Bush Personally Redirected SecState Rice To Support Israel

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday referred to the US decision to abstain from Thursday’s UN Security Council  resolution vote calling for a Gaza cease-fire, saying U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “was left quite embarrassed, not voting for a resolution that she herself had prepared and organized.”

Jerusalem Post

 
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem January 11, 2009.(David Silverman/Pool/Reuters)

Speaking in Ashkelon, Olmert took pride in demonstrating his close relations with US President George W. Bush and his great support for Israel when he recounted how he urged the US president to intervene.

“Early Friday morning [Israel time], [we knew that] the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn’t want her to vote for it. Suddenly, within ten minutes it became clear that, the vote was going ahead.

“I [called the White House and] said, ‘Get President Bush on the phone.’ They tried, and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said, ‘I’m not interested, I need to speak to him now.’ He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call. I told him that the US cannot possibly vote in favor of this resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote for it. She was left quite embarrassed.”

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