Is Obama continuing to bully Israel?

Obama bullies Israel; so much for promises at AIPAC -Jennifer Rubin

Eli Lake published a story for the Washington Times. Lake reported:

The White House is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly adopt President Obama’s view that Israel’s pre-1967 border should be the basis for future peace talks. The request of Mr. Netanyahu was made Monday to the prime minister’s top peace negotiator, Yitzhak Molcho, at a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the National Security Council, according to an Israeli diplomat based in Jerusalem.

Is the U.S. president pressuring Israel to adopt a position that is not its own and diminishes its bargaining position? And what happened to the statements in President Obama’s speech to AIPAC that Israel could not be expected to sit down with those who want to destroy it? After all Hamas has not yet agreed to the Quartet principles, nor has Mahmoud Abbas separated himself from the unity government.
I contacted the White House [and] asked multiple times:
“1.Can you confirm that the president’s position is that Israel should come to the table even without a commitment by Hamas to the Quartet principles and without Abbas breaking with Hamas? 2.If he is asking for 1967 borders from Israel, has anything been asked of Abbas before coming to the table?”

Thomas Vietor, the NSC spokesman, refused to give a direct answer, referring me back to Obama’s speech.  But that didn’t answer the question[s].

Is the administration now asking Israel to sit down with Abbas absent a commitment by Hamas or a break-up of the unity government? [T]he administration won’t say.

This is a very, very big deal. Former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams explained to me: “I hope news reports of what the Obama White House is privately demanding of Israel are wrong. If the reports are right, the U.S. is now abandoning the Quartet Principles — and asking Israel to negotiate with a Palestinian side that includes Hamas without Hamas taking one single step away from terror."

To be clear, Israel is being pressured to give up prior understandings that the Western Wall and the Jerusalem suburbs, for example, would never be part of a Palestinian state.

Congressional friends of Israel are likely to be enraged.
[The Washington Post]
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Israel, White House Send Signals on New Peace Talks Plan -Laura Rozen

Israeli leaders seem to be sending a signal to Washington that they will not be pushed by the Palestinians' UN bid to accept Obama's proposed terms for renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - '67 lines with mutually agreed swaps.
(Yahoo News)
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UPDATE:

Obama’s Ludicrous Proposal to Israel Unpacked -Barry Rubin

Could President Barack Obama’s strategy possibly be more obvious to Israel?

Here’s a summary: Due to the Obama Administration’s ineptness, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is planning to ask the UN to give it unilateral independence in September. But rather than use its leverage against the PA–including pointing out that what it’s doing is contrary to every U.S.-guaranteed agreement that the PA signed with Israel during the last 18 years–the Obama Administration wants to use its leverage on Israel to force it to save Obama.

You see, Obama will find it hard to escape vetoing the PA’s bid in the Security Council before it ever gets to the General Assembly. This will not make Obama or the United States more popular with Muslims or Arabs. So Obama wants Israel to pay the price in exchange for…nothing.

To avoid the PA declaring unilateral independence without making any concessions, Obama wants Israel to accept what amounts to the PA getting independence without making any concessions! But it won’t be unilateral, right?
[Rubin Reports]
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