Revealed: Who is calling the tune

As much as the so-called Israel Lobby denies it and US foreign policy is so much one-sided toward Israel, let the words of no lesser a person than Israeli PM Olmert himself tell us who decided how the US ought to vote in the UN on a resolution for a ceasefire in the current conflict.

The LA Times reports - and significantly Washington has not denied what Olmert has claimed:

"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert boasted Monday that he successfully pressured President Bush last week to reverse course on U.S. diplomacy over fighting in Gaza, in an episode that could sharpen tensions between the close allies at a sensitive moment.

Speaking to an audience in Ashkelon, Israel, Olmert said he had called Bush last Thursday and convinced him that the United States should not vote for a pending U.N. Security Council resolution urging a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Olmert said Bush's agreement "embarrassed" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice because the resolution was one that she had "cooked up, she organized, she formulated, she maneuvered," according to comments reported by Israel Radio.

"And she was left pretty embarrassed, abstaining on a draft resolution she organized herself," Olmert added".

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