US President Barack Obama did what few people expected him to do at the recent conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a hawkish pro-Israel group. He chose that moment to shift his strategy from out-hawking the hawks (which is next to impossible) to outsmarting them.
He refused to yield to the pressure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and AIPAC on the Iranian nuclear issue. Israel, like the US during the George W. Bush administration, considers a nuclear capability in Iran to be a “red line.” Israel argues that the only acceptable guarantee that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon is for Iran to have no uranium enrichment program.
