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Washington - U.S.: Israel Fabricated Rice UN Story, Olmert Sticks To Story |
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Last updated on: Jan 14, 2009 at 09:35 AM
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srael's Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a Security Council meeting about the situation in Gaza, UN headquarters in New York, Tuesday.
Both the State Department and White House spokesmen said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's claim that he had essentially gotten US President George W. Bush to twist Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's arm and abstain on the measure was simply untrue.
During a speech to local authority heads in Ashkelon on Monday, Olmert said that Rice had been embarrassed when she was ordered to back down from supporting the resolution she had prepared, after Olmert intervened with Bush.
Olmert said he had called Bush and interrupted a lecture he was giving in Philadelphia to ensure that the US not vote for the resolution.
"I said: 'Get me President Bush on the phone,'" Olmert said. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care: 'I need to talk to him now.' He got off the podium and spoke to me."
According to Olmert, he told Bush that the US should not vote for the resolution, and Bush then directed Rice to abstain.
"She was left pretty embarrassed," Olmert said.
McCormack said that Rice had decided as early as Wednesday that she would not veto a resolution, after Arab ministers rejected an initial effort by the US to push for a weaker presidential statement from the Security Council. That left her with the option of either voting for the final text or abstaining.
"So you have two possibilities left: voting for it, or abstaining, and she decided, given where the state of the negotiations were in terms of the Mubarak initiative, that abstaining would give the best possibility for those negotiations to move forward and actually resolve the situation on the ground," McCormack said.
He said Rice had spoken with Bush both before and after his conversation with Olmert, but insisted "with 100% assurance that her intention, again, going into the conversation with the president was that she was going to abstain."
An official in the Prime Minister's Office tersely responded to the comments from Washington, saying "the Prime Minister's comments on Monday were a correct account of what took place."
The official downplayed the incident, saying it was "over" and would have no lasting impact.
The official said he was not aware of any conversation Olmert had had with Rice on Tuesday to clarify the matter, or that any messages had been relayed from Jerusalem to Washington.
Washington's account of the events, however, seemed to have been indirectly confirmed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was quoted as saying earlier in the week that she had held seven "difficult" phone conversations with Rice on the day of the vote, and Rice had told her that while the US would not veto the resolution, it would abstain.
Rice spent three days in New York shuttling between conference rooms at United Nations headquarters, meeting with Arab ministers and her British and French counterparts. She said after Thursday's vote that she had abstained because she felt a resolution "might have been a little premature."
Israeli officials said it was unlikely that the spat would have any lasting impact, primarily because Rice would be leaving office in less than a week.
Olmert's comment, said in an off-the-cuff manner and not read from a text, is widely believed to reflect the degree of Israeli disappointment at Rice's handling of the Security Council resolution.
Middle East expert Steven Spiegel described the episode as "the worst faux pas by an Israeli prime minister in history."
"You really do wonder what the prime minister was thinking - if it's true, you'd really want to keep it as quiet as possible, and if it's not true, why would you want to make up a story that would embarrass both the Bush administration and the Israeli government and draw criticism from those who are antagonistic to Israel?" asked Spiegel, director of the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA.
"No matter how you play it, exaggeration, falsehood, whole truth, the whole thing makes them all look bad," Spiegel told The Jerusalem Post.
**UPDATE** 1-14-09
Aides of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday said that Olmert stands by his claim that he caused the US to abstain from a UN resolution calling for a halt in Gaza fighting.
The aides said the prime minister told the story as it happened. Olmert has also claimed that Bush broke off a speech he was giving in Philadelphia to take his call, and that the abstention embarrassed Rice.
The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because the diplomatic matter is sensitive.
Israel and the US engaged in a rare and uncharacteristic public spat Tuesday over events leading to the US abstention in last Thursday's UN Security Council resolution vote on the Gaza crisis.
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Read Comments (22) — Post Yours »
1
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:06 PM Anonymous Says:
If this happened, Olmert is a total nut job.What the heck was he thinking by broadcasting this to the whole entire world. Do we need more of Israel controls the U.S. government tirade from the world shezzzz.
