That's the Senior Adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, keeping up the pressure on the Israeli government after it punctured Vice-President Joe Biden’s peace mission to the Middle East last week by announcing hundreds of new Jewish homes in East Jerusalem.
On nationwide TV in the US on Sunday morning Axelrod didn't mince his words on NBC's "Meet The Press:"
“This was an affront, it was an insult, but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region.”
At Sunday's Cabinet meeting the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urged calm over the dispute between Israel and the US He said:
“This is an unfortunate incident, that was done innocently but it was offensive and of course should not have happened. We have appointed a team of senior government officials to identify the series of events and in order to guarantee such incidents will be prevented in the future - the most important thing is to emphasize that the state of Israel and the US have mutual interests.”
And those mutual interests are now under serious strain - after Joe Biden - long known in Israel as one of its staunchest supporters - was embarrassed so publically.
The Palestinians immediately put the brakes on proximity talks - the latest set-back to a peace process that has yet to go anywhere. Again David Axelrod was blunt on NBC.
“For this announcement to come at this time was very destructive.”
Of course, Vice President Biden was on hand in Israel to deliver a direct message from President Obama himself as outlined by his spokesman Robert Gibbs when he spoke on a rival nationwide TV show, "Fox News Sunday:"
"The Vice President reaffirmed our security relationship with Israel and the people of Israel, but there’s no doubt that events like last week weaken the trust that’s needed for both sides to come together and have honest discussions about peace in the Middle East."
Also last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to have hit the spot when, during a forty minute phone call to Prime Minister Netanyahu, she called the decision to build new homes, “an insult to the United States."
UK based analyst Yossi Meckelberg, from the think-tank Chatham House says Netanyahu is split between striving for Middle East peace while not wrecking the fragile right-wing coalition he heads.
"Netanyahu, if anyone wants to find an excuse for him, is leading an impossible coalition. He can stay in power only if he does nothing. If he does anything out of the routine management of government he might find himself without a coalition."
What remains unclear, however, is what angered the White House more - the timing of the settlement activity announcement or the settlement activity itself?
Israel’s showing no signs of cancelling the project and though the US is keeping up the heated rhetoric - it's not known whether the Obama administration is prepared to move from public pressure towards more punitive measures.
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