Israel Apologizes for Settlement Announcement

During Vice President Biden’s visit, Israel’s right wing Interior Minister suddenly issued a statement that the Ministry had approved a plan for new settlement building in East Jerusalem. This led to a minor diplomatic crisis, with Hillary Clinton saying that she considered it a direct insult. Which it obviously was — but it was also clearly intended to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically.

Netanyahu’s office has now apologized for the incident:

Vice President Joe Biden left Israel with an apology from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the diplomatic uproar that overshadowed his visit and further encumbered a U.S. peace initiative.

Near the beginning of his visit on Tuesday, Israel’s Interior Ministry publicized its approval of a plan to build 1,600 homes in east Jerusalem—territory claimed by Palestinians.

A statement from the prime minister’s office Thursday expressed “regret over the unfortunate timing” and declared that ground wouldn’t be broken on the project for several years. It also pledged to ensure similar “incidents” wouldn’t recur.

Meanwhile, here’s one of three hate mails I received this morning about the story, from people who seem incredibly eager for me to abandon my support for Israel (which isn’t going to happen):

Moment of truth, bitch. Now we’ll see just how far left you have sunk. Israel makes unilateral concessions, the Palestinians respond by murdering Jews, and your hero Obama identifies Israel as being the impediment to peace. Live down to expectations, just ignore it, and focus on the diabolical Creationists. So, were you always a fraud, or has there been some severe head trauma that corrupted you?

Unfortunately for this admirer, there’s absolutely nothing unusual about Hillary Clinton’s condemnation of new Israeli settlements. It’s been the position of the US government that Israel should stop building new settlements since Ronald Reagan was president, and George W. Bush was no different from Barack Obama on this issue, either.