Obama official accuses Dennis Ross of dual loyalty as White House debate on Israel rages

Lauren Rozen at Politico reports that, even as Israeli officials are expected to provide some kind of response to Obama's demand for hard answers as soon as tonight, White House Middle East strategist Dennis Ross, a Jew, finds himself at the center of the policy debate. He is staking out a position that Washington needs to be sensitive to Netanyahu’s domestic political constraints including over the issue of building in East Jerusalem so as not to raise new Arab demands. But other officials, including some aligned with Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell, are arguing Washington needs to hold firm in pressing Netanyahu for written commitments to avoid provocations that imperil Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and preserve the Obama administration's credibility.

One unnamed official contacted by Politico suggested that Ross was a little bit too considerate of Israeli concerns. “He [Ross] seems to be far more sensitive to Netanyahu's coalition politics than to U.S. interests,” one U.S. official told POLITICO Saturday pointedly. “He doesn't seem to understand that this has become bigger than Jerusalem but is rather about the credibility of this Administration."

NSC Chief of Staff Denis McDonough fiercely rejected any such suggestion that Ross was acting with any kind of dual loyalty. "The assertion is as false as it is offensive," McDonough said Sunday by email. "Whoever said it has no idea what they are talking about. Dennis Ross's many decades of service speak volumes about his commitment to this country and to our vital interests, and he is a critical part of the President's team."

Last week, during U.S.-Israeli negotiations during Netanyahu’s visit and subsequent internal U.S. government meetings, the first official said, Ross “was always saying about how far Bibi could go and not go. So by his logic, our objectives and interests were less important than pre-emptive capitulation to what he described as Bibi's coalition's red lines.”

When the U.S. and Israel are seen to publicly diverge on an issue such as East Jerusalem construction, the official characterized Ross's argument as: "the Arabs increase their demands ... therefore we must rush to close gaps ... no matter what the cost to our broader credibility.”

As to which argument best reflects the wishes of the President, the first official said, “As for POTUS [Obama], what happens in practice is that POTUS, rightly, gives broad direction. He doesn't, and shouldn't, get bogged down in minutiae. But Dennis uses the minutiae to blur the big picture … And no one asks the question: why, since his approach in the Oslo years was such an abysmal failure, is he back, peddling the same snake oil?”

Other contacts who have discussed recent U.S.-Israel tensions with Ross say he argues that all parties need to keep focus on the big picture, Iran, and the peace process as being part of a wider U.S. effort to bolster an international and regional alliance including Arab nations and Israel to pressure and isolate Iran. This is an argument that presumably has resonance with the Netanyahu government. But at the same time, Arab allies tell Washington that Israeli construction in East Jerusalem inflames their publics and breeds despair and makes it hard for them to work even indirectly and quietly with Israel on Iran. They push Washington to show it can manage Israel and to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace process going that would facilitate regional cooperation on Iran.

But officials are lowering expectations about what kind of "understandings" the Israelis will provide, Politico reports. “There's no deal as would be understood by most,” the first U.S. official said. “That is, there's no shared, negotiated and agreed document. Instead, the Israelis have told us a few things we accept as positive, along with much we don't. So I expect you'll see us put out something that emphasizes our acceptance of only part of whatever the Israelis say."

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