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From Teheran to Tel Aviv

"With his bold message to Iran’s leaders, President Obama achieved four things essential to any rapprochement.

He abandoned regime change as an American goal. He shelved the so-called military option. He buried a carrot-and-sticks approach viewed with contempt by Iranians as fit only for donkeys. And he placed Iran’s nuclear program within “the full range of issues before us.”

By doing so, Obama made it almost inevitable that one of the defining strategic issues of his presidency will be a painful but necessary redefinition of America’s relations with Israel as differences over Iran sharpen. I will return to that below."

So begins an op-ed piece one simply would not have seen in the NY Times even a while back. Is it fair to say that the recent Gaza war has changed things? The above was written by none other than one of the Time's op-ed columnist Roger Cohen, himself a Jew.

How things have changed for the better. Doubtlessly Cohen and the Times will get more than flack for the column - read it in full, here - but the concluding paragraphs are worthy of note:

"I think there’s some bluster in this. Israel does not want Obama to talk, talk, talk, so it’s suggesting military action could happen in 2009, within nine months.

Still, this much is clear to me: Obama’s new Middle Eastern diplomacy and engagement will involve reining in Israeli bellicosity and a probable cooling of U.S.-Israeli relations. It’s about time. America’s Israel-can-do-no-wrong policy has been disastrous, not least for Israel’s long-term security."

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