The Obama Administration is hoping to revive the peace process in the Middle East. Part of the strategy is to distance Washington from Israel.

The members of the leading pro-Israel lobby in the US were visibly moved as they listened to Vice President Joe Biden's speech last Tuesday. It was music to the ears of the 6,500 delegates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who had gathered in the Washington Convention Center.

Israeli President Shimon Peres meets with US President Barack Obama on May 5. "With all the change you will hear about, there is one endure
ng, essential principle that will not change; and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel," he told his audience.

The delegates not only applauded Biden, they cheered him as loud as they could.

Yet, in the America of President Barack Obama no one can be certain of avoiding change. That's something the AIPAC members would have realized as they watched the evening news a short time later. At almost exactly the same time that Biden was giving his speech another member of the Obama administration was making a memorable appearance before the United Nations in New York. Her name was Rose Gottemoeller.