Completely by chance, I flew to the United States the same night that Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu went there for his meeting with President Barack Obama. But if I had to rely on the New York media to learn that the visit was occurring, I might have missed it - because most media outlets barely mentioned it.
The planned appointment of a Hispanic woman judge to the Supreme Court captured the lead headlines. The fact that 800 unemployed people stood in line to apply for a job as a school janitor also made headlines. And as a rule, Obama gets most of the headlines, due to his dizzying whirl of activity. By comparison, Bibi might as well not exist.
As someone who has accompanied most Israeli premiers on their trips abroad, I was always amazed by the electricity they generated during these visits, whether positive or negative, as well as by the maneuverability that Israeli leaders enjoyed in America. If the president was unsympathetic, they went to Congress; if Congress was unsupportive, they went back to the president. If the State Department imposed a veto, Jewish organizations would pressure the president, who wanted to be reelected, to impose his will on the secretary of state.
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