Netanyahu's Not Chickenshit, the White House Is

The administration is a coward for not saying what it really thinks about the special relationship with Israel.

I've been reluctant to say much about this week's tempest in a teapot  — i.e., the U.S.-Israeli flap over "chickenshit-gate" — because the flap itself is of little strategic importance.

Back in 2006 and 2007, John Mearsheimer and I argued that Israel and the United States would both be better off if they had a normal relationship rather than a "special" one (that is, one where the United States backs Israel no matter what it does). Nothing has happened since we published our book to undermine that conclusion, which is why more and more people have begun to voice their own concerns about the Israel lobby and its harmful influence on U.S. policy....

Continue reading (log in may be required): http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/31/netanyahu_s_not_chickenshit_israel_united_states_special_relationship_obama