Obama to Netanyahu: You have one month to resume talks with the Palestinians

The Won didn’t like getting a public lecture on reality by the Israeli PM, so he is doing one of the things he does best — alienating our allies via what amounts to an ultimatum.

European diplomats said Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was viewed in Europe as one long “no” and had thus increased European distrust of him. “We want to hear Netanyahu say he‘s willing to negotiate on the basis of Obama’s speech and that he’ll discuss borders based on the 1967 lines with land swaps,” said one diplomat.

Since the barren talks with Molho last week, the White House has been upping the pressure on Netanyahu. On Friday, Steve Simon, who heads the U.S. National Security Council’s Middle East desk, told American Jewish leaders that Netanyahu needs to reply within a month to the U.S. proposal for restarting talks. The White House knew this remark would both be conveyed to Netanyahu and leaked to the American and Israeli press, thus making its displeasure public.

Deadlines such as this one usually imply some sort of consequences if they’re not met. What is Obama thinking of doing when Netanyahu tells him to stuff it?

I suppose we could get lucky, and Wondersport could pick the Palestinian/Egyptian alliance to win the next Middle Eastern war.