Based on the growing body of evidence in the public domain one could make the case that Israel has gone from American ally to American problem in the eyes of the Obama Administration.

High level members of the Obama Administration, including Secretary of State Clinton, Vice President Biden, and Chief of Staff Emanuel, have taken to the airwaves to threaten, badger, and cajole the Jewish State. This endless barrage of criticism comes before the first meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Instead of trying to pave the way for a smooth working relationship, the Obama team seems determined to be seen as turning over a new page in the historically friendly relations between Israel and the United States. One could make the case that the Obama Administration is showing the Muslim world that Israel no longer has a special relationship with the United States.

Israel is not the only ally being used to placate the Muslim world. Not too long ago, President Obama interjected himself into the European debate over Turkey's desire for membership in the European Union. Without any prompting, the President came out four square on Muslim Turkey's side, placing the United States in opposition to France and Germany. France's President Sarkozy openly questioned why Obama entered this controversy and why he sided against his European allies.

It turns out that this episode appears to be the opening chapter in a strategy by Obama to win over the Muslim world. While the Turkey-EU debate is contentious, the controversies with Israel can have dire consequences.

In the weeks leading up to the coming meeting between Obama and Netanyahu the Obama Administration has ratcheted up the stakes by linking what it wants Israel to do with the Palestinians with policy toward Iran. The most forceful statement of this policy was made by Vice President Biden at the AIPAC convention. He emphatically stated that Israel must pursue the failed two state policy with the Palestinians if it wants the United States to cooperate with Israel on Iran policy.

This linkage of the Palestinian and Iranian issues is outrageous. The Obama Administration is in fact saying that the nuclear and terrorist threat from Iran is exclusively an Israeli problem, which the Obama Administration will help on if Israel behaves itself. The logical extension of this thought process is that Iran is not an American problem.

What is going on here? A European friend who has conversed with members of the Obama Administration has concluded that the Administration sees Israel as an obstacle that needs to be kicked down the road. It sure seems that way.

But the consequences of this policy can have catastrophic consequences if it is not checked - for Israel and the United States.

Obama's plan of pursuing open ended talks with Iran has given Iran even more time to develop its nuclear program. France's Sarkozy told a friend that the kid gloves approach of Obama has made it impossible to maintain let alone strengthen the economic sanctions against Iran. European countries are interpreting Obama's policies as a sign that sanctions will be lifted and they are not interested in continuing a policy that hurts their economies when the United States is letting Iran off the hook on the issue of its nuclear program.

Another informed source has told One Jerusalem that the Obama Administration has concluded that it can live and contain a nuclear Iran. They also believe that they can convince the Arab States that are threatened by Iran not to develop nuclear weapons. This why high Obama officials, first Dennis Ross and now Secretary of Defense Gates have been dispatched to the Gulf to try and calm the understandably agitated Arab States: After all Iran is a sworn enemy of these American allies.

Obama and his administration are making a monumental miscalculation based on false assumptions. They premise their conclusion that they can contain a nuclear Iran on the successful containment of the nuclear Soviet Union. This analogy is wrong on several fronts. The Soviet Union was not a messianic, radical Islamic regime bent on reestablishing the Persian Empire and killing all its adversaries.

Obama is also mistaken in thinking that neutralizing Israel will bring peace to the Middle East. The reality is that Israel is the only reliable ally the United States has in the region. The triumph of Iran or the Palestinians would be a setback for the United States.