Last week, the Israeli government showed the kind of disrespect towards the United States, its indispensable patron, that one would’ve expected only of Iran. Specifically, it waited until the day US Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to land in Israel to announce that 1600 new homes will be added to the disputed settlements of east Jerusalem.
(One could even be forgiven for thinking that the Israelis settled on 1600 – as in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – to make sure their defiance registered at the White House; in other words, take that James Baker.)
Biden, who was arriving to mediate new peace talks after a 14-month lapse, was not pleased:
The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now. We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them … unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations.
Yet, even though the Israelis promptly apologized, nobody believes they’ll be affected in the least either by Biden’s rebuke or by his retaliatory snub; namely, keeping PM Benjamin Netanyahu waiting 90 minutes for dinner. Because it is self-evident that the only building the Israelis are interested in has to do with new homes in the disputed territories.
Most political pundits in America are convinced that this announcement was really intended to telegraph the racial (and religious) prejudice Israelis have towards President Barack Hussein Obama. And this seems undeniable.
It is also undeniable, however, that the Israelis showed similar contempt, in substance even if not in style, towards President George W. Bush; i.e., by continually building homes in disputed territories in contravention of Bush’s efforts to broker peace with the Palestinians.
Apropos my reference above to James Baker, it might be instructive to recall that such unbridled contempt for America’s efforts to broker Israeli-Palestinian negotiations provoked him way back in 1990 – as secretary of state under former President George H.W. Bush – to issue the following iconic reprimand during congressional testimony:
Everybody over there should know that the telephone number for the White House is (202) 456-1414. When you’re serious about peace, call us!
And to back up his words, Baker threatened to withhold loan guarantees unless Israel promised not to use the funds to settle Russian Jews in the (Palestinian) West Bank. Not so widely reported, however, was the undiplomatic language he used in a less formal setting a couple of years later, when Baker reportedly said, “Fuck the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway.”
Nevertheless, Israel is as Israel does….
Related commentaries:
Netanyahu resents having to kowtow to Obama…
* This commentary was published originally on Sunday, March 14 at 7:26 A.M.
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