Reuters reports that Netanyahu lobbied world leaders ahead of the release of a potentially damning report on the stagnant Mideast peace process, which led to the use of softer language to criticize Israel.
Friday’s report by the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers (the US, UN, EU and Russia) had been set to strongly condemn Israel for what Reuters calls “consistent violation of international law.” But Netanyahu swung into action, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini ahead of the report’s publication.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 7, 2016. (AFP Photo/Pool/Maxim Shipenkov)
In the end, the report, which Reuters calls “mild in the extreme,” outlined three major areas of concern — Israel’s ongoing settlement construction, the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Palestinian incitement.
“There’s just no appetite to go toe-to-toe with Israel and deliver a really harsh indictment,” the report quotes a European ambassador as saying. “No one sees the upside to it.”
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