Lack of Mideast coordination with U.S. worries J'lem

[IndianaGreen]

Lack of Mideast coordination with U.S. worries J'lem

By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid

Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama's entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel's new government.

Senior White House officials told their Israeli counterparts that Obama will demand Netanyahu completely suspend construction in the settlements, the officials said.

"Obama's people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to," the officials said. In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don't consult with them or coordinate their statements in advance.

This has caused several coordination "malfunctions" between the two states in the past two months, they said.

The last incident was the statement of Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The statement had not been coordinated with Israeli officials in charge of the nuclear issue and they heard it first from the media.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1083998.html

Why all the anxiety and hand-wringing? Obama has to announce his I/P policy.

[angstlessk]

1. coodination AKA...DICTATES FROM AIPAC...NOT YET ACCEPTED

[bemildred]

2. Worry is appropriate. Getting a clue would be even better. nt

[Howardx]

3. huh, im not worried about that at all

mildly encouraged more like.

[regnaD kciN]

4. In other words, Obama isn't rolling over and playing dead when Likud speaks...?

Oh, my, what a shame. :sarcasm:

[razors edge]

5. I wounder if

Jane Harman can look into this for them.

I've heard she can deliver, for a fee.

[geek tragedy]

6. Likud worrying gives me peace of mind.

If they're complaining, Obama is doing something right.

[HamdenRice]

7. I think they had gotten used to thinking they were the 51st state

I don't think it's that they tried to "dictate" US middle east policy, but I did get the impression that they thought of themselves as New Jersey on the Mediterranean.

[oberliner]

8. Completely false

Israelis do not think of themselves as the "51st" state by any stretch of the imagination.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Israel wields more influence in Congress and the government than the largest states in the Union

They may not be the "51st" state. If it were, Israel wouldn't be as influencial as it is, and it wouldn't be robbing the American taxpayer blind to subsidize their settlement expansion and construction. May I remind you of then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert letting the cat out of the bag regarding how much Israel controls US?

Olmert says called Bush to force change in U.N. vote

Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:52pm GMT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said a telephone call he made to U.S. President George W. Bush last week forced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to abstain in a U.N. vote on the Gaza war, leaving her "shamed."

Pouring on political bravado in a speech late Monday, Olmert said he demanded to talk to Bush with only 10 minutes to spare before a U.N. Security Council vote Thursday on a resolution opposed by Israel calling for an immediate cease-fire.

"When we saw that the secretary of state, for reasons we did not really understand, wanted to vote in favour of the U.N. resolution ... I looked for President Bush and they told me he was in Philadelphia making a speech," Olmert said.

"I said, 'I don't care. I have to talk to him now,'" Olmert said, describing Bush, who leaves office on January 20, as "an unparalleled friend" of Israel.

"They got him off the podium, brought him to another room and I spoke to him. I told him, 'You can't vote in favour of this resolution.' He said, 'Listen, I don't know about it, I didn't see it, I'm not familiar with the phrasing.'"

Olmert said he then told Bush: "'I'm familiar with it. You can't vote in favour.'

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50C20B20090113

Olmert Says He Made Rice Change Vote

By MARK LANDLER
Published: January 12, 2009

WASHINGTON — In an unusually public rebuke, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations resolution on Gaza that she helped draft, after Mr. Olmert placed a phone call to President Bush.

“I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,’ ” Mr. Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to The Associated Press. “They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now,’ ” Mr. Olmert continued. “He got off the podium and spoke to me.”

Israel opposed the resolution, which called for a halt to the fighting in Gaza, because the government said it did not provide for Israel’s security. It passed 14 to 0, with the United States abstaining.

Mr. Olmert claimed that once he made his case to Mr. Bush, the president called Ms. Rice and told her to abstain. “She was left pretty embarrassed,” Mr. Olmert said, according to The A.P.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/washington/13olmert.html

BTW, Are you now the official spokesperson for Israel?

[LeftishBrit]

12. Nonsense.

And Olmert, braggart as he is, was talking about Israel persuading America to accept an *Israeli* action; not about Israel influencing America's own policies and actions.

[LeftishBrit]

10. If any country outside America is 'the 51st state'...

it's us. Though less now that in the days of Maggie 'n Ronnie, or Mad King George and Benedict Arnold Blair.

[Lithos]

13. Would think several Canadian provinces have that distinction...

But you are right in that I would view the UK as being much closer to the US than Israel.

L-

[Violet_Crumble]

14. It's not about what *we* think, it's about how they think of themselves...

And it's undeniable that the Israeli govt does tend to play up the super-duper close relationship they have with the US. I've heard the 51st state thing used about a few countries, but it's only when it's used about Israel that people get all bent out of shape about it...

[LeftishBrit]

11. Perhaps 'co-ordination malfunctions in the last two months'..

may have quite a lot to do with the fact that Israel has a very divided and dysfunctional government (even more than usual) and that its current Foreign Secretary is totally unsuited to such a role?