On Sunday, June 14, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to deliver a major foreign policy speech at Israel's Bar-Ilan University. The reason is simple. The U.S.-Israeli relationship, which has been solidified for decades, is eroding.
For weeks, the Obama administration has been pressuring the Netanyahu government about Jewish communities in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). They want all settlement construction in Israel's biblical heartland to stop, including what's called "natural growth."
"Natural growth" is construction within the boundaries of existing settlements. The implication is that Jews within these communities cannot have babies, put additions on their homes or expand like any community would "naturally" expand.
Netanyahu plans to stake out his position and also navigate through domestic politics, international relations and his own principles.
The prime minister is being influenced by his political party, the Likud.
On Wednesday, a group met with Netanyahu and asked him not to agree to a "two-state solution." One of them is quoted as saying "I ask you not to lay the cornerstone for the Palestinian state in your speech at Bar-Ilan." (Bar-Ilan University is considered a bastion of the national-religious camp in Israel.)
Yet, Netanyahu is also under pressure from the Obama administration to agree to "two states living side by side in peace and security," something that has become somewhat of a mantra.
It's unclear how much pressure is being exerted on Netanyahu by the Obama administration but anecdotal information appears that it's not very pretty.
For example, one recent article stated that "Israel's Channel One TV reported that Netanyahu was told Tuesday by an 'American official' in Jerusalem that 'We are going to change the world. Please, don't interfere.'"
The report said Netanyahu's aides interpreted this as a "threat." Whether or not Netanyahu's major policy speech satisfies Washington remains to be seen.
He'll also be persuaded by his own principles. He'll have to state what he believes about the settlements. Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in Judea and Samaria, the homeland of the Jews for thousands of years. They feel in a precarious position and Netanyahu is certainly aware of how they feel.
Here's how Oded Revivi, the mayor of Efrat, described the situation to CBN News:
"There is no other state, outside of Saudi Arabia, in which a Jew is not allowed to own property. We're reaching that situation now within these settlements. If I don't allow people to buy their property, I'm using the same rules as Saudi Arabia. I'm sure that in the United States if any governor would have said that no Jews can build in my state, he would have been accused of racism. Yet [this is what] I, as a Jew, am telling my people. And that's a very, very problematic situation to put the people of Israel under."
The State of Israel will be watching anxiously to see how Benjamin Netanyahu navigates through all these interests. It will reveal the politician, the statesman and the man.