Rick Richman found a two month taped interview with Charlie Rose. It demonstrates just how flimsy the excuse the Obama administration is using as an excuse for a full frontal attack on Israel.

GEORGE MITCHELL: … So what we got was a moratorium, ten months, far less than what was requested, but more significant than any action taken by any previous government of Israel for the 40 years that settlement enterprise has existed. …

CHARLIE ROSE: And you and Secretary Clinton praised Prime Minister Netanyahu for agreeing to that.

MITCHELL: Yes.

ROSE: It does not include East Jerusalem. There’ve been announcement in the last 48 hours of new settlement construction in East Jerusalem where the Palestinians want to make their capital.

MITCHELL: Yes.

ROSE: And it’s in the midst of Palestinians.

MITCHELL: … But for the Israelis, what they’re building in is in part of Israel.

Now, the others don’t see it that way. So you have these widely divergent perspectives on the subject. Our view is let’s get into negotiations. Let’s deal with the issues and come up with the solution to all of them including Jerusalem which will be exceedingly difficult but, in my judgment, possible.

The Israelis are not going to stop settlements in, or construction in East Jerusalem. They don’t regard that as a settlement because they think it’s part of Israel. …

ROSE: So you’re going to let them go ahead even though no one recognizes the annexation?

MITCHELL: You say “Let them go ahead.” It’s what they regard as their country. They don’t say they’re letting us go ahead when we build in Manhattan.

Please do not believe he is beating up on Israel in order to garner Arab support for taking on Iran. The opposite is true. The Sunni Arab states first priority is stopping a nuclear Shia Iran, a preoccupation Obama administration's mouth piece, Tom Friedman, characterizes as"obsessive." Indeed, nothing would delight the Arabs more than Israel taking out Iran's nuclear weapons. Israel is used as a scapegoat to atone for doing nothing nothing about Iran.

The most ridiculous aspect of this policy is that it is self defeating. As the Russians have more pull in Iran, Arab states have a good reason to down grade their relations with the US in favor of Russia.