Obama can relax, there is democracy in Israel

The same people who told to us, clearly and confidently, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose the elections are the same people telling us today that the damage Netanyahu has caused to our relationship with the White House is irreversible, among other things because of the prime minister's statements against a Palestinian state. As we all know, for each presiding Israeli government book-ended by the two Netanyahu governments (Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert), it has been easy and simple to recognize a Palestinian state.

Could it be that it's not a lack of Israeli desire, but rather the actual reality on the ground, then and now, that is preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state? Could it be that this very reality -- which for the past five years has prevented Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from declaring elections, lest he lose to Hamas -- is the obstacle to realizing the Palestinian dream-

U.S. President Barack Obama is still held hostage to an outdated and false conception that the Palestinian issue is the key to all the ills of the Middle East (as if Iran's nuclear program, the Islamic State group, the disintegration of Iraq, Yemen and Syria, and the wars between Shiites and Sunnis are all rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Could it be this is the reason for the strained relations? Has anyone dared think that it's actually Obama's doing-

Barack Obama conducts a very strange foreign policy: He likes to embrace his adversaries and hurt his allies. That's how he is. Ask our Arab neighbors in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This tactic, incidentally, has still not brought him a great deal of success. Truth be told, after six years in the White House, Obama is still searching for his first foreign policy feat.

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has described Obama as one of the worst presidents in American history. We, perhaps, leap straight to Jimmy Carter. Cheney, however, digs much deeper in history and compares Obama to Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding. America never had worse presidents.

People need to understand it isn't personal. We in Israel have been accustomed to liking and embracing American presidents. Israel does not have, nor will it have, a greater friend than the United States. Israel also owes a lot to its friends across the ocean. Since the inception of our state we have been reared on the notion that America and Israel share the same values and interests. This is the secret to the relationship's success. The principles of liberty and democracy have been a bond between us. The mutual interest of these great allies has been to defend these principles against the enemies of democracy and liberty. This was always true, and it still is.

To our sorrow, things changed with the current president. Obama, who has struggled to hide his pain and anguish over the Israeli election results, believes that Washington's interests currently lie somewhere else, not necessarily in Jerusalem. For example, he believes they lie in Tehran.

Immediately following his difficult phone conversation with Netanyahu, Obama turned to the Iranian people to congratulate them on their new year. This is fine. We also congratulate the people of Iran, specifically those who in 2009 tried toppling the ayatollahs, only to watch Obama fail to raise a finger to help them.

"Nowruz" is the Persian name for the first day of spring and the first day on the Persian calendar. In Farsi, the word means "new day." After the heartfelt blessings, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered a speech in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad. The crowd he addressed was chanting "Death to America." A "new day-" No, more like the "same old Iran." This also will not stop Obama from striking a deal with Iran at all costs.

And herein lies the problem, not only for Netanyahu but for all of us. Obama needs to understand that we cannot allow ourselves another one of his mistakes in the Middle East. We can put aside the collapse of Iraq, and the fall of Yemen into Iranian hands. We can also put aside the Islamist takeover in Egypt (were it not for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi), and momentarily disregard Iran's empowerment in Syria alongside the Assad regime -- but a nuclear Iran is just a bit too much already, Mr. President. Even Paris, which is usually very critical of Israel and wants to see a Palestinian state, does not like the emerging nuclear deal with Iran.

The election in Israel did not prove that Israelis don't want peace. It merely proved that Israelis aren't naïve. Does Obama think he must now punish Netanyahu, and along the way all Israelis, whose only sin was not doing what he, Obama, wanted them to, with a bad nuclear deal-

In case Obama has forgotten, as the American president, he is supposed to stand at the head of the camp promoting democracy and freedom in the world. In case he doesn't understand what took place in Israel last Tuesday -- there were elections, as democratic as can be, and the Israeli people had their say.

He would rather embrace the ayatollahs? That's his problem, then. He needs to explain himself to the American people and the public servants they recently elected to the House and Senate. In the United States, too, democracy still exists.

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