US President Barack Obama dispatched his deputy Joe Biden on an official visit to Jerusalem in March 2010, hoping to achieve a breakthrough in the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. A few months earlier, Israel had declared a freeze on construction in West Bank settlements, but negotiations were stalled. Biden, considered a veteran and proven Israel supporter, was supposed to nudge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a series of goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians in order to cajole them back to the table.

As the visit began, Biden stopped for a solemn tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, a customary stop for all official state guests. At the same time, the district planning commission announced approval for the construction of some 1,600 housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem. Although Jerusalem had not been included in the settlement freeze, the timing of the announcement even as Biden was bowing his head in memory of 6 million murdered Jews was perceived as a punch in his face.

The Americans were furious. Obama, according to his aides, “was the angriest we have ever seen him,” a senior White House official said. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recommended cutting short Biden’s visit and recalling him to Washington at once. Obama was undecided. The phone lines at the White House, State Department and Biden’s Jerusalem hotel suite were sizzling. Eventually, it was decided that the visit would continue, but Biden was two hours late for a festive dinner at the prime minister’s residence. The next day, on a visit to Ramallah, Biden told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the delay had been deliberate.

Following that humiliating incident, the already troubled relations between Netanyahu and Obama deteriorated into a deep crisis, with Clinton reading Netanyahu the riot act in a phone call that lasted for over 40 minutes over the incident. The Americans presented Netanyahu with a series of ultimatums, warning that unless they were met, the United States would take “unprecedented” steps against him. Essentially, Netanyahu won. He failed to accede to most of the demands, sending his people to negotiate with the Americans, and did what he does best — he launched a war of attrition. The crisis ended without any significant sanctions against Israel, and Netanyahu laughed last and best. This coming January, he could find Biden having the last laugh.