This is . . . sad.\u00a0 Just sad.<\/p>\n
The POTUS arrived in Israel yesterday for his first state visit to that nation.\u00a0 He and the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, planted a US magnolia tree as part of the arrival ceremony.<\/p>\n
Accounts vary on what happened later.\u00a0 According to Israeli accounts, the tree was dug up later that day<\/em>.\u00a0 A White House spokesman denied this, saying that the tree’s roots were “wrapped in plastic mesh”.\u00a0 My guess is that both are correct – e.g., the tree was unearthed, then plastic-wrapped and put back in place.<\/p>\n Why?\u00a0 Well, it seems any plants brought from abroad require a check by the Israeli Agricultural Ministry before they can be planted in Israel.\u00a0 And it also appears that the POTUS\u2019s staff was made aware of that fact beforehand by officials in the Israeli government, but elected not to send the tree ahead of time to allow inspection.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not joking<\/a>.\u00a0 See the entry for 19:54 yesterday in the article.<\/p>\n I mean, really.\u00a0 For crying out loud:\u00a0 the state where the POTUS grew up<\/i> (Hawaii) has some pretty strict quarantine requirements.\u00a0 The US has pretty stiff restrictions on foreign plants and agricultural products entering the US, too.\u00a0 So figuring out that import restrictions on plants might exist in other countries shouldn’t exactly be rocket science.<\/p>\n (sigh)\u00a0 First they don\u2019t plan ahead regarding the POTUS\u2019s food “taster”<\/a> at a recent Capitol Hill luncheon. Here, they didn\u2019t bother perform the due diligence necessary to prevent a major international faux pas<\/em> (or simply didn’t care).\u00a0 Suppose the Israelis had told the POTUS at the ceremony, “Um, no . . . you can’t plant that; it goes to quarantine first”?<\/p>\n What’s next?\u00a0 Are they going to forget to tell British authorities ahead of time that they’re coming and just show up at Buckingham Palace’s front door one evening expecting to see the Queen?<\/p>\n