President Barack Obama\u2019s historic visit to Israel on Wednesday had an embarrassing setback when his armored limousine broke down on the way to the airport.<\/p>\n
The custom General Motors Cadillac limo was relegated to a pick up truck after the driver accidentally put gas (petrol) in… the engine instead of diesel.<\/p>\n
Mr Obama arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon local time, and earlier that morning, the limo that was designated to his hotel was unable to move after the driver made the silly mistake.<\/p>\n
Local news reports alleged that it was the President\u2019s limo that was shipped over specially from Washington that broke down so he was forced to use the second vehicle that they brought over from the U.S.<\/p>\n
Since the car was not able to take him from the airport, thankfully Obama was always scheduled to leave the airport via helicopter in order to avoid passing through the Palestinian checkpoints that interrupt the route from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The United States Secret Service put out a statement about the incident, saying that it was a situation where it pays for them to be prepared.<\/p>\n
On his arrival, Obama and his host, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke of the \u201cunbreakable\u201d bond between their two countries, after the president arrived in Israel on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
During his first state trip to the country, Obama is expected to discuss Iran\u2019s disputed nuclear programme and the crisis in Syria with Israeli leaders.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the president will meet Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, where he can expect a mixed reception.<\/p>\n
Obama was met at Tel Aviv\u2019s airport on Wednesday morning by Netanyahu and Israel\u2019s president, Shimon Peres, a military band and a host of other officials and dignitaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood to see you \u2026 it\u2019s good to get away from Congress,\u201d Obama told Netanyahu, who laughed. Obama told Peres \u201cgood to see you, brother\u201d and after they reviewed an honor guard of troops, the two presidents hugged each other and smiled.<\/p>\n
All three men gave speeches that emphasised the friendship between the U.S. and Israel \u2013 Netanyahu spoke of the \u201cunbreakable alliance,\u201d Obama the \u201cunbreakable bond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama, who began his speech with \u201cshalom,\u201d said he was \u201cconfident in declaring that our alliance is eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States is proud to stand with you as your strongest ally and your greatest friend,\u201d he said.
\nHe said it was not an accident that he had made the first overseas trip of his second term in office to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross this region, the winds of change bring both promise and peril,\u201d Obama said, likely a reference to the Arab Spring uprisings that saw an Islamist president voted into power in Egypt and a civil war erupt in Syria.<\/p>\n
In his speech, Netanyahu thanked Obama for \u201cstanding by Israel at this time of historic change in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deeply appreciate your friendship and we share your hope that the Middle East will enjoy a future of freedom, prosperity and peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Picking up on comments Obama made before the trip expressing the desire to put on a disguise and go to a Tel Aviv bar Netanyahu joked that he had lined up a few locations and \u201ceven picked out a fake mustache for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama will on Tuesday view an \u201cIron Dome\u201d air defense missile launcher, a U.S.-funded system, which has helped protect Israelis from Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza.<\/p>\n
Obama was scheduled to hold formal meetings with Netanyahu later on Wednesday before the pair who have not always seen eye to eye have a private dinner at Netanyahu\u2019s home in the evening.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu is expected to attempt to get Obama to agree to define a \u201cred line\u201d for Iran — the point in its nuclear development at which military action would be taken to stop it from getting an atom bomb. Last week, Peres described Iran as \u201cthe greatest threat to peace in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel also worries that Islamist factions among the rebels fighting Syria\u2019s Bashar Assad could seize control of the buffer zone between the two countries from the United Nations and threaten Israel with chemical weapons and long-range rockets captured from the regime.<\/p>\n
Source: Tribune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Barack Obama\u2019s historic visit to Israel on Wednesday had an embarrassing setback when his armored limousine broke down on the way to the airport. The custom General Motors Cadillac…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n