Akiva Eldar: U.S. pull out of freeze talks shows Obama’s strength against Netanyahu

Obama knows after 3 months of a second settlement freeze, he would have found himself with no agreement, necessitating another exhausting bargaining session with Netanyahu.

Media whiz Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to portray the U.S. decision to end its push for an additional West Bank settlement construction freeze as another knockout blow to Barack Obama. Just a week ago, Netanyahu punched Obama in the stomach, in the form of a WikiLeaks cable about the Arabs who hate the Iranians and who don't have time left to hate the Jews. And lo and behold, on Tuesday, the leader of the free world had to surrender to a Jewish leader for whom the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah is a rock of our existence.

There will surely be more than a few people who swallow this dubious version of events, even though Netanyahu himself knows the truth is far more complex.

When an American president, particularly one whose ratings are approaching rock-bottom, sustains a spit in the face, he cannot permit himself to announce that it's raining. Obama doesn't intend to passively watch the earth moving equipment at West Bank settlement construction sites. The United States, Europe and, as we have seen this week, even Argentina and Brazil, have expressed interest in the construction workers who are busy expanding such settlements as Beit El and Ofra.

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