Eli Lake, Columnist

The U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Misunderstanding

Obama's inaction in the Middle East speaks louder than this week's aid package.

September 15, 2016 at 4:23 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Frenemies.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/Pool, via Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

According to the governments in Jerusalem and Washington, this was a great week for the U.S.-Israel relationship. The two countries arrived at a "memorandum of understanding" to extend the U.S. subsidy of Israel's military budget until 2028. President Barack Obama, no fan of Israel's current leader, declared: "America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakable."

It would be pleasant to believe this. It's not true though. America's commitment to Israel's security is quite shakable. Indeed, Obama has done much of the shaking. That reminder puts the new memorandum into perspective.