Once again, a top-level American diplomat, while visiting Israel, has been insulted and embarrassed by the host country, and it’s time for the White House to push back!
In 2008, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, while visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the stalled peace process, was blindsided by an Israeli announcement of expanded settlement construction – the most inflammatory issue of the day. Bush never made Israel pay a price for such insulting diplomatic behavior from one ally to another.
This time, they have blindsided and sandbagged Vice President Joe Biden, who is in the area this week promoting the just-announced informal peace talks that Israel and the Palestinians will resume, thanks to the tireless diplomacy of George Mitchell.
After spending the day lavishly reassuring Israel of our commitment to their security and our willingness to broker the coming peace talks, Biden was rewarded with a diplomatic insult: Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced that 1,600 new homes would be built in the ultra-Orthodox East Jerusalem enclave of Ramat Shlomo.
Biden offered friendship and reassurances and Israel slapped him down! Perhaps this kind of outrageous treatment was acceptable to the Bush administration but it should not be acceptable to Obama, not if he ever wants to be taken seriously and treated respectfully by the Netanyahu government!
Biden responded to the insult by arriving 90 minutes late to a dinner with Netanyahu, and publicly said “I condemn the decision!” But that’s not nearly enough!
Netanyahu, reeling from the diplomatic uproar he had just created, claimed he was unaware that his own minister was planning on making the settlement-expansion announcement, but that won’t fly! He’s in charge, and he should take the full blunt of the blame for this shameful treatment of a loyal and generous ally – us!
Biden has made his anger known; now it’s President Obama’s turn! If Netanyahu and Eli Yishai thought they could insult us to the point where we walked away from the peace talks, they thought wrong! Obama and Mitchell must now demonstrate the tenacity of a pit bull. They have to slap back by getting the Netanyahu government to the peace table, even if they have to be dragged kicking and screaming.
America will not tolerate this selfish and demeaning behavior from Israel anymore!
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