Israel P.R. Screwup

Here we are, a week after Israel announced they approved building 1600 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem while Vice President Biden was visiting.

At first there was a sense of national pride. People in Israel felt good that they weren't anyone's friers (suckers). They showed those Americans. They stuck it to 'em.

And then the back-draft started. Israelis got a whiff of what pissing in the wind smells like when the white house began using the words like embarrassment and crisis. So the rationalizing and excuse making started: "it was just a technical error, no harm no foul."

And this is Israel's essential pr problem. They don't stick to a plan. Israel and her diplomats and academicians are regularly embarrassed and insulted. And what does Israel do? they issue pr that they invented the cherry tomato. Israel flip flops so often they end up looking like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. Pick a position and stick to it. And make it a position of power and danger. Would the white house declare it a crisis if china wiped out a village during a visit from a dignitary? When President Obama stated that he would meet with the Dali Lama China declared itself a victim and that this action would harm relations.

Israel is too needy to deal from a position of strength. And people make arguments of supposed facts and righteous behavior and expect that the world will care. The world cares about power, not field medical units.

So instead of either not making a declaration during a visit by the vice president, or making a declaration and sticking to it and declaring it an internal issue and not open to conversation, Israel has now suspended plans for building the units and begins a new round of negotiations from a position of weakness. 

Here's a life lesson: Don't tug on superman's cape.