Another grave American mistake

Let us imagine for a moment a military confrontation between the United States and Mexico, God forbid, wherein (the late) Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and Cuba were asked to mediate. Does anybody really think Washington would be prepared to accept such hostile mediators, with whom it does not even speak? We can assume Washington would toss the idea out, and not very politely, either.

It appears, however, that Washington currently expects Israel to accept such a nonsensical condition. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a proposal on Friday, which while written in English appeared to be translated from a certain Qatari dialect. Kerry's proposal was archeological: It promised the renovation of Gaza, and also the preservation of the underground tunnels. It should perhaps be explained to the Americans that while Masada is part of our tradition, no one here is actually interested in committing suicide anymore.

In fact, the cabinet's unanimous rejection of the Kerry proposal did not lead him to conclude something was wrong, and at a special summit of foreign ministers in Paris on Saturday he surrounded himself by six of his colleagues, among them two Hamas advocates: Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Attiyah and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. One day someone needs to closely examine why the Obama administration continues to fantasize about all things pertaining to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The summit of foreign ministers in Paris was not interesting because of who was there, rather because of who was not, or to put it more accurately, who was not invited. Only the Obama administration can organize a summit devoid of the relevant players, which are Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

It is perplexing why Washington is failing to exploit this rare consensus between Egypt and Israel, along with the PA and Saudi Arabia, to formulate a cease-fire agreement, and is instead turning to the Qataris. Could it be that President Barack Obama thinks Egypt is not as democratic as it was during the Morsi era? Could it be that Washington believes Qatar is actually democratic? It is truly sad that Washington is so enthralled with Qatar, which is nothing more than a gas bubble with a voice in the United Nations. They get the sense that the tiny Gulf emirate is a rising power, not to mention it is sitting on mountains of cash. And most importantly, since the Arab Spring, throughout which Obama perpetually erred, Qatar is perceived as a channel through which to access authentic Islam.

We are witnessing a grave strategic error by the Americans, who are succeeding in infuriating serious and strong allies like Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in favor of a deception in the form of Qatar and Turkey, which has managed to quarrel with all of its neighbors. Apropos Turkey: Is it possible it has resolved all of its problems in Cyprus and only Kerry knows about it-

Kerry required a few hours on Saturday to realize that Washington will not reach the quiet it desires without adjusting its position. Even without distancing itself from Qatar, it must move closer to Egypt. From Israel's perspective, it is clear that any cease-fire agreement must allow it to continue dealing with the tunnel threat.

In the meantime, the images disseminated throughout Europe are hard to digest, and the governments which gave us the freedom to maneuver know that the people in the streets are offering us zero leeway. The world has had a difficult weekend: In Libya, the Americans evacuated their embassy because the country is disintegrating; in Ukraine, it is unclear how the conflict with Russia will unfold; in Iraq, the Islamic State group (formerly, ISIS) is continuing its onslaught; in Syria, not a day goes by without adding more beheaded corpses to the death toll. However, it remains so easy to gang up on Israel, of all countries, which is waging a just campaign of self-defense, while allowing the other conflagrations to spread out of control.

In his sixth year in office, Obama continues to suffer from his lack of experience. How many times already can one support the wrong side and still think the Americans have it right-

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