2
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:02 PM Rice Pudding Says:
Rice is an incompetent disgrace. She reminds me of Jimmy Carter who used to vote Against Israel on occassion at the UN, and then mutter something about a "mistake", or not really understanding what he was voting for or against. Rice said ( I read her words,am Not making this up) that she views the Palestinians as in the same position as the blacks during the civil war, and that her sensitivities are with them, Not the "Oppressors"
3
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:29 PM Anonymous Says:
“ Rice is an incompetent disgrace. She reminds me of Jimmy Carter who used to vote Against Israel on occassion at the UN, and then mutter something about a "mistake", or not really understanding what he was voting for or against. Rice said ( I read her words,am Not making this up) that she views the Palestinians as in the same position as the blacks during the civil war, and that her sensitivities are with them, Not the "Oppressors" ”
Yes she did say that. in between her several times she referred to hamas (the therrorist group) as a "resistance movement" (which is what hamas claims to be) She did indeed compare the plight of the poor palestinians to the balcks in the south where she was from (nevermind that she wasnt opressed rather she was a child of privelege with a father who was a very wealthy protestant minister)
4
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:27 PM Anonymous Says:
“ Rice is an incompetent disgrace. She reminds me of Jimmy Carter who used to vote Against Israel on occassion at the UN, and then mutter something about a "mistake", or not really understanding what he was voting for or against. Rice said ( I read her words,am Not making this up) that she views the Palestinians as in the same position as the blacks during the civil war, and that her sensitivities are with them, Not the "Oppressors" ”
What, Olmert behaved like an ungreatful backstabber. He knows Bush is leaving office so he gets to embaress them like this. This is the Thank You from Israel for the last 8 years of dont ask dont tell policy.
Wait till you get Clinton. Get it into your head, the state dept, was never good for Israel. Rice has no say of her own anyhow, it's Bush who makes the shots in the end and they ALWAYS favored Israel.
5
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:26 PM Anonymous Says:
Typical infallibility complex of the bush admin to throw olmert under the bus However not matter what may have actually happened , the end result was that condi rice looked really really stupid, sitting there saying the US will abstain from voting yet she sais she supports all the points laid out in the cease fire resolution
6
Jan 13, 2009 at 11:56 PM Anonymous Says:
Olmert Olmert Olmert.....you never learn do ya? I can just sense all the David Dukes of the world waking up from hibernation and sharpening their claws, as in "Those darn Jooz control America and we got the proof right here"....way to go Ehud
7
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM Anonymous Says:
“ Olmert Olmert Olmert.....you never learn do ya? I can just sense all the David Dukes of the world waking up from hibernation and sharpening their claws, as in "Those darn Jooz control America and we got the proof right here"....way to go Ehud ”
bush and rice have a created a weak israel
now hillary will have to clean up the mess
8
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:14 AM Give PIECE a chance!!?!? Says:
Normally I would say the truth is somewhere in middle but here I would say the truth is probably closer to Olmert. That being said he is a big moron for opening his mouth at this time. Wait a week or so till after the messiah is sworn in and then say something.
9
Jan 14, 2009 at 03:13 AM Anonymous Says:
Olmert is doing this so his candidate can be elected soon.
10
Jan 14, 2009 at 02:23 AM Anonymous Says:
“ If this happened, Olmert is a total nut job.What the heck was he thinking by broadcasting this to the whole entire world. Do we need more of Israel controls the U.S. government tirade from the world shezzzz. ”
... and even if he didn't happen he is a classic shmuck. Just to show his arrogance that he can interrupt the president of the United States. I now doubt if the incursion into Gaza was decided by a sane person.
11
Jan 14, 2009 at 01:22 AM Anonymous Says:
“ Typical infallibility complex of the bush admin to throw olmert under the bus However not matter what may have actually happened , the end result was that condi rice looked really really stupid, sitting there saying the US will abstain from voting yet she sais she supports all the points laid out in the cease fire resolution ”
What?! Bush admin throw olmert under the bus?! Olmert just threw Bush under the bus!! He's better off when he's shushed!!!
12
Jan 14, 2009 at 07:32 AM yankel Says:
Now I get where Zaka is taking their deplomacy skills....Israel is like the stupid kid in the class who made it big in business through luck, not brains
13
Jan 14, 2009 at 08:31 AM Anonymous Says:
Olmert is a total idiot
14
Jan 14, 2009 at 09:56 AM Anonymous Says:
Olmert must be smoking something other than tobacco. He sounds like a drunken sailor. Could it be that this is the real reason that the U.S. just canceled a shipment of munitions to Israel?
