(Photo: AFP, Amit Shabi)
Senior U.S. official tells Ynet Biden administration ‘exhausted’ from chasing the almost-daily controversies unfolding in Israel like a ‘rabbit in a hole’ as patience with Israel’s hardline government is wearing thin
The U.S. State Department summoned Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog overnight Wednesday in a rare move to protest the “outrageous” passage of an amendment to the Disengagement Law by the Knesset that will allow Israelis to return to evacuated settlements in the northern West Bank.
According to the State Department, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman conveyed at the meeting Washington’s concern over the legislation and called to avoid actions that could increase tensions before the upcoming holidays — referring to the holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan which overlap this year.
A senior U.S. official told Ynet that Washington was very upset with the “outrageous” move and what he deemed its hasty passage. He added that the Biden administration was “exhausted” from ‘chasing’ the almost-daily controversies unfolding in Israel like a “rabbit in a hole”.
Summoning the Israeli envoy signals that the Americans’ patience with Israel’s hardline government is wearing thin with each new crisis — from home demolitions in East Jerusalem, through new settlement construction, to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s provocative statements calling to “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Huwara and claiming “there is no such thing” as a Palestinian people next to a flag showing a “Greater Israel” which incorporated the territory of Jordan.
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