The White House recently appointed Robert Malley head of the Middle East desk of the National Security Council (NSC). Malley, who served in the Clinton administration, has a history of hostility toward Israel and sympathy for terrorism, as Jonathan Tobin writes:
[I]n the aftermath of [the negotiations between Yasir Arafat and Ehud Barak at] Camp David, Malley defended Arafat. Bill Clinton has spent the years since that disaster publicly blasting Arafat for saying no to a golden opportunity to make peace and costing him a Nobel Peace Prize in the bargain. Malley thought it was “simplistic” to blame Arafat because he believed it wrong to expect any Palestinian leader to end the conflict on terms that provide Israeli security or grant legitimacy to a Jewish state. In Malley’s thinking, the fact that Arafat replied to Barak’s unprecedented and generous peace offer not only with a “no” but also with a terrorist war of attrition known as the second intifada was understandable if not necessarily commendable.
His record makes it clear that Malley isn’t merely unsympathetic to the Jewish state but that he views the quest for a two-state solution on any basis that could provide for Israel’s long-term survival as something that Western leaders should not try to impose on the Palestinians.
Thus, putting Malley in a position of influence isn’t merely harmful symbolism. . . . [B]y putting him in charge of the Middle East desk at the NSC, the administration is ensuring that any effort to promote the peace process will be predicated solely on pressure on Israel to make concessions on security and its rights while the Palestinians will not be expected to do anything.
Read more on Commentary: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/03/10/robert-malleys-rise-and-obamas-blame-israel-policy-arafat-bill-clinton/