Why does President Obama dislike Israel?

Answer 1

Netanyahu is an Israeli. He wants to pursue Israeli interests and wants the US to support everything that Israel does. Obama is not an Israeli and he has a more balanced viewpoint about the conflicts that Israel constantly gets involved in.


From Netanyahu's viewpoint and that of many conservative Israelis, Obama has very little understanding of the dominant political views and ideals of Arabs in the Middle East. From their viewpoint, Obama completely miscalculated the Arab Spring (which many in Israel term "the Arab Winter"), the Libyan Civil War (which has become increasingly unstable), and had limited understanding of how to prevent the rise of Islamist Extremism in Iraq and Syria (which may eventually pose a threat to Israel if they gain control of the Damascus area). Obama's inability to understand the Arab cultural psyche means that he cannot be relied upon to effectively understand what the Palestinian leadership is advocating and what goals they have set. In each case, he has seen Arab developments with rose-colored glasses, which is very problematic for a country that is seriously worried about existential threats.

To give a clear idea about where this position comes from, it would be helpful to remember when US liberals laughed (quite properly) when US President Bush said that he looked into Russian President Putin's soul and saw a good man. This was a gross miscalculation of Russian intentions and policy which resulted in key diplomatic losses for the US. Israel cannot afford similar losses.


First, this is a complicated question. Reports on anti-Obama websites and partisan blogs that Mr. Obama "hates" Israel or "wants to abandon Israel" are false. Barack Obama's support for Israel has been quite consistent, and in line with what previous presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have done.

The problem with Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama has two strands: one is that Mr. Netanyahu has a longtime friendship with Mitt Romney and came very close to inserting himself into the 2012 presidential US campaign, since he believed a Romney administration would be more "hawkish" than an Obama administration. And that leads to the other strand: while President Obama supports Israel's right to exist and its right to defend itself, he is more of a moderate: that is, he does not support building more settlements, and he does support a two-state solution. It is not clear that Mr. Netanyahu sincerely wants a two-state solution. Conservative Israelis got him into power, and he feels that he needs to keep their support by promoting tough and very conservative policies.

Answer 2

Netanyahu is an Israeli. He wants to pursue Israeli interests and wants the US to support everything that Israel does. Obama is not an Israeli and he has a more balanced viewpoint about the conflicts that Israel constantly gets involved in.

Answer 3

From Netanyahu's viewpoint and that of many conservative Israelis, Obama has very little understanding of the dominant political views and ideals of Arabs in the Middle East. From their viewpoint, Obama completely miscalculated the Arab Spring (which many in Israel term "the Arab Winter"), the Libyan Civil War (which has become increasingly unstable), and had limited understanding of how to prevent the rise of Islamist Extremism in Iraq and Syria (which may eventually pose a threat to Israel if they gain control of the Damascus area). Obama's inability to understand the Arab cultural psyche means that he cannot be relied upon to effectively understand what the Palestinian leadership is advocating and what goals they have set. In each case, he has seen Arab developments with rose-colored glasses, which is very problematic for a country that is seriously worried about existential threats.

To give a clear idea about where this position comes from, it would be helpful to remember when US liberals laughed (quite properly) when US President Bush said that he looked into Russian President Putin's soul and saw a good man. This was a gross miscalculation of Russian intentions and policy which resulted in key diplomatic losses for the US. Israel cannot afford similar losses.

Answer 4

He doesn't dislike Israel. Sadly, this is one of those durable myths spread by conservative Republicans, but it is not accurate. Mr. Obama does not get along with Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Israel's current leader. Mr. Netanyahu is a right-wing conservative and a very polarizing figure, even in his own country. He is good friends with a number of Republicans, and he even tried to help Mitt Romney in the 2012 election. As a result, Mr. Obama does not trust him to be politically neutral. It should also be noted that even many people in Israel disagree with how Mr. Netanyahu has acted towards President Obama. But contrary to the Fox News spin on the US-Israel relationship, nothing has changed. Mr. Obama has continued to support Israel; however, disagreeing with or disliking Mr. Netanyahu is NOT the same thing as disliking Israel.

Answer 5

Contrary to my colleague Donna Halper, I am of the opinion that President Obama actually does not like Israel, but simply finds it to be a political necessity (both because of voting patterns and current trade-relationships) to maintain the current US-Israel Alliance. He especially rubs heads with Prime Minister Netanyahu because the two come from opposite political parties (Left-wing vs. Right-wing) and because Netanyahu has directly tried to help Republicans campaign against Obama and fellow Democrats.

The reason for Obama's dislike of Israel, in my view, is that he spent his formative years in Indonesia, a country with a strong Anti-Israel sentiment that he likely would have learned to agree with. Obama has also shown that he feels much more comfortable addressing Muslim-majority audiences, especially abroad, than Jewish-majority audiences. Again, this likely derives from his time among Muslims during his formative years. Now note, he went to a Christian school in Indonesia and never converted to Islam, but if you live in a society that is predominantly Muslim during your formative years, that will affect your perception of the outside world.

I also believe that Obama truly wishes to believe that Israel's issue with Islamists and the US's issue with Islamists are the result of a few extremists that the West's actions serve to create and fuel, primarily by allowing Israel continue to exist. As a result, in his view, if Israel were to cease to be, it would help bring peace to the Middle East. Of course, should this be an accurate framing of his view, it would be woefully misguided since Islamism is rooted in a number of political issues in the Islamic World, such as Saudi Arabia's material ascendance, the failure of Arab Socialism, religious issues unique to Islam, and the lack of a strong liberal branch of Islam. Israel barely factors in since it is a facial reason, not a true reason.

Additionally, none of Obama's current chief politicos are terribly Pro-Israel, with the last one so-inclined, Rahm Emmanuel, leaving the President back in 2010 after only serving two years. Since he does not surround himself with people who have a strong Pro-Israel leaning, he is not forced to really change his personal perspective in favor of the one truly democratic and US-aligned country in the region.

Please see the Discussion Section for this question as well.

Answer 6

First, this is a complicated question. Reports on anti-Obama websites and partisan blogs that Mr. Obama "hates" Israel or "wants to abandon Israel" are false. Barack Obama's support for Israel has been quite consistent, and in line with what previous presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have done.

The problem with Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama has two strands: one is that Mr. Netanyahu has a longtime friendship with Mitt Romney and came very close to inserting himself into the 2012 presidential US campaign, since he believed a Romney administration would be more "hawkish" than an Obama administration. And that leads to the other strand: while President Obama supports Israel's right to exist and its right to defend itself, he is more of a moderate: that is, he does not support building more settlements, and he does support a two-state solution. It is not clear that Mr. Netanyahu sincerely wants a two-state solution. Conservative Israelis got him into power, and he feels that he needs to keep their support by promoting tough and very conservative policies.