Tel Aviv, we've got a problem...

From Good Cop, Bad Cop - Joel Marcus - Ha'aretz:

Gone are the days when we boasted that Israel was a strategic weapon of the U.S. and even saw ourselves, without blushing, as America's frontline aircraft carrier in the region. It's not that we've become a burden, but the Obama administration expects much more of us if it is to create a bloc of moderate Muslim states.

These days, when Obama has a majority in Congress and the world's eyes are on him, we cannot pressure him using our power hubs in Washington. The Jewish lobby has lost much of its strength in the current administration. And if we don't accept the principle of two states for two peoples, even Netanyahu's close ties with the evangelists and neoconservatives, who have lost their power and influence with this administration, won't help.

Lieberman puts a question mark on Israel's commitment to peace and could lead the Obama administration to show its claws.

No doubt Bibi made a mistake in not forming a coalition with Kadima and Labor, leaving Lieberman outside. Instead he got a bull in a china shop and a foreign minister being investigated on suspicions of fraud and money laundering. Netanyahu will prove he has changed when he dares to put Lieberman in his place.