Israel: Obama Shows His Teeth, Netanyahu Steps Back?

On Friday, President Obama did not hold back in condemning the humiliation caused to Vice President Joe Biden with the Israeli announcement of 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. He issued a stern warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that he take “specific actions” to show he is “committed” to the U.S.-Israel relationship and to the peace process. (The contents of the ultimatum and the list of demands have not been revealed by Washington.)


On Sunday at his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu called the approval of the construction of new housing units in East Jerusalem as a “harmful” incident that “should not have happened”. He said:

There was a regrettable incident here that occurred innocently.

We opened the newspapers this morning and read all kinds of commentary and assumptions regarding the crisis with the US. I recommend not to get carried away and to calm down.

However, he did not give any signal about the Palestinian demand for the cancelation of this approval. Instead, he said that he had appointed a committee to investigate the events leading up to the decision to ensure that this did not happen again.

The Jerusalem District Planning and Building committee has canceled two meetings planned for this week, since any more decisions on construction might result in further tensions with the United States. (The Interior Ministry has said that the meetings were canceled due to technical reasons.)

Meanwhile, Washington claims Netanyahu’s hand is getting weaker with current partners. A US official said yesterday that the Israeli leader’s rightist coalition leaves him in a “perilous” situation. For instance, Ze’ev Elkin from Likud urged Netanyahu not to deviate from his policy on East Jerusalem construction, saying Israel must keep the capital undivided and under its sovereignty.

Elsewhere, Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday evening signed an order to extend a security lockdown in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians entering Jerusalem after a weekend of protests and rioting in the city.