Washington Post calls for Obama-Netanyahu ‘reset’

JERUSALEM (JTA) — President Obama should “reset” his relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, The Washington Post wrote in an editorial.

“The wise US policy would be to concede, and maybe even welcome, Mr. Netanyahu’s re-election while quietly urging him to construct a centrist government,” urged the editorial published on January 22, Election Day in Israel.

The editorial presumes that Netanyahu will be elected to a third term as Israel’s prime minister, saying, “No scenario contemplated by political analysts foresees anyone other than Mr. Netanyahu emerging as prime minister from the bargaining that will follow Tuesday’s election.”

The editorial points out that Netanyahu has not been afraid to play up his “notoriously bad relations” with Obama, something that would have been political suicide in previous election years. It also points out that a recent poll showed that half of Israelis believe the country’s leaders should pursue his policies “even if they lead to conflict with the United States.”

The editorial conceded Obama’s “poor handling of Israel, which he has not visited and where he is widely regarded as supportive of the nation’s defense but unsympathetic to its psyche.”