Analysis: Obama risks alienating Jewish voters

Barack Obama reached out to skeptical Jewish political activists immediately after nailing down his presidential nomination in 2008, promising he would "never compromise" in his support for Israel. Now president, he risks alienating a core Democratic constituency by ratcheting up a public feud with Israel's prime minister.

Obama's demands that Israel cancel new housing construction in Palestinian areas of east Jerusalem may be backfiring. The hardball tactic clearly failed to advance prospects for restarting Middle East peace talks, and it may be undermining Obama's standing among Jewish groups in the United States.

It also enabled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a defiant stance while in Washington, to bask in warm bipartisan praise from congressional leaders and to visit the White House without having to apologize or give in to Obama's demands.

Yet Israel badly needs the United States as a strong ally. The two leaders are now caught in a high-stakes diplomatic standoff as both sides work to defuse rising tensions.

Netanyahu held closed-door meetings on Wednesday with Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell and other U.S. representatives. But the talks, which extended well into the evening, ended without any breakthroughs.

New Israeli housing construction in lands jointly claimed by Israelis and Palestinians is an issue that has frustrated a succession of U.S. presidents. In most cases, the U.S. has tended to fume then largely look the other way — acknowledging a no-win confrontation.

But Obama chose to take a firm stand in response to Israel's badly timed announcement — made during Vice President Joe Biden's visit earlier this month — that it was building 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem. Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their eventual state.

Perhaps emboldened as he moved toward a major domestic victory on health care, Obama dug in his heels and demanded a halt to the new construction. And in a break from tradition that many U.S. lawmakers saw as a snub, the White House accorded Netanyahu's visit none of the trappings usually extended to an important ally.

The news media were not allowed into any part of the initial 90-minute Tuesday evening meeting between the two leaders, or a follow-up 35-minute session. There was no joint news conference afterward, no statements about what transpired, not even a White House-produced photograph.

Then, providing yet another irritant, Jerusalem officials said Wednesday the city had approved 20 new apartments for Jews in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The White House said it was seeking "clarification" on Israel's latest plans.

Jewish voters, one of the most active political blocs in this country, have long expressed some misgivings with Obama, a nervousness that persists today. More