Tongues have been wagging since last week about Israel's diplomatic gaff with the US and "slap in the face" to Joe Biden over an ill-timed announcement of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem.  It has since come to light that that event did not only undo Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but could also endanger US military operations across the Middle East and wider Muslim world.  However, this revelation is not days but months old, as Foreign Policy's Mark Perry reports.

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus

Before linking Israeli obstinance with endangered troops, it is necessary to backtrack a little.  In January, CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus sent a team of senior officers to the Pentagon to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen on the lack of progress between Israeli and Palestinian parties. 

The briefers explained the "growing perception among Arab leaders [was] that the US was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM's mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region, and that Mitchell himself was (as a senior Pentagon officer later bluntly described it) 'too old, too slow ... and too late'."

Petraeus' briefing was unprecedented - no CENTCOM commander before him had expressed himself on a political issue.  Said one military officer about the conditions informing the briefing, "America was not only viewed as weak, but its military posture in the region was eroding."  Petraeus also allegedly sent a paper outlining the situation, but "a senior military officer denied Sunday that Petraeus sent a paper to the White House."

After the briefing, Adm. Mullen traveled met with Israeli General Staff, Lt. Gen. Chairman Gabi Ashkenazi and carried with him a "blunt, and tough, message on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: that Israel had  to see its conflict with the Palestinians 'in a larger, regional, context' -- as having a direct impact on America's status in the region. Certainly, it was thought, Israel would get the message."  Based on last week's event, Israel did not.

Not surprisingly, what Biden told Netanyahu reflected the importance the administration attached to Petraeus's Mullen briefing:  "This is starting to get dangerous for us," Biden reportedly told Netanyahu. "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace." Yedioth Ahronoth went on to report: "The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel's actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism." The message couldn't be plainer: Israel's intransigence could cost American  lives.

While Perry doesn't discount the power the Israel lobby, especially following AIPAC's bold statement this morning, he reminds the reader "no lobby is as important, or as powerful, as the U.S. military."

While commentators and pundits might reflect that Joe Biden's trip to Israel has forever shifted America's relationship with its erstwhile ally in the region, the real break came in January, when David Petraeus sent a briefing team to the Pentagon with a stark warning: America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers. Maybe Israel gets the message now.

Click here to read the article.

Photo:  Hectorir - Flickr

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