Bibi and Obama were all smiles and handshakes yesterday, but there is lots of speculation that the tensions between the two administrations remain.

This sounds about right to me:

Obama is not convinced that Netanyahu is serious in his declared intentions regarding the process, and the Israeli premier is not confident that the current American administration is committed to maintaining the same relations with Israel as those held by its predecessors.

Of course, these are two sides of the same coin. If Netanyahu’s government was more serious about negotiating a two-state solution, the Obama administration wouldn’t be so annoyed with it. The reverse argument – that Obama is inherently anti-Israel – doesn’t hold.

Even though DC is quite hot in July, it is not going to seem that way to Netanyahu. The US is Israel’s strongest ally and the country would be far more isolated if the US did not defend it. Continued isolation of Gaza, expanding Jewish suburbs in Jerusalem, and building more settlements in the West Bank seem like pretty pathetic reasons to destroy a close relationship with the US.

Netanyahu might want to consider quitting while he’s behind. When you’re in a hole, its often best to stop digging.

More biting op-eds from Ha’aretz:

Gideon Levy:

The time has come to take off our hats to the prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu’s predictions have proved accurate, and his prophecies are coming true right before our eyes. Now we can proudly declare that our government is led by a man of vision, a statesman who has foretold the future. Even his greatest critics can’t deny it; the facts speak for themselves.

Netanyahu said the whole world is against us. Wasn’t he right? He also said we live under an existential threat. Isn’t it beginning to look like that? Give it another minute and Turkey will be at war with us too. Netanyahu said there’s no chance of reaching an agreement with the Arabs. Wasn’t that spot on? Our prime minister, who saw danger lurking in every alleyway and enemies waiting around every corner, who has always taught that there is no hope, who has drummed into us that we shall forever live by the sword (just as his father the historian taught him ), knew what he was talking about.

Merav Michaeli:

Israel is in thrall to a destructive, vicious cycle, like that of a drug addict or a violent man, which repeats itself (with some variations ) at every turn. Each time the cycle becomes shorter, and a suicidal ending seems inevitable at the moment.

It happens like this: Israel uses immense force to attack an immeasurably smaller and weaker entity, which it perceives as nothing less than a dangerous enemy threatening its existence. By attacking, Israel inflicts huge damage to many people, among them the innocent or the presumed innocent, and causes itself enormous damage because the world is furious at it.

Israel once again feels threatened and defends itself by further entrenchment – physical, military and diplomatic. All proposals for change are seen as a threat, and Israel does its best to reject them…

There is nothing to investigate. This is the situation; everyone knowns it. We just have to decide whether to go on like this, or take a deep breath and choose a different path.

David Grossman in The Guardian:

Above all, this insane operation shows how far Israel has declined. There is no need to overstate this claim. Anyone with eyes to see understands and feels it. Already there are those here who seek to spin the natural and justified sense of Israeli guilt into a strident assertion that the whole world is to blame. Our shame, however, will be harder to live with.

I do not believe that the Israeli military intended to shoot the people on the Mavi Marmara. Nevertheless, the government is going to have to accept the consequences. The most obvious is that its actions have legitimized Hamas and its fight against the Israeli government.

The other cost is that Israel is forcing its allies to make a choice. For Egypt and Turkey, its closest ones in the region, siding against Israel is a no-brainer because of public opinion in their own countries. Its also likely to force the US to make a choice. Peace between Israel and Palestine is only one of Obama’s three main priorities in the Middle East. Stopping Iran’s nuclear program and improving the image of the US in the region are the other two. If the Obama administration sides with Israel on the flotilla killings, not only will it make settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more difficult (by reinforcing a perceived US bias in favor of Israel), it also complicates Obama’s other two priorities. Israelis have long sensed that Obama is hostile to Israel. It’s tragic that their government’s actions may make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At least Israel has a free press and the editorial pages of Ha’aretz are full of rage:

The editorial board:

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government failed completely. Israel let its policy of maintaining the siege on Gaza become an existential matter. This policy boomeranged and cost Israel its international legitimacy.

Gideon Levy:

Yesterday’s fiasco could and should have been prevented. This flotilla should have been allowed to pass and the blockade should be brought to an end…

And what have we instead? A country that is quickly becoming completely isolated. This is a place that turns away intellectuals, shoots peace activists, cuts off Gaza and now finds itself in an international blockade. Once more yesterday it seemed, and not for the first time, that Israel is increasingly…losing touch with the world…

Yesterday there was no one on the planet, not a newsman or analyst, except for its conscripted chorus, who could say a good word about the lethal takeover.

Ari Shavit:

With a single foolish move…Israel is serving Hamas’ interests better than Hamas itself has ever done…

Perhaps the most troubling question in the wake of this fiasco on the high sea is this: Who is navigating our ship of state, and toward what catastrophe are the captains of this ship of fools steering us?

Yossi Sarid:

What ought to come next is a demand for a probe, but it seems pointless. Stupidity knows no bounds…And what is boundless is also unfathomable.

Reuven Pedatzur:

…it is hard to understand how an action that the Israel Navy spent so long planning ended up in so severe a debacle.

And that’s without even addressing the questions that arise regarding how wise it was to carry out a military action against civilian craft in international waters.