President Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East last week -- two days in Israel and four hours in the West Bank -- did exactly nothing to advance the prospects for a just settlement in that volatile region. He'd have done better going to the movies in Washington.

Way back in June 2009, when he presumably believed that his views mattered, Mr. Obama delivered an unqualified message to the Israeli government, then as now headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking in Cairo, he boldly declared that "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."

Whatever the outcome of Tuesday's American election, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his policies are the certain winners. Just recall the final TV debate as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney competed to prove who could pander more to the pro-Israel side while treating Palestinians as if they didn't exist. There's one caveat here. If President Obama is re-elected, his team will soon find a way to get even with the Israeli PM for his brazen interference in the election against the President. In Israel itself, as The Globe and Mail reported in October, "Critics say Mr. Netanyahu has effectively become part of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign at Mr. [Sheldon] Adelson's behest." Mr.

The University of Western Ontario announced that university president Paul Davenport would be the 2008 honouree at the Jewish National Fund's Negev dinner. This is not an isolated case. At least two other Canadian university presidents -- at McGill and McMaster -- have accepted similar "honours" from the JNF in recent years. But is the JNF an organization which universities should publicly endorse?