It was a moment rich with symbolism when, following the funeral of Israel’s Shimon Peres, the White House Press Office issued a correction to its press release, scratching out the State of Israel:

Faced with then embarrassment of carrying out the mullahs’ goal of erasing Israel from the map, at least verbally, the rationalization would warm the cockles of any bureaucrat’s heart.  Via McClatchy:

U.S. policy has long refrained from recognizing any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, with Israel declaring in 1980 the city was its undivided capital. A 2015 Supreme Court decision reaffirmed U.S. practice that forbids Americans born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their country of birth on passports.

This is entirely off the point.  U.S. policy on issuing post-funeral press releases is whatever Obama wants it to be.  It does not “recognize a nation’s sovereignty” to issue a press release.  What happened is that only after it was released did someone notice and squawk about it.  A hurried discussion ensued, and they crossed out Israel because they wanted whoever squawked to be happy.

And that’s the point.  This is inconsequential in real-world terms but perfectly symbolic of the Obama administration’s real intentions toward Israel.

I can just picture Donald Trump regaling an audience, asking them:

“Do you know what the Obama administration did after Shimon Peres’s funeral?”

(pause)

“They actually crossed out… (louder) CROSSED OUT… Israel on the press release they gave out.

(pause for crowd reaction)

“Crossed out Israel.

“And they called it their longstanding policy.

“Well let me tell you…I’ll tell you President Trump will never cross out Israel. Never.”