This speech is a must-read. It obviously was given to a constituency solely concerned with strengthening Israeli-American bonds and alignment and is clear the President had to counteract opponents who seek to distort his record. It doesn’t do enough (or anything) to share with the Israeli people, and the American Jewish community, the necessary sacrifices and compromises that Israel will need to make to achieve comprehensive and permanent security and peace. But in an election year a speech before AIPAC need not do so.
What the speech does in a principled and lucid way is highlight that President Obama is a solid ally of Israel and all the myths and distortions in the world cannot deny his record.
Most important, President Obama convincingly demonstrates that his engagement offer to Iran at the beginning of his Administration, as much as many of us were skeptical about, was a prerequisite to give him and the US the credibility to align the entire international community behind sanctions against the Iranian regime when it refused to deal constructively and concretely to cure its nuclear proliferation violations.
I personally do not believe the present Iranian regime will abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons capability under any circumstance, no matter the pressure exerted, no matter whether overtly or covertly (the assessment would be the same both for a fanatical AND a rational actor in this case). But I agree that President Obama has to exhaust diplomatic options as part of the process, even as time runs out because a military confrontation once Iran has crossed the rubicon will be more dangerous to America, to Israel, to Iran’s Arab neighbors and all its neighbors, and to civilization.
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