The Philadelphia Jewish Voice September 2005 > Rice

Sweet and Sour Rice

In his Aug. 4 column in The New York Daily News, Sidney Zion reported how Rice was at her most obnoxious in late July when she ordered Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to deliver major arms to the Palestinian Authority. "Tomorrow afternoon," she told him. When Mofaz replied that he would need cabinet approval, she reportedly said, "Then I'll give you two days." Mofaz: countered "I'm the minister of defense. I have other things to deal with." And she said "I'm the secretary of state, and I'm telling you this is important."

According to Zion, this exchange was reported in Ma'ariv, an Israeli daily.

The Times subsequently reported, quoting Israeli officials, that Rice treated meetings with Mofaz and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom as her meetings, took control of the agenda and even announced when meetings would end.

- Bruce Ticker

Postscript: On Wednesday, August 18, Condoleezza Rice took her contempt for Israel to a new level. Instead of congratulating Israel for its commitment to peace through its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, she demeaned Israel's efforts as insufficient. While she said that she feels for those settlers being evacuated, she said "It cannot be Gaza only".

She said she expected further steps in short order towards the creation of a Palestinian state including removing travel restrictions in the "West Bank" and withdrawing from more Palestinian areas.

- Dan Loeb, publisher