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“Nice legs,” hence the love affair?

Whatever you say about Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it is rare that he makes a faux pas in front of the media. However, there was one memorable, or even infamous, exception. Just ahead of her appointment as National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice paid a visit to Israel. After meeting her, Sharon was asked by the hacks what he thought of his guest. “She has nice legs,” came the reported reply.

Ever since Rice has been barraged by Israeli VIPs requesting audiences.

Sharon’s bureau chief and confidante Dov Weisglass has just returned from Washington, where he held talks with Ms. Rice. She is understood to have insisted that Israel end the siege of Yassir Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters.

Tomorrow, Israel’s embattled Finance Minister (they always are) Sylvan Shalom, will be in DC for a tete a tete with, yes, you have guessed it, the clearly attractive Condoleezza.

Obviously Israeli politicians and diplomats seek to avoid the dowdy General Powell when in the US, after all he clearly has legs more to the liking of the Arab world.

The president’s legs are out of reach for all Israelis other than Sharon, with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres allowed the occasional glimpse.

Now, Israeli policymakers should clearly be impressed by vice-President Cheney’s calves and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s shins, but rare is the moment we hear a report of a top level viewing granted to Israeli deputy-Prime Minister Natan Sharansky or Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

Joking apart, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice are all of the same school when it comes to all matters Middle Eastern. Yet it seems as though Ms. Rice is the immediate target of all Jerusalem. Legs or brains, the message is clearly out here in Israel, Ms. Rice is the natural first choice when seeking advice or trying to change US foreign policy.

Why?