The problem for Tom Friedman is he ignores the main issue: no one in Israel trusts Obama and everyone in Israel believes he has already sold them out, thrown them under the bus.

Israel has already penciled in Susan Powers fantasies of invading Israel to install Hamas as the ruler of all of Israel. Already accounted for Zbigniew Brezinski’s desire to defend Iranian nukes by shooting down Israeli planes and missiles. Well discussed America’s plans under Obama to attack Israel the moment Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facilities.

Everyone in Israel believes Obama would be quite happy, as would most Democrats, with Iran wiping Israel off the map.

So he has no leverage. So Obama might cut off aid to Israel? So what? So Obama might stop military aid to Israel? So what? Israel and the people-leadership nexus in that nation have already figured Obama at best will happily celebrate their incineration by Iranian nukes, and at worst will actively defend Iran against any Israeli strike.

So what exactly does Joe Biden have to complain about? Really? Isreal having been thrown under the bus already, has acted accordingly.

This is the harvest of Obama serially betraying American allies and throwing friends under the bus and never keeping his word: no one trusts him. At all.

Its not just Israel. Britain in the Falklands, India wrt Pakistan, Honduras wrt Cuba and Venezuela and Nicarauga, all will pencil in Obama’s hostility to their existence and interests and act as if he is their enemy, and America there enemy. Because both are in fact true.

When no one trusts you, you have a observable habit of serially betraying friends, you can only get “deals” by massive force. That’s it.