Political Insider

The gridlock that has plagued Washington for the past three years is unlikely to change no matter how this fall's elections turn out.

Israel's increasingly intolerant and violent ultra-Orthodox minority is "tightening [its] grip in Israel" in a "chilling parallel to the escalating fundamentalist tendencies within Islam," writes Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus. 

According to an ad just put out by the Romney campaign, only Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter qualify among the last six presidents over the past 35 years as leaders who "recognize the cherished relationship the U.S. has with Israel and stands with our allies."

The Emergency Committee for Israel is running television ads that want us to believe that if Mitt Romney is elected president he will move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  That is the impression they want to convey based on his having referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital during his quick visit there last week

With approximately 100 days to the November elections, the intensity of the campaign has accelerated. One can identify four core elements: focusing on fund raising, escalating the political rhetoric, studying key voter trends,  and creating new organizing initiatives.

Mitt Romney and the Republicans are spending millions of dollars accusing Barack Obama of being an unfaithful and unreliable friend of Israel.  They are trying to make support for Israel a political wedge in this year's campaign in the hope of peeling away some Jewish votes in battleground states like Florida and Ohio but more so they are appealing to wealthy Jewish contributors.

Palestinian leaders were miffed that Mitt Romney snubbed their president and called their prime minister, Salam Fayyad, to meet him briefly at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, not in Ramallah, the seat of the PA government. 

On a similar campaign trip to Israel in 2008, Barack Obama met Abbas and Fayyad in Ramallah. Almost four years ago to the day, the Democratic candidate also went to Sderot in southern Israel, the target of persistent rockets and mortar attacks from Gaza

Mitt Romney quickly ran into problems, all self-inflicted, on his overseas trip to demonstrate his foreign policy chops.  His intention was to show he is ready to become a leader on the world stage, but after his London debut he left many wondering whether he is ready for prime time. He's now in Israel, the focus of the GOP effort to make support for the Jewish state a wedge issue in this year's campaign, trying to resurrect his troubled trip.

A Gallup Poll out on Friday on the eve of Mitt Romney's visit to Israel shows the presumptive Republican nominee losing ground to Barack Obama among Jewish voters and that Republicans like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a lot more than Democrats do.

The International Olympic Committee is still steadfastly refusing to give into pressure -- from sources as high as the White House -- to honor the 11 slain Israeli athletes of the 1972 Munich Olympics during the games. (A small pre-games ceremony was held Monday.)