Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer is attempting to undo the damage, but it appears to be a lost cause. Israel\'s largest daily, Yediot Acharonot, reported today that Ben-Eliezer quoted U.S. Vice President Cheney as saying, \"As far as I\'m concerned, you can hang Arafat.\" American spokesmen strenuously denied any such thing. Ben-Eliezer was also reported to have said that Cheney was “very extremist on this matter, much more than me...\" Ben-Eliezer said today, \"There is no doubt that I am very very sorry about this misunderstanding and this story, and for sure the Americans who know me for so long will understand that there was simply a sad misunderstanding here.\"
Yossi Ben-Aharon, former Director-General of Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir\'s office and a man with much experience in Israeli-U.S. relations, told Arutz-7 today, \"I cannot remember in all my years in this area a similar fiasco. It is just not acceptable for a politician to run and tell everything that he heard in these private meetings, which are very important to Israel\'s relations with the U.S... I believe that it will be a long time before the Americans will be able to work with Ben-Eliezer and trust him...\"
Yossi Ben-Aharon, former Director-General of Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir\'s office and a man with much experience in Israeli-U.S. relations, told Arutz-7 today, \"I cannot remember in all my years in this area a similar fiasco. It is just not acceptable for a politician to run and tell everything that he heard in these private meetings, which are very important to Israel\'s relations with the U.S... I believe that it will be a long time before the Americans will be able to work with Ben-Eliezer and trust him...\"