Israel Matzav

Back to 2009-11? Obama snubs Netanyahu in Maccabiah opening remarks

The 19th Maccabiah - the largest Jewish athletic event in the world - opened Thursday night at Teddy Stadium. The opening ceremony included videotaped remarks from President Hussein Obama who violated protocol by 'forgetting' to mention Israel's Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

In a break from protocol, President Obama declined to mention Prime Minister Netanyahu in his recorded remarks for the opening ceremony last night of the Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem.  Instead Mr. Obama wished, President Shimon Peres another happy birthday as he already did in President Obama's recorded
remarks when celebrations were held recently to mark Peres' 90th birthday.

Later that evening President Obama called PM Netanyahu on the phone to press him to make further concessions to Mahmoud Abbas.

The recording of President Obama’s remarks begin at [2:27:22] in the recording of the opening ceremony available on Youtube [the video starts in Hebrew but will switch to English when Obama comes on. CiJ] – they are followed by greetings of the UK PM that, following protocol, do greet PM Netanyahu [ends at 2:29:12. CiJ].

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, David Cameron, Maccabiah

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:33 PM