Indeed we are. Already Israel, and supposedly insufficient "support" of its policies, has become a major issue in the Republican primary for the US Senate nomination here in California. Carly Fiorina (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, fired by the board after she ran the company's stock into the ground and spied on other board members) attacked front-runner Tom Campbell on this basis, focusing on his support for Sami Al-Arian and other similar comments. Most of the hour allotted to a recent debate among the 3 Republican candidates was focused on Israel policy, which isn't even the top issue on LA's Westside, and certainly not statewide.

Tom Campbell's Israel problem - Los Angeles Times

Campbell has been accused by the Fiorina campaign of voting to "cut aid to Israel." But in fact, in one of the cases it cites, what he really did was vote against increasing foreign aid by $30 million (over and above the usual $3 billion he'd already voted for and the additional $900 million he'd already voted for). He objected to the increase, he says, because the money would have come from aid set aside for the world's neediest countries.

Similarly, Campbell has been attacked for saying that perhaps Jerusalem could serve as a "shared capital" for Israelis and Palestinians. Though that notion angers those who see Jerusalem as Israel's eternal undivided capital, it would be foolish not to acknowledge that "sharing" the city or redividing it is viewed by many as an essential element of an eventual peace.

I'd like to believe that someday the US can have a sensible discussion about Israel. I am totally unconvinced we are at that point. If Obama and Clinton hold firm, we might just get that chance. I'm sure Rahm Emanuel is already in the Oval Office screaming at them to knuckle under to Bibi.

And the world will live as one