Israel's Allies In Congress Also Cave In To Rice (Updated)

Despite Abbas' tendency to say what he means when he speaks in Arabic, bragging about his terrorist past and redefining the concept of 'recognizing Israel' far below any requirement of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state--the freeze on funds earmarked for Abbas has been removed.

Condoleezza Rice's cajoling apparently works on Congress as well as it does on Israel:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice managed to avoid strife during her appearance before the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs today to explain President Bush's 2009 foreign aid budget – her last scheduled appearance as the nation's top diplomat.

Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, agreed to lift her objection to granting $100 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority, responding to Rice's assurances that the Palestinian leadership is committed to peace with Israel.

Lowey and other members of Congress froze $150 million of economic assistance to the Palestinians last week, as fighting worsened between Israel and Hamas, and after a gunman killed eight students in a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem.

Despite the fact that the one behind the Yeshiva massacre was a member of Abbas' Fatah.

Rices's power of persuasion is amazing--too bad it does not seem to work on Arabs.

UPDATE: Apparently Rice has been doing some caving of her own:

EGYPTIAN FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit couldn't conceal his smug satisfaction as he stood next to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a news conference in Cairo last week. In the past, Mr. Aboul Gheit fumed in such situations as Ms. Rice spoke out about the need for Egypt to move toward democracy or criticized the unjust imprisonment of liberal reformers such as Ayman Nour. Now he watched as, at the prompting of an Egyptian state television reporter, Ms. Rice acknowledged that the Bush administration had quietly waived a congressional hold on $100 million in military aid to Egypt.

The government of Hosni Mubarak hasn't come close to meeting the conditions Congress attached to the money, which are that it protect the independence of the judiciary, stop police abuses and curtail arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.

Notice a patter?

Tehnorati Tag: Israel.