Israel Matzav: Israel tries to calm the storm, Obami keep ranting and raving

Israel tries to calm the storm, Obami keep ranting and raving

Israel and its allies in Washington are trying to calm the storm over last Tuesday's announcement of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo. And the Obami (with apologies to Jennifer Rubin from whom I'm stealing the term) are continuing to fan the flames.

Meantime, a Jerusalem district planning committee canceled two meetings that had been planned for this week, “apparently out of concern that any more decisions on construction might result in further tensions with the United States,” Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

“The Interior Ministry has said that the meetings were canceled due to technical reasons … but committee members nevertheless have received a new schedule, on which all meetings pertaining to controversial construction areas were erased,” the paper said.

Netanyahu is headed to Washington next week to speak at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Clinton is supposed to represent the administration at the AIPAC conference.

AIPAC and (as I noted earlier) the Anti-Defamation League have also called on the White House to tone it down.

In an unusual move, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) made a public call on the White House to tone down the rhetoric. The lobby said statements made by senior officials in US President Barack Obama’s administration were “very worrying.”

But so far, the Obami are refusing to tone it down. They won't let it go.

The US administration refused to let go of the issue, even after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apologized to Biden and Biden said the apology was accepted. AIPAC said the White House should avoid public demands and unilaterally setting a timetable for Israel to follow.

Historian Michael Oren, our ambassador to Washington, describes this crisis as the worst since 1975.

Israel’s ambassador to Washington Michael Oren convened Foreign Ministry consuls for an emergency briefing, and told them the crisis between Israel and the US is the worst since 1975, Army Radio reported.

Oren was referring to a crisis that evolved when Israel refused to sign a treaty to withdraw forces from Sinai in 1975.

Perhaps it's a good sign that I don't even remember that crisis (I am old enough to remember it). As one of my close friends always says, this too shall pass.

Israel Matzav: Israel tries to calm the storm, Obami keep ranting and raving