Obama went for broke, Bibi said no, and Abu Mazen was left holding the bag. Or is it more complicated than that?

In an earlier post, I reported that President Obama refused to back an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza unless Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed that ousting Hamas would lead to Abu Mazen taking over Gaza, and being given  a ‘state’ in much of Judea and Samaria as well. Assuming that post is correct, I concluded that Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to take the bait, and chose to let Hamas live another day rather than letting Abu Mazen have his ‘state’ without negotiations. I wrote that was probably the right decision for Israel. And if that’s true, I still believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu made the right choice.

Now, Haaretz’s Barak Ravid reports on a meeting that took place on Monday between the ‘Palestinian’ ambassador and the Israeli ambassador to a ‘major country.’ The two have both served for several years in that country and both know each other well. The ‘Palestinian’ ambassador is a Gazan. The Israeli ambassador called him on Monday, and asked him how he was doing. The ‘Palestinian’ ambassador asked to speak in person, and not by phone.

The two met, and the ‘Palestinian’ ambassador thanked the Israeli for calling him and said that not one of the 19 ambassadors from Arab countries posted in the same capital had called to ask how he was or how his family back in Gaza was faring. The two chatted, and then the Israeli ambassador returned to his office and sent a telegram describing the conversation to the foreign ministry. Barak Ravid received a copy of the telegram, and published it in Haaretz this evening, shortly before the ‘cease fire’ went into effect (you Americans can think about the timing and whether that was meant to influence or not influence events; at this point I’ll assume that the timing was not purposeful and that Haaretz has not yet descended to the level of 60 Minutes). Here’s some of what the telegram said, and then we’ll discuss a few takeaways:

Read the rest via Israel Matzav: ‘Palestinian’ diplomat told Israeli counterpart Hamas and Abu Mazen both must go.

Categories: Israel in the News