While Obama may be giving himself an out if the Durbanites were to change their statements I don’t believe that anyone thinks that can happen. As Bayefsky states, the whole purpose of Durban II is to demonize Israel. They won’t be changing the tenor of their statement just because the US demands it.

A few days ago the question was whether it was OK for the US to engage by attending these preparatory meetings. Now the question is whether the EU will also boycott the conference and if it does what effect that will have. I haven’t seen any other question of what the administration’s statement means except for this Bayefsky piece.

At this point I believe that the US won’t attend. If that were to change, without a fundamental change of the tenor of the meeting, O would definitely loose credibility, not only in Israel and among Jews.