President Obama waited until late Sunday to agree to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington yesterday (Monday), where the PM was making a speech before a group of Jewish organizations.
It is unusual, although not unprecedented, for an Israeli Prime Minister to visit Washington without meeting with the US president; but in this case, Obama kept Netanyahu on tenterhooks until the 11th hour regarding whether or not O would deign to see Bibi. As the Wall Street Journal reported: U.S. officials said the delay, which stretched until late Sunday, stemmed from last-minute discussions aimed at gaining a more robust and public commitment to the peace track from Mr. Netanyahu.
Apparently, the price of obtaining even an audience with His Obamaness has gone up; and what was usually a normal (and free) meeting between allies has now become a leveraged privilege used to seek further concessions from the Jewish State -- while no particular concessions are demanded from the Palestinians. Clinton, I remember, used to do something along these lines with large donations and sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom.
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