Olmert: I Made Condi Abstain on Gaza Vote

Israel PM claims he 'embarrassed' Rice in urgent call to Bush
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2009 9:25 AM CST
Olmert: I Made Condi Abstain on Gaza Vote
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice abstains as Vietnamese representative Le Luong Minh votes for the resolution during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, Jan. 8, 2009.   (AP Photo)

Israel’s prime minister says an urgent call to President Bush last week resulted in Condoleezza Rice changing her vote on a UN Gaza resolution, the New York Times reports, with Ehud Olmert adding that the secretary of State “was left pretty embarrassed.” Rice helped draft the measure urging peace, which passed 14-0 with the US abstaining; a State spokesman said that was always the plan.

Olmert told the story in a speech yesterday, reports the AP. “I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone.’ They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care.” Rice later said she abstained in light of Egyptian-French peace efforts. The White House said today that Olmert's account is “inaccurate,” Reuters adds. (More Condoleezza Rice stories.)

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