Obama Created US-Israel Crisis

Israel's announcement of settlement expansion in Jerusalem during Joe Biden's visit was lousy timing, but President Obama has turned this "gaffe" into a crisis, writes Charles Krauthammer. The Israelis did their best to smooth it over but the administration used the incident to tell Israel it had to show it was serious about peace, when Israel has never been anything but, Krauthammer argues in the Washington Post.

The administration's one-sidedness here may be because "Obama likes appeasing enemies while beating up on allies," or because he wants to bring down Israel's coalition, Krauthammer notes. Or it may be because the president sees himself as a "historic redeemer" who can solve the Middle East's problems, Krauthammer writes, and he "has little patience for this pesky Jewish state that brazenly insists on its right to exist." (More Charles Krauthammer stories.)