Netanyahu in Europe: More “Tough Love” from “Friends”

[Analysis] Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wrapped up his European trip on Thursday after hearing two leaders known for their sympathies toward Israel criticize Netanyahu’s policy of building on land acquired in the 1967 war. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday and French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday offered comparable admonitions to Netanyahu, each prefacing the criticism with a statement of friendship. Nevertheless, the most notable feature of the Netanyahu trip was what did not happen: a planned meeting with American Mideast envoy George Mitchell. Despite Israeli efforts to take responsibility for cancelling the meeting, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem and Washington believe the abrupt change of plan was a shot across Netanyahu’s bow in the form of a message upholding that there is no point in Mitchell meeting him until the building stops. Netanyahu, though, has not been dissuaded from making his case to the American administration and is said to be hopeful that a compromise can be reached that will allow an exception of “natural growth” to the building freeze. Netanyahu has dispatched his defense minister, Ehud Barak, to Washington to do damage control following the Mitchell debacle.