TURNING EAST:

A lot of people in Israel are both shocked and outraged. The response from some American Jews as well as the U.S. foreign policy establishment could best be described as dumbfounded. By appointing Danny Danon, a harsh opponent of the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, as Israel's new ambassador to the United Nations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seemingly validated criticisms that claim he doesn't care about peace. The thought of putting Danon, a man best known for his hard-right politics, shoot-from-the-hip style and ferocious ambition seems just about the opposite of what Israel or any nation needs representing it at the United Nations. [...]

Danon has spent the last few years being a thorn in Netanyahu's side. He has been telling anyone who will listen -- including the readers of Politico -- that he and the rest of the Likud would never accept a two-state solution imposed on the nation by Secretary of State John Kerry. That contradicted Netanyahu's efforts to demonstrate a willingness to negotiate even if he was not willing to make the kind of concessions that the U.S. wrongly felt would convince the Palestinians to make peace. In fact, Netanyahu fired Danon as deputy defense minister last year during the war with Hamas for mouthing off about what he felt was an insufficiently tough approach to the Islamist terror group. That Danon was willing to criticize the government that he was himself part of at a time of war was shocking. It demonstrates that he is a loose canon with poor judgment that is always in business for himself.

Follow @brothersjudd