In an astonishing breach of diplomatic protocol, rightist deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon has boycotted a Congressional delegation visiting Israel under the auspices of J Street. The foreign ministry, which normally would arrange meetings for the visiting officials with Israeli government officials has snubbed the group after Ayalon told a receptive audience of Conference of Presidents leaders that J Street had not right to call itself “pro-Israel” because it was anything but.
Ayalon released a mystifying counter-statement that blamed the delegation for being snubbed because it supposedly tried to dictate who it would meet with:
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday, saying, “We always welcome American Congress members who visit Israel and are happy to arrange meetings for them with any political officials in Israel.
“The Foreign Ministry is happy to arrange such meetings for U.S. Congress members currently in Israel, without any mediators. The Foreign Ministry is troubled by the attempt to dictate who will be present at such meetings, which is unacceptable in diplomatic life.”
The upshot seems to be that Ayalon will arrange meetings with any Israeli officials they wish to see as long as he, Ayalon can dictate who they want to see. Makes sense? I’m guessing that Ayalon wanted to exclude J Street personnel from any meetings in a deliberate insult against the so-called anti-Israel group.
Personally, I think Danny missed an opportunity to humiliate the Congressmembers as he did the Turkish ambassador. He should’ve seated all of ’em on pre-school sized chairs with the legs unscrewed so he at the opportune moment when the TV cameras were rolling he could’ve kicked the legs out from under ’em and sent ’em sprawling on the floor. That’d show ’em what’s truly pro-Israel!
This incident is the ultimate revenge of the hasbarist mafia. May it come back to bite Mr. Ayalon in the tuchus as his little fracas with the Turkish ambassador did. The difference being that Erdogan don’t take s(&t from no one and threatened to recall his ambassador. Neither Barack Obama nor Nancy Pelosi have quite the b(&#s to pull that off.
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- William Delahunt, US Congressman, Claims Israel Snubbed Him (huffingtonpost.com)
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A good piece, Richard. Amazing how blind Ayalon is to the fact that he just made an ass of Israel (again). The incredible rudeness displayed by him towards this Congressional delegation was more than chutzpah, it was just plain dumb. He blew an opportunity for honest dialogue, which seems to have become quite a consistent pattern of behavior on the part of the Israeli government. It’s actually very funny considering how much bending over the American politicians do for Israel and how much time Israel lobbyists spend in the offices of our Congressmen.
I hope Ayalon and Israel keep up the bad work. Perhaps, then, fewer influence leaders and decisions makers will go to Israel.
I further hope that American leaders will start journeying to Iran in order to get first-hand information and impressions about Iran, as an antidote to the propaganda that communicated by MSM and even the most allegedly-liberal think tanks.
That’s what I said in another thread. I’d be happy if they all stopped going to Israel; maybe the money spigot could be shut off, and AIPAC would go out of business. Perhaps that’s what it will take for the Palestinian people to shake off their occupiers for good.