Source Note #8: Obama Must Be Tougher with Israel
Summary: Obama needs to be tougher on Israel than his predecessors if peace in the Middle East is to be achieved.
Topic: Should the Obama administration continue to fund Israel’s defense?
Category: Journalistic – mainstream
What is it? Webpage version of an article that ran in Newsweek.
Title: If Obama is Serious, He Should Get Tough with Israel.
Publication Information: Newsweek; Jan. 3, 2009
Author: Aaron David Miller
Location: http://www.newsweek.com/id/177716?tid=relatedcl
Accessed: Feb. 2, 2009
Support:
President Barack Obama
Bill Clinton, former US president
George W. Bush, former US president
Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister
These sources represent four separate approaches to achieving a peaceful end to the crisis in the Middle East. While Bush tended to favor Israel, Clinton had a tougher stance and put more responsibility and accountability in the hands of the Israeli government. The author suggests President Obama should take the same approach.
Audience and Agenda:
Newsweek magazine has a worldwide circulation of more than four million. Owned by the Washington Post Company since 1961, the magazine covers topics from international news to entertainment. THe Washington Post Company owns a variety of other news outlets, including the Washington Post and Slate.
Usefulness:
American foreign policy in the Middle East notoriously tends to favor Israel. The country is the largest receiver of US foreign aid. Under the Bush administration, according to the author of the article, foreign policy tended to be soft on Israel and stray away from assigning accountability to the Israeli government. The author suggests President Obama must address Israel’s poor behavior towards Palestine as well as Palestine’s own transgressions in order to achieve peace. President Obama must also play a centric mediator’s role and not favor Israel in negotiations; the author advises against this practice by citing the dangers of blindly following Ehud Barak‘s plan at the 2000 Camp David Summit
Works cited:
Obama Must Get Tough with Israel
History of Newsweek
The Washington Post Company
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