You would think that after his party’s ugly platform vote on the floor of the DNC convention Obama would at least try to show he was sincere in his support of Israel by having a meeting requested by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. But no…
The White House’s response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama, underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting Obama.
The White House declined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request on Tuesday to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during a UN conference in New York at the end of the month.
An official in Jerusalem said that the prime minister’s office sent the White House a message stating that although Netanyahu will spend only two and a half days on U.S. soil, he is interested in meeting Obama and is willing to travel to the U.S. capital specifically for that purpose. The official added that the White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama’s schedule does not allow for a meeting.
The White House’s response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama, underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting the president.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to ease the tension on Tuesday, saying that the differences between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out “but behind closed doors.”
“We must not forget that the U.S. is Israel’s most important source of support in terms of security,” he said in a statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu launched an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government over its stance on the Iranian nuclear program.
“The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday.
“Now if Iran knows that there is no red line. If Iran knows that there is no deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs,” he said.
U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland stressed again on Tuesday that the U.S. administration doesn’t see public discussion of Iranian nuclear program and red lines as useful. “We don’t think it’s particularly useful to have those conversations in public. It doesn’t help the process and it doesn’t help the integrity of the diplomacy. To be standing here at the podium parsing the details of the Iranian nuclear program is not helpful to getting where we want to go,” she said, briefing the media.
[…]
Did you know that the Obama administration has aided Egypt in purchasing U-boats from Germany?
President Barack Obama’s deputies are negotiating a $1 billion aid package with Egypt’s new Islamist government, even as Egypt’s cash-strapped military revealed that it is trying to buy $1 billion worth of German submarines that could threaten Israel’s fast-growing offshore energy projects.
The German government has pointedly declined to deny the incendiary revelation about Egypt’s request to buy the two submarines.
Instead, the German government offered vague support for Israel, which is facing renewed threats from Iran’s nuclear program and the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt.
“There has been no change in the German government’s position towards Israel, in the commitment the German government feels towards Israel’s security,” a spokesman for Germany’s chancellor told Der Speigel, a major German newspaper.
State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland did not respond to an inquiry by The Daily Caller.
The submarine purchase will likely be an issue in the U.S. election, because both parties are vying for support from a relatively large concentration of swing-voting Jewish Americans in Florida.
And not to be left out, the U.N. has scheduled Iranian president, (and the world’s top Israel-hater), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address to the United Nations in two weeks on one of Israel’s holiest days, Yom Kippur.
I beg to differ with the “German spokeperson”. Anyhow, I see two less submarines in Egypt’s future should they mess with Israel.
Bibi does what he can, but the plain and incontestable fact is that his disapproval rating at home is near about 60%. His spat with Obama is being mocked in the Israeli press. Netanyahu (as of August 22, 2012, anyway) is actually less popular in Israel than Obama is in America, if you can believe it. Bibi’s disapproval rating is higher than Obama’s, and his approval rating is less:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/category/netanyahu_approval
I suppose an Israeli military strike on Iran would help Netanyahu’s popularity (given that people tend to support their leaders in times of war), but ironically an Israeli strike would probably help Obama (for the same reason). Which is something Netanyahu perhaps does not want. So what will he do? Interesting times indeed.
Look, as long as Obama lets Bibi use metal cutlery in his presence, it’s OK. But seriously, you gotta love the photo: a real statesman next to a petulant, preening, posturing prick. And yes, the PPPP would do the same thing to Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher or, of course, Winston Churchill, even though he’s so far beneath them he might as well be an earthworm. Like my mother would say, “El tipo está MUY equivocado” (but you have to be Cuban to get the real gist of that).