Stories about Israel’s embarrassment of Joe Biden during his current Israel trip, which began on Monday, March 9, 2010, were best told by Monodweiss, Phil Weiss’ site, because they get to the point of how the story was covered here in the US.
First there is the story about how Biden (took) one on the chin, at the beginning of his trip.
Having spent most of the day stressing “his personal love for the Jewish state as well as the `unshakable’ commitment of the United States to Israel’s security,” Vice President Biden in return was granted a special surprise by Israel’s right-wing religious Interior Minister, Eli Yishai – the announcement of 1,600 more housing units to be built at the Ultra-Orthodox settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem.
Having recently been dragged into negotiations with Israel kicking and screaming, the Palestinians were naturally apoplectic.
Nabil Abu-Rudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian government, called the new housing announcement “a dangerous decision that will torpedo the negotiations and sentence the American efforts to complete failure,” adding that “it is now clear that the Israeli government is not interested in negotiating nor is it interested in peace. The American administration must respond to this provocation with actual measures, as it is no longer possible to just turn the other cheek, and massive American pressure is required in order to compel Israel to abandon its peace destroying behavior.”
The White House, clearly upset, had press chief Robert Gibbs condemn the move.
Applying the usual diplomatic slap on the wrist for such actions, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Tel Aviv said “the United States opposed unilateral actions that prejudiced the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed at creating two states, and this was such an action.”
Biden, perhaps realizing he had been obviously humiliated by the extremist Yishai, felt compelled to release the following statement:
I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem. 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 and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.
The text may have started out strong, but sounded rather Bidenesque by the end.
What is perhaps most strange about this incident, according to Mondoweiss, is that it was actually covered by the MSM (mainstream media) and posted the next day, 10 Mar 2010, in this story: Lord almighty, MSM covers dissing of Biden. “Notice how the mainstream press (Time Magazine) dissed the Israeli government and Bibi. This is new. Change that we can believe in (We hope).”
Tony Karon in Time:
Biden made no secret of his pique. He reportedly kept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waiting for 90 minutes before arriving at a scheduled dinner (a harsh slap-down in the vocabulary of diplomatic protocol) and issued a stern statement condemning the planned construction and accusing Israel of “undermining the trust we need right now” to relaunch peace talks.
Times blog:
The press pool following Biden reports that the Vice President showed up 90 minutes late for dinner with Netanyahu, and that reporters were wondering if he would show up at all.
Guardian:
It doesn’t seem to realise it, but Israel cannot afford to keep on behaving in this disobliging manner towards its friends. Whether it is blatant disregard for international rules concerning the protection of civilian life, as in Gaza; whether it is calculated insults aimed at neighbours, as with Turkey; or whether it is the theft of passports and identities from friendly countries and the lawless assassination of its enemies, as in Dubai, it goes too far.
However, the New York Times Israeli editor, Ethan Bronner, clearly played the embarrassment down, while the Washington Post did a little better about representing Biden’s pique. But maybe it’s a beginning.
