Israel Matzav: An ill-timed report

An ill-timed report

Someone in Israel is trying to make Prime Minister Netanyahu's relations with President Obama even more strained than they are already. On Tuesday, as Netanyahu was about to go into a meeting with Obama it happened again. As Netanyahu was arriving at the White House, Haaretz reported that final approval had been granted to build build 20 new Jewish housing units on the site of the Shepherd's Hotel in the Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood of Jerusalem. The Shepherd's Hotel is privately owned land and it is actually owned by an American named Irving Moskowitz.

The version of Haaretz's story that is currently online is apparently not the original version. Apparently the first version left out two pertinent facts, one of which still doesn't appear in the Haaretz story (at least at this writing). First, the approval was issued last Thursday. And second, the approval was automatic following the payment of a fee by the developers on March 15. The real approval was the one that was granted last July.

But whoever managed to time that report from Haaretz (and it may have been Haaretz itself, someone from the rival Kadima party or a leak at the Jerusalem City Council, where all building approvals are now frozen), the result was an embarrassment for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who would rather these things be done quietly under the radar screen.

"This is exactly what we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to get control of," an administration official said Tuesday night. "The current drip-drip-drip of projects in East Jerusalem impedes progress."

Netanyahu chose his right-wing "coalition over Obama, plain and simple," one former Israeli official commented.

Well, of course he did. Do you think he'd rather go to new elections and shut down the country for three months with Iran on the verge of nuclear weapons?

Israel Matzav: An ill-timed report