Kerry Steamed

++From the people who called Bibi "chickenshit" comes a flood of reactions from John Kerry on the Bibi ploy. Kerry is said to be livid. The reason is quite simple--Bibi asked Kerry to conduct phone diplomacy over the Security Council vote to recognize Palestine. Kerry claims he made several dozen calls to stop the vote from succeeding. That's what the State Department meant "They thought they had seen everything from Netanyahu".

++The Prime Minister's office was in full damage control by saying it was a bipartisan invitation. Not so fast,Democrats on the Hill say that no one had been notified about the invitation. The White House felt sideswiped because the procedure is that a head of state gives notice about an impending trip. It's for the obvious reason that the Secret Service has to arrange their assignments in advance and clear air traffic for the arrival and departures.

++The Israeli press is having a field day with this. It seems today Josh Marshall at Talkingpoints will be doing the tag team blogging on this flap. Josh is reporting that American Jewish groups are weighing in criticizing Bibi's move, an unusual occurrence.

++Meanwhile in France, the French Jewish Councils are lambasting Bibi's call for French Jews to move to Israel. The French Jewish Community pointedly said they were not in diaspora,"We've been French for a thousand years." They said they wished Bibi would stop this appeal whenever he appears in Europe.

++This whole episode reminds me of some of Omar Torrijos stunts when he was President of Panama. He would appear like Zelig at moments when another Latin American President was speaking and put his hands over the other leaders' eyes and say "Guess Who?" One time during a meeting of Socialist International leaders,there was a cocktail party of the heads of state around a swimming pool. Omar just plunged into the pool fully clothed. Maybe Bibi could do something like that.

++I am sure we have not heard the last of this. Josh Ernst, the spokesman for President Obama, said they would be reviewing Bibi's remarks with him before he comes.