The Obama administration's attempts at seducing Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are getting embarrassing. Netanyahu has made it very clear he is not interested. According to Ha'aretz, the latest (and most cringe-worthy) moment in the saga came this week when Dennis Ross, the president's top adviser on Israel-Palestinian issues, convinced Obama that Israel would only agree to an extension of the settlements freeze if Obama would "come off as friendlier" to Bibi. So Ross and his aides (working with the Israelis) drafted a letter to Netanyahu in which the US would give Israel everything it could possibly want in exchange for a two-month freeze.

After a year of wrangling and arms-twisting, the Palestinians finally agreed to four months of so called "proximity talks" in order to test Netanyahu's intentions. And the result: humiliation. The Israeli announcement of new settlement expansion in East Jerusalem on the eve of the talks was as humiliating to the Palestinian president as it was rude to Joe Biden, the US vice-president, who was visiting the country.