‘It will be hard to trust Netanyahu’ after latest bust-up, US officials reportedly say
It will be hard to trust Netanyahu’ after latest bust-up, US officials reportedly say
In row over PM’s March trip to US, Israeli officials counter that he must speak to Congress on Iran because Obama is ‘worryingly’ ready to compromise
By Times of Israel staff January 23, 2015, 10:19 pm
The public spat between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and US President Barack Obama’s administration escalated further Friday evening, with US officials reportedly charging that it will be “hard to trust” Netanyahu, following the fallout from the announcement Wednesday that the PM would address Congress in two months, a move he failed to coordinate with the White House.
“It will be difficult to trust Netanyahu in the future,” unnamed senior US officials told Channel 2. “At a critical juncture that requires close cooperation on strategic matters, he preferred to advance his political interests while disrupting the correct working relationship” between the two governments. The reference to “strategic matters” was understood to refer to the effort to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons program, an issue on which the Israeli and American governments are deeply divided.
Senior Israeli sources told Channel 2 in response that given “the deep disagreements between Israel and the US” on the Iranian nuclear talks, Netanyahu felt that “he must present his stance even if that doesn’t suit Obama. This is a matter of substance.” The sources charged that the US was proving “worryingly” willing to over-compromise in the nuclear talks and was ready to allow Iran to keep more than 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium.
The Israeli sources further said that the US administration was taking advantage of the Israeli election season to seal a deal with Iran, and that this move must be opposed, Channel 2 reported. The fear in Jerusalem is that a US-led deal with Iran “is weeks away,” the TV report said.
In his address to Congress in early March, the Israeli leader is expected to speak about the nuclear negotiations with Iran, and to urge lawmakers to slap Tehran with a new round of tougher sanctions in order to force it to comply with international demands. The Mossad intelligence service on Thursday went to the rare length of issuing a press statement to deny claims, cited by US Secretary of State Kerry, that its chief Tamir Pardo had told visiting US politicians that he opposed further sanctions.
Haaretz reported that Obama had personally demanded that Netanyahu tone down his pro-sanctions rhetoric in a phone call between the two last week. The president has said a sanctions bill would cripple negotiations with Iranian leaders at a critical stage, and has threatened to veto such a bill should it come through.
Earlier Friday, American officials reportedly told Haaretz that Netanyahu had “spat” in Obama’s face in agreeing to speak to Congress without alerting the White House.
“We thought we’ve seen everything,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise even us.
“There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price,” he said.
Obama and Kerry have already indicated that they will not meet with Netanyahu during his US visit.
The White House officially criticized on Friday the timing of the upcoming address, planned for March 3, just two weeks before Israeli national elections, claiming that the US president does not habitually meet with world leaders before foreign elections.
“I can’t give you a specific time period. I’m not sure there is a big difference between, you know, 28 days or 45 days or 90 days or whatever it is,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest Friday. “I think we can all probably, as reasonable observers of the political process would, conclude that having a meeting about two weeks before a national election might raise questions in some quarters about whether or not that was an attempt to try to interfere and try to influence the outcome of a democratically held election. That is precisely what we are trying to avoid. We are trying to avoid even the appearance of doing so. That’s why the president has decided on this trip that is planned for March, that he will not be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Earlier Friday, officials in Washington said that the “chickenshit” epithet — with which an anonymous administration official branded Netanyahu several months ago — was mild compared to the language used in the White House when news of Netanyahu’s planned speech came in.
The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu’s apparent disrespect for the US leadership was particularly offensive to Kerry, who over the past month had made frenzied efforts on Israel’s behalf on the world stage — making dozens of calls to world leaders to convince them to oppose a UN Security Council resolution