I felt nauseated when I heard that the big gesture by Joe Biden, in response to Israel announcing more settlements on his arrival in Jerusalem, was being late to dinner. Paul Woodward nails it:
The administration either needs to threaten to apply real pressure on the Israeli government, or, if it wants to confine itself to diplomatic gestures then it should do so under the tutelage of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In response to Israel’s latest contemptuous behavior, Biden could — he really could — have turned around and said adiós. He does after all belong to an administration that less than a year ago was advising Netanyahu to complete his “homework” on freezing settlements before it would be worth arranging a meeting.
I don’t think it would take that much by the U.S. government to break the Netanyahu coalition. Why not try? And yes, the U.S. are finally talking about a break in the special relationship; but Chris Matthews and the Washington Post both called East Jerusalem "disputed East Jerusalem." It’s not disputed. It’s annexed, unilaterally, in defiance of international law, the so-called future Palestinian capital.
Oh and here’s Jackson Diehl in the Washington Post saying it’s Biden’s mistake, and Obama doesn’t know how to reassure the Israelis.
