Israeli prime minister went up to the Hill only to be bombarded with criticism.

In the past, even if the White House was cool (as it occasionally was prior to the advent of the neocons in 2001), the Israeli leader could go to the Hill and bask in the warmth.

Not this time. This time the White House was cool and the Hill (will the exception of Republican Eric Cantor) was cooler still.

This is what Israel's two top reporters, Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer,  report in the country's largest circulation (Likud-oriented) daily, Yedioth Achronoth, today.

"The leaders of the two houses of Congress surprised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday with harsh and unequivocal statements on the continuation of settlement activity in the West Bank.  Jewish members of Congress were the ones who led the attack on the policy of the Netanyahu government and its forerunners....

"John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: The United States expects to receive from Israel a commitment to solve the problem of settlements, to stop construction in existing settlements, to remove unauthorized settlement outposts and to stop saying that construction is for purposes of natural growth.  

"Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, a veteran Jewish legislator and chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said to Netanyahu: The issue of settlements is a matter of principle for the administration and Congress.  It must be dealt with in conjunction with addressing the Iranian threat.  Other members of Congress said similar things to Netanyahu.  No one took a favorable line towards Israel on this matter, with the exception of Eric Cantor, a Jewish Republican Congressman from Florida.(sic). 

"A senior Israeli official who was present at the meetings defined them as 'a fight' and 'mutual arm-wrestling,' with Netanyahu trying to put an emphasis on the Iranian issue, and the members of Congress insisting on returning to the issue of the settlements.  The senior official emphasized that there was full coordination between President Obama and the members of the Democratic majority in Congress.  Netanyahu discovered yesterday how much Congress had changed, the senior official said.  In 1996, Netanyahu recruited the Republican majority that existed in Congress against Clinton, the Democratic president.  Today, this is impossible."

It is impossible for a host of reasons -- starting with the Democratic takeover of the White House and Congress and the advent of a pro-Israel lobby in Washington that is convincing government officials that the best way to support Israel (not to mention America) is to push the peace process hard.  That means requiring both sides to live up to their commitments including Israel.

Netanyahu has learned that, for the Israeli right, the good old days are over.  Washington is fed up with the occupation and with policies that rely almost exclusively on the power of arms.  It wants negotiations, and it wants them to lead quickly to a final status agreement that will produce peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.

The main beneficiary of the policy shift will be Israel.  America is no longer going to support policies that would lead to Israel's demise.  That is something everyone who cares about Israel should applaud.