As the Israeli PM continues his US visit on Tuesday,an anthropologist dissects the body language of his meeting with President Obama and finds an honest attempt to mend fencesAs an anthropologist, I interpret human conversations from a wide angle that includes millions of years of primate evolution, or from inchoate animal ancestors to contemporary-day world leaders. What I saw in Monday’s televised face-to-face meeting between Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US president Barack Obama was a page out of Primate Politics 101.
During the handshakes,Obama leaned backward from Netanyahu, suggesting an undercurrent of disagreement. Meanwhile, and Netanyahu leaned forward,indicating the wish to “please understand my plea”. The president’s aforementioned backward lean telegraphed a bit of stiffened opposition from the beginning.
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Source: theguardian.com