So, you can say, “oh golly, we NEED the Europeans. We NEED the Americans. We NEED the…..whoever”. Or, you can say “you know what? They’re going to hate our guts no matter what we do, so let’s just go out and do what we need to in the best way possible and get on with our lives.

When you draw your breath again, try to imagine how much leverage a country with a population smaller than Los Angeles actually has without the support of its friends.

The current administration has done everything it can to weaken that friendship. Regarding your worries that they will no longer take our side – they have already abandoned Israel in several international fora.

Years of Oslo cravenness have led left-wingers to think that they can pressure Israel and it will fold.

I know it makes some Jews jittery, but the only way to assert sovereignty is to simply ignore that pressure.

Dude, it’s not like Netanyahu blew smoke into Biden’s face and laughed, “Hey, you old monkey, know what? We’re building 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem. Just decided it today. Whatcha say about that, motherfucker!”. Instead it was a routine announcement about building homes in a fairly uncontroversial area. They just didn’t know how deep they were supposed to shove their heads into Biden’s ass to keep him from having one of his fits.

Anyway, irrelevant incident altogether.

What is wrong with this picture is that those of you defending what even the people who did this are not defending is that you’re now attacking the US which is a close ally and friend of Israel’s in order to justify this folly of an announcement.

The US is Israel’s friend and ally, folks. This is no way to treat a friend.

Um, they could also have avoided it by simply not doing it. Instead they could have made clear that it’s not Mr Biden’s or Mr Ban’s business if Israel allows its citizens to build houses on its own territory.

They are just kissing the Master’s feet because they don’t want to get kicked. After all, they are still America’s humble dhimmis.

And without a doubt absolutely nothing’s wrong with allowing Jews to build houses in a Jewish area in Jerusalem. Joe Biden is just another Jimmy Carter.

Obama deserves it anyway. Ever since he was elected, he’s done everything he possibly can to gratuitously insult Israel at every opportunity while cravenly kowtowing to the Muslims while they laugh in his face.

Israel needs to show everyone it is serious about not giving up Jerusalem. Obama’s contempt for Israel and Jewish rights is obvious and palpable, and has gone out of his way to tell Israel they will have to do what he says and agree to the redivision of the city. His arrogance and chutzpah towards Israel and the Jews is just too much to bear.

Israel is telling him to stuff it. Good for them.

You don’t need to convince me about the unfairness of the Goldstone Report. However, there is no reason for Israel to avoid an independent inquiry and it is a strategic error on the part of Israel not to comply. I have written the same points that you raise about the world ignoring far more grave evils while holding Israel responsible. However, whether we like it or not, the Report exists and Israel WILL pay a price if it doesn’t play along.

I also don’t have a problem with conducting a hit against a Hamas operative. I have a problem with the use of real names of Israelis who have dual citizenships since their names are now linked to this killing. I also have to say that, whether you like it or not, the use of passports from countries such as Ireland, England and France, probably influenced the decision today at the EU parliament which passed a resolution accepting the Goldstone Report and demanding that Israel comply with its recommendations.

Israel needs the West.

I agree that Bibi was probably blindsided by this announcement, because making his point by embarassing the Americans isn’t his style. But Israel must continue to build in Jerusalem to develop the city and attract new residents. It’s Israel’s capitol and it’s an amazing chutzpa for anyone to assume that diplomatic niceties should stop new projects in the nation’s capitol.

Speaking of chutzpa…..Jewlicious thinks that Israel should kowtow to Goldstone’s report? Name me one other country in the world which has launched a defensive military action (I hope that Jewlicious agrees that protecting unarmed civilians in Sderot from unrelenting rocket attacks counts as a defensive action)and has weathered the type of criticism that israel has, much less had an official inquiry from the U.N. Has anyone so much as blinked at civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Was there even a discussion about Russia’s invasion of Georgia, a nasty little war (defensive? Ha!) that left hundreds dead, wounded and maimed and thousands homeless. Burma? China/Tibet? And Jewlicious is all bent out of shape because Israel didn’t grovel and launch an investigation to give Goldstone’s report any credibility?

And as for the whining about the passports…assuming that it was the Mossad….if American could have prevented 9/11, or Spain could have prevented the Madrid bombimgs, or London could have prevented the London Tube attacks by neutralizing the terrorists, do you really believe that they should have refrained if it meant using false passports? Whoever assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh killed a man who was responsible for deaths of many innocent people and had the interest, ability and desire to continue. Assassinating him put a major terrorist out of commission. England, Ireland and Australia should have been honored that their country’s passports were used to save so many lives. Any one of them would have done the same thing if their national interest was at stake.

But it wasn’t calculated.

Biden kept them waiting for 1.5 hours. That’s how bush-league this whole thing was. Talk about giving up any goodwill they might have had.

Amazing what Bibi-phobes will believe.

Let’s try it this way:
This is another version of the good-cop/bad-cop routine that Bibi has used repeatedly to rope-a-dope the Obama White House.

The Alinskyites of the Obama administration are itching to demonize Bibi – the only right-wing Israeli with name recognition in the US. Such demonization would also have potentially divisive/neutralizing impact on “the Jewish lobby” in the US.

To frustrate this, Bibi has consistently feinted left – repeatedly stating his willingness to talk, issuing the 10 month settlement freeze – with other members of the coalition acting as “Bad Cop” (Boogie Ya’alon, Liberman, the settlers).

Then Bibi shrugs and says his hands are tied.

(This act also has salutary effects within Israel, but that’s not the focus here.)

This is how Bibi got Hilary to back off the attempted linkage between the Piece Process and action on Iran.

Bibi and Liberman know exactly how weak Biden and The Big O are just now.

It’s unlikely that this was uncalculated.