That could be problematic for Israel by eroding existing bipartisan support in the US, explains Shmuel Rosner, the senior political editor of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

“It’s not good for Israel to be a partisan issue,” says Mr. Rosner. “When something becomes a partisan issue then you cannot get the kind of votes that Israel is getting in Congress, where 300 Congressmen vote for Israel. If Israel wants to remain a powerful, agreed-upon asset for the US, something that is not debated, it cannot be satisfied with a situation in which the mentioning of Israel is a partisan issue in every election cycle.”

via Why Israelis may not be thrilled by sweet nothings from Gingrich, GOP – CSMonitor.com.

remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places.

if I’m even-handed between a civilian democracy that obeys the rule of law, and a group of terrorists who are firing missiles everyday, that’s not even-handed. That’s favoring the terrorists. And the Obama administration has consistently… I think they actually lie to themselves. I don’t think they lie to American people. I think they believe the stuff they say. But it is so out of touch with reality, that it would be like taking your child to the zoo and explaining that a lion is a bunny rabbit, and was really OK to get in the cage and play with the bunny rabbit, and then you were shocked that the lion ate the..your.. I mean, that’s how far out of touch with reality the Obama administration is.

we have an armed truce with a Palestinian Authority that’s relatively weak. And on its flank is a Hamas authority which may become relatively weak, because it can’t deliver anything. But both of which represent an enormous desire to destroy Israel.

people who care about the survival of Israel know that Obama is not very good for that.

via Newt Gingrich interview with Jewish Channel (Transcript) – The Washington Post.

“These actions have emboldened Palestinian hard-liners who now are poised to form a unity government with terrorist Hamas and feel they can bypass Israel at the bargaining table. President Obama has immeasurably set back the prospect of peace in the Middle East,” Romney will say, according to speech excerpts released by his campaign.

via Romney Vows to Visit Israel First if Elected to White House – NYTimes.com.

One of the first rules of conflict resolution, though, is that when you challenge a group’s narrative, some members will take that as a denial of their identity. They’ll get angry. They will repeat their story more loudly. They may accuse you of telling falsehoods.

This is not a reason for a journalist, historian or activist to silent. It does make sense of the fury with which people sometimes defend the old story. It explains why changing the story takes time.

via Why Are They So Angry?.

via How Obama changed the paradigm of U.S.-Israel relations – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

“A non-violent protest of 4,000 people or more, even if they only march to a checkpoint or a settlement, and especially if the Palestinian police does not deter them, will be unstoppable,” one IDF officer claims. “Such a great number of determined people cannot be stopped by tear gas and rubber bullets.”

Another high ranking IDF official serving in the territories claimed that “if we are to face protests similar to those in Egypt or Tunisia, we will not be able to do a thing.”

“At the end of the day, the decision is in the hands of the political echelon,” claims another commander, “it is fairly obvious that if there will be no progress on peace talks, the Palestinian police with whom we work very closely to prevent infiltrations will lose their patience.”

via ‘IDF has no way of stopping mass non-violent protest in West Bank’ – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Fayyad, a political independent who is not involved in decision-making on foreign policy, nonetheless expressed doubts about the UN campaign.

Asked if anything would change on the ground after UN recognition, he said: “My answer to you is no. Unless Israel is part of that consensus, it won’t because to me, it is about ending Israeli occupation.”

via Palestinian PM: UN recognition of state will just be symbolic victory – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

The truth is there are no significant moves afoot anywhere on Earth to delegitimize Israel. There are small, marginal groups, primarily among extreme left wing academics, that are nourished in part by Arab propaganda and cast doubt on Israel’s right to exist. But no country that maintains diplomatic relations with Israel has ever made any claim against its legitimate existence, and Israel’s membership in the UN is the best possible proof of this.

Israel’s government has turned delegitimization – an issue located on the vocal but ephemeral margins of international political discourse – into a problem that must be dealt with. It has thereby granted a marginal, unimportant position a status out of all proportion to its true dimensions.

It’s clear why right wing political figures have an interest in inflating every criticism of Israel and raising it to the level of delegitimization: Most criticism of Israel relates to its settlement policy, which is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but is far from being accepted by the entire Israeli political spectrum.

Since it is hard to defend this policy overseas, partly because there is so much domestic criticism of it, nothing could be more convenient than mobilizing a consensus for the battle against delegitimization instead. But this effort is foolish, cynical and dangerous for Israel. For we thereby confer legitimacy on the very discourse that doubts the Jewish nation-state’s right to exist.

There is criticism of Israel’s control of Palestinian territory and its settlement policy. But that is what the argument is about, not Israel’s legitimacy. No one is seriously questioning the latter.

via No one is questioning Israel’s legitimacy – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

there was no discussion whatsoever of pressuring Israel to come to the table absent a recognition by Hamas of the Quartet Principles — which demand recognition of Israel, renouncing terrorism, and abiding by past agreements. They both asserted that on the call, Simon merely restated Obama’s public position on these issues.

“I don’t know how anyone in their wildest imagination got the idea that there was any implication of any additional pressure on Israel,” Eizenstat told me. “Quite the contrary — the call was meant as reassurance of the President’s position on not negotiating with Hamas” if they don’t accept the Quartet principles.

via Top pro-Israel figures dismiss claim that Obama is bullying Israel – The Plum Line – The Washington Post.

But conversations with nearly a dozen of the top Jewish fund-raisers in New York reveal a much different reality, as rainmakers say they continue to back the president they overwhelmingly supported three years ago.

“This is nonsense,” said David Pollak, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party. “I think anyone who would not give money to Barack Obama because of remarks he made the other day wasn’t giving money to him in 2008.”

via Is Barack Obama’s Jewish Vote Rushing Into Republican Arms? | The New York Observer.