Biden speech: The reaction

Reactions to Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks Thursday at Tel Aviv University and his overall trip to Israel:

• Nathan Diament, Orthodox Union: "All in all, this was an important visit and, even with (or maybe because of?) the difficulties that occurred while the Vice President was on the ground, it may well have achieved its central purpose of re-assuring Israelis at large of the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship and also the need to nurture it consistently and not take it for granted."
• David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post: "Biden’s speech, while emphatically supportive and friendly, also sounded at times like a get-your-act-together lecture from a frustrated parent to a beloved but occasionally errant child."
• Shmuel Rosner, Jerusalem Post: In the White House and the Biden delegation people wanted to believe Netanyahu’s explanation for the East Jerusalem embarrassment. I get the sense that they do believe him (disregarding the frustrated advise of left wing hacks). But it should also be said that believing Netanyahu doesn’t come naturally for many of them, and this recent event will not make it easier in future similar events. … Netanyahu’s advisers asked that Biden will make it clear that there’s no "crisis" between the governments. It is clear to me that both sides do not want this to become a crisis. Generally speaking, Biden stuck to the initial goal of the visit, and made this speech about reassuring Israelis, about making them more trustful of the Obama administration….
• Laura Rozen, Politico: I reported yesterday that Biden’s speech went through some edits to emphasize steps Israel must take for peace after Israel’s announcement Tuesday that it would approve building 1,600 new Jewish houses in East Jerusalem. But not to change the basic message of the strength of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and the United States’s commitment to Israel’s security. … Biden’s speech appears to have been more "tweaked," rather than totally retrofitted, notes the Orthodox Union’s Nathan Diament, one of the Jewish leaders who was invited to meet with Biden ahead of his trip.
• Daniel Pipes, National Review: The center-left approach is better than the far-left approach but neither has a chance of succeeding. What Israel needs is not hectoring about its residential housing policies but an American ally that encourages it to win its war against the irredentist Palestinians of both Fatah and Hamas.