This week U.S.-Israeli relations seems painted into the proverbial corner from which there is no clean escape. The question now is how to help everyone emerge cleanly from that tight spot.

Some background: Last week, Vice President Joe Biden was in Jerusalem to reassure the Jewish state about its unbreakable bond with Washington. But an Israeli government office announced plans to build 1,600 homes in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood on the city’s eastern side, a territory the Palestinians claim as their future capitol.

Mr. Biden was embarrassed and claimed it highly provocative. Mr. Netanyahu apologized, as did the minister who runs the office that offered the decree; both Israelis were apparently not aware of the pending declaration.

Still, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly berated Mr. Netanyahu on an extended telephone call, demanding more concessions. Even Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, a respected historian, said ties between the governments had plunged to a 35-year low. Mr. Netanyahu did not help on Monday when he told his Likud Party that Israel would never stop building in East Jerusalem. (Note to Bibi: Just because you can do something, and have every right to do it, doesn’t mean it’s a smart thing to do.)

And more fireworks could be coming. Next week Mr. Netanyahu arrives in Washington for the highly watched annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Yet, by mid-week some U.S. officials seemed to recognize how badly they had stalled the elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace effort. Indeed, Mrs. Clinton was talking up a “close, unshakeable bond” and “an absolute commitment to Israel’s security.”

Now it is up to Mr. Biden – widely seen as the administration’s most pro-Israel voice – to tactfully point out to colleagues how much they have miscalculated by pressing Mr. Netanyahu in this way. After all, the Israeli leader emerges strengthened amongst his right-wing base – the country’s most potent political force—and centrist Israelis feel isolated from American allies.

Likewise, much of American Jewry is angered as group after group publicly and privately pushes Washington to cool the barbs. (Some on the left are cautiously holding back, hoping Mr. Netanyahu is forced to expand his historic settlement moratorium to include Jerusalem’s eastern half.)

Meanwhile, reality marches on.

• The Iranian drive toward nuclear weapons has not slowed while much needed punishing trade sanctions against Tehran’s mullahs move like turtles plodding through molasses.
• The Syrians keep hosting Islamic terrorist groups that target both U.S. and Israeli citizens.
• The Palestinians happily watch Mr. Netanyahu squirm, refusing to come to the negotiating table, where they actually might get something – and give up unrealistic dreams.

What can be done? For starters, the White House must work harder to dial down the rhetoric. Then it needs to invigorate the quest to halt a nuclear Iran, which remains a multi-layered U.S. policy concern. Just ask the Saudis, said to be incredibly nervous about how an atomized Iran could threaten and blackmail their oil supply deliveries.

In addition, more attention must be given toward outrageous Palestinian behavior. Two stark examples:

• This week the Palestinians dedicated a public square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist who murdered 36 Israelis and a U.S. photographer in 1978. The ceremony was delayed from its original scheduling – during the Biden visit.

• Now Palestinians are threatening a third intifada, or violent uprising. That’s because Israelis dedicated a renovated 300-year-old synagogue in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter, a building the Jordanians had destroyed during their 1949-1967 occupation of the area. (The synagogue sits on a plot that under the wildest of scenarios would not be part of a Palestinian state.)

Protest of such events—other than that of U.S. Jewish groups – seemed scarce this week. One need not imagine the condemnation of Israel were its government to honor Baruch Goldstein, the murderer of Palestinians at prayer in Hebron in 1994.

Still, U.S.-Israeli ties in fact are deep and unshakeable. That’s why a February 2010 Gallup Poll found that 63 percent of Americans favored Israelis in the conflict over 15 percent for the Palestinians. There are strong social, political and religious reasons for that more than four to one margin. So U.S. policy needs to get back to reflecting what the U.S. public believes. In doing so, it will find an Israeli public willing to take calculated risks for peace – just as has always been the case. 

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