WHAT A DIFFERENCE - AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  Contrast this, please, with our treatment of North Korea.  From the Israeli press:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that U.S. President Barack Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, based on Obama's speech in Cairo last week, Netanyahu's confidants say.

In Netanyahu's opinion, the Americans believe an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the Arab world, the aides say.

In his speech, Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations between America and Islam, and spoke at length about the Israeli-Arab conflict.
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He demanded that Israel recognize the Palestinians' right to a state and freeze construction in the West Bank settlements.

COMMENT:  I'm inclined to agree, for these reasons:  First, this president has shown a certain nastiness toward our allies - witness Britain, Canada, and Germany.  Second, former Congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, one of Obama's key advisers, pretty much announced the confrontation in a statement several months ago, when he said, "Initiatives are underway that show the United States is going to have some major differences with Israel."  

Hamilton, who previously wanted us to give up in Iraq, now wants greater distance between the U.S. and Israel.  If you want to know the full range of his views, which are profoundly discouraging, see Ed Lasky's superbly researched piece on Hamilton at American Thinker.  It's here. 

June 9, 2009