In his speech about the Middle East this week, President Obama just couldn’t leave well enough alone. He had gotten an enormous outpouring of support after ordering the killing of Osama bin Laden. He had scored a major achievement for the United States and for his presidency, and he got a modest uptick in popular support because of it.

It was in the context of that extraordinary national security accomplishment that Obama delivered his address on the Middle East. He began the speech with admirable themes of promoting “reform” and “democracy” in the region. In fact, that part of the speech could have been written and delivered by President George W. Bush, whose post-9/11 MidEast policy was based on those pillars. We now know what the Obama Doctrine is. It’s called the Bush Doctrine.

The last few minutes of the address, however, brought the usual Obama destructive bombshell. After speaking clearly and relatively consistently about what American policy will be going forward, he just couldn’t help himself. He veered into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and sent our ally careening off a cliff. First, he spoke about the Israelis and the Palestinians in a morally equivalent way. Second, he glossed over the dangerous recent actions of Israel’s most mortal enemies, Iran and Syria. And third, he openly endorsed the Palestinians’ demand that Israel withdraw to the 1967 lines, a demand that Israel has long rejected as far too threatening to their national security and territorial integrity. U.S. policy has been to not deal in the 1967 terms, either in public or in private—until this week, when Obama radically broke with one of our closest allies and asked them to commit national suicide.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington to meet with Obama, was having none of it. (They’re having lunch today. Awkward!) Within minutes of Obama’s speech, Netanyahu released the following scathing statement:

“Israel appreciates President Obama’s commitment to peace,” the response began, curtly. “Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state.”

“That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.”

“Among other things,” Netanyahu reminded Obama, “those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines.”

“Those commitments also ensure Israel’s well-being as a Jewish state by making clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel.”

“Without a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem outside the borders of Israel, no territorial concession will bring peace.”
“Equally, the Palestinians, and not just the United States, must recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and any peace agreement with them must end all claims against Israel.”

“Prime Minister Netanyahu will make clear that the defense of Israel requires an Israeli military presence along the Jordan River.”

“Prime Minister Netanyahu will also express his disappointment over the Palestinian Authority’s decision to embrace Hamas, a terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction, as well as over Mahmoud Abbas’s recently expressed views which grossly distort history and make clear that Abbas seeks a Palestinian state in order to continue the conflict with Israel rather than end it.”

In other words, Bibi told Obama to sit on it. And that, my friends, is how it’s done.

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