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
15
Jan 14, 2009 at 10:17 AM Avrohom Abba Says:
Olmert is very busy trying to leave his office in a good light. He screwed up with his corruption mess, he screwed up with letting the Arabs get beautiful land areas which we had worked our heads off for, he screwed up with the horrible deaths of our soldiers with his lousy planning for the summer disaster war of 2006, he screwed up with allowing Bush and Rice to water down Israel's power. So, in these last moments of oiffice, Olmert has begun a war agianst Hamas to boost his status in the eyes of Israelis and he has tried to embarrass Bush and Rice with his loud, impolite, undiplomatic, lack of tact. In short, Olmert is a drowning leader flailing his arms wildly trying to look like he's standing on solid land. Even though I don't like the way Rice was acting, you don't behave so immaturely in front of the world's microphones, you idiot!
16
Jan 14, 2009 at 10:22 AM Anonymous Says:
typical american frummies. you would raother have caused chilul hashem cursing sharon in the treets of manhattan like a bunch of idiots in 2005 than protest your own lamebrained drunken president for supporting and pushing for thep ullout.
Now when his idiot messenger, the stupid moron condi rice deserves to be blasted for all the incompetence she has done on his behalf, you agian would rather sit and yell and the jew , the israeli PM for doing what he needed to do.
and then you wonder why our enemies attack? because YOU AMERICAN JEWS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ACHDUS KLAL YISROEL IS. and until you quit publicly blasting fellow jews because they are to "modern" or too "zionist" or too "progressive" we will have galus, and trouble, and gazas and mumbais ...
17
Jan 14, 2009 at 10:51 AM Anonymous Says:
My gosh. This is coming from a yiddishe kup. olmert you are a desgrace to the world and to every yid. shame on you. what an ungrateful fool. to make such a comment at a time like this.
18
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:55 PM Anonymous Says:
Can some1 just tell Olmert to cut the ego of his and just shut up!! Hes a known lier and not to back down from hes lie, we saw it with his criminal investigation, every single book was thrown at him but he like a shmuck didnt change what happened. Mr Olmert, we understand that that u have an ego problem, but dont pull the entire countery with u. Thank you.
19
Jan 14, 2009 at 03:29 PM Anonymous Says:
What an ego maniac this olmert guy is. he is diging his own grave.
20
Jan 14, 2009 at 04:34 PM Anonymous Says:
“ bush and rice have a created a weak israel
now hillary will have to clean up the mess ”
First Hillary will need to clean up the mess (Oslo 1 and 2, Wye and Camp David) she and her husband created which was a million times worse and caused Israel to give back so much valuble territory without gaining any benefit.
At least the last 8 years Israel lived a honymoon with the USA where the Peace process was put aside and we didn't see the ugly face of Arafat as a Peace Man, the the Clinons portraid him. The state Dept. will never change and definitly not by a Clinton , they are as corrupt if not more.
21
Jan 14, 2009 at 07:00 PM The Frozen but Good North Says:
Canada was the ONLY country that voted AGAINST this resolution. They didnt abstain. They VOTED AGAINST IT. They were roundly criticized at home and around the world, but they did it anyway.
Shame on the US. Especially given the fact that the majority of Canadians are left of Center, and its cities are overflowing with Arabs.
The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, supports Israel. He does NOT do it for the Jewish vote, because he never got it and never will. (He is conservative - Canadian Jews vote Liberal).
The only reason Harper supports Israel is because he says, he will not stand by and let a second Holocaust happen.
G-d bless Stephen Harper and his government.
Shame on the rest of the world.
22
Jan 14, 2009 at 08:12 PM Anonymous Says:
“ First Hillary will need to clean up the mess (Oslo 1 and 2, Wye and Camp David) she and her husband created which was a million times worse and caused Israel to give back so much valuble territory without gaining any benefit.
At least the last 8 years Israel lived a honymoon with the USA where the Peace process was put aside and we didn't see the ugly face of Arafat as a Peace Man, the the Clinons portraid him. The state Dept. will never change and definitly not by a Clinton , they are as corrupt if not more. ”
HONEYMOON?
The second intifada is a honeymoon?
Disengagement is a honeymood?
What planet are you on ?