Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Obama Drops In on Mofaz

President Obama seems to be perfecting the art of drop-in diplomacy, at least when it comes to Jewish and Israeli leaders. Obama, in recent weeks, took the liberty of dropping into the meetings White House officials held with Jewish Conservative and Orthodox leaders. Then last Thursday he popped into a meeting National Security Adviser Tom Donilon was holding with Israel’s newly appointed deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz.

These unplanned meetings are a unique treat for visiting dignitaries. One stop below an actual scheduled oval office meeting, a presidential drop-in still gives the guest that feeling of being so special that even the commander-in-chief can’t help but stop by to say hello. It also comes with a photo-op to be cherished forever and used in future political campaigns.

How surprising are these presidential visits?

Mofaz told reporters after the meeting he had “no idea” Obama would join the conversation. Orthodox leaders seem to have had better intelligence than the former Israeli general — they came to the White House all prepared with a gift for Obama, just in case he showed up.

Shaul Mofaz got a fair amount of attention during his three-day visit to Washington. In addition to his 35 minutes of face time with the President, Mofaz met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Security Adviser Donilon, and key legislators on Capitol Hill. To his American hosts, Mofaz not only demonstrates the strange ways of Israeli politics, where the leading opposition figure can become, overnight, a partner in his rival’s coalition, he also represents a chance for changing the tone of Netanyahu’s government, a hope that he will serve as a more responsive actor in Israeli politics.

And this has to do mainly with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, an issue the Obama administration has been accused of all but giving up on. Mofaz, in his presentations in Washington, paid special attention to the conflict, making the case for renewing direct negotiations immediately and advocating for his plan of an interim agreement on borders and security which would be followed later on with discussions on the more thorny issues of refugees and Jerusalem. President Obama has said in the past that the Israeli and Palestinians should begin talks with these two issues, because they are easier to solve.

Mofaz, if he lives up to promises he made before entering the Netanyahu coalition, could be the Obama administration’s go-to person in the Israeli government. Netanyahu has thus far showed little response to American overtures on peace process issues; Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is outside the loop when it comes to U.S.-Israel relations; and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a frequent guest in Washington, is focused on the Iranian issue.

That leaves Mofaz as the right person for the job. It would give the administration a glimmer of hope for restarting the peace process. And for Mofaz, the added attention from Washington could help revive his public image and his approval ratings, which took a severe hit following his decision to cross the lines and join Netanyahu’s government.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.