Israel Matzav

Mitchell denies retirement plans

On Monday, I blogged an article by former Bush administration official Elliott Abrams that claimed that US Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell would like to retire at year's end. Foreign Policy Magazine's The Cable (a blog that is very well-connected to the Washington foreign policy establishment) reports that both Mitchell and the State Department are denying the report.

"Mitchell says [the claim] is an utter fabrication," a State Department official told Foreign Policy on behalf of Mitchell Monday. "Mitchell said, ‘I have never experienced the thought, let alone expressed it.'"

"There is no truth to the rumor," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said by e-mail.

Another Mitchell associate wrote to say he'd "never heard him speak of retirement."

Israeli daily Ha'aretz earlier today reported on its Hebrew website, according to a Hebrew-speaking associate, that Abrams also made the allegation in a private forum recently. Ha'aretz later amended the story and took out the private forum reference, the associate said.

"The only thing I have written was the NRO piece. Period," Abrams told Foreign Policy by e-mail Monday. "I said 'he is reported,' as I have been told this by people here in Washington. I could not go further than what I wrote, and could not say 'he wants to retire.'"

Asked about the Ha'aretz allegation that he said it in a private forum, Abrams said, "I don't recall saying that at a private session; what I assume I said (and I can't recall when or where) is exactly what I wrote. I don't know Mitchell well and am getting this second hand, so I would not have said he is going to leave as if I were sure of it. But people tend to forget modifiers."

The Cable goes on to add this little piece of absurdity.

Chatter that Mitchell may not be around in the job for long could be seen as a way to embolden those in Israel and abroad who think Israel should buck the Obama administration's call for a settlement freeze.

I don't think Mitchell's presence on the scene makes a difference one way or the other. It's clear that the orders are coming from Obama and not from Mitchell. And it's also clear that so long as the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis back him doing so, Netanyahu will continue to defy the orders. You see, Mr. Obama, no one elected you Prime Minister of Israel. And no one ever will.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:38 PM