Put up or shut up
When the President of the United States says "trust me" should we trust him? Or should we get it in writing? Given this country's past experiences with President Obama, and with President Clinton before him, there is no way we should not get a written commitment from President Obama. I don't believe we can trust a written commitment from Obama either, but at least if we get it in writing, we can show his political opponents when he tries to cheat us. Thus far, Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli approval of a 90-day settlement freeze was contingent on a written US pledge regarding a package of incentives that would insure Israel’s security and national interests, diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post.Read the whole thing. It doesn't sound like the letter is coming anytime soon. The one thing we have to make sure of is that Hillary Clinton doesn't get Netanyahu alone in a room again. We should make sure Sara Netanyahu goes along. I mean that. I'm convinced that Hillary can get Bibi to do whatever she wants if she gets him alone. Obama has no such hold over Bibi. But Hillary does.
Freeze opponent Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told the Post that the US would never put in writing the verbal pledges it made to Netanyahu when he met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York last week.
Such a document “is not on the way, and it is not coming. It is an illusion,” Edelstein said.
Diplomatic sources, however, blamed the Palestinians for the US failure to give Israel a written agreement, claiming that the Palestinians had said a 90- day settlement freeze was not sufficient enough to sway them to conduct direct negotiations with Israel.
Netanyahu has insisted that only when he gets such a document will he bring the freeze to the 15-member security cabinet for approval.
The security cabinet is set to hold its weekly meeting on Wednesday, but at present, the 90-day freeze is not on the agenda.
Labels: Barack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton, settlement freeze extension, written commitment
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:44 PM
1 Comments:
Bibi should have insisted on getting it in writing when he was in Washington. He now looks like a boob and his standing in his own party has been weakened. There is no support in the Likud for another revanant freeze extension. And this US Administration does not make any one Israel want to trust the veracity of its word.
I don't expect for that reason alone, another revanant freeze to happen in the near future.
What could go wrong indeed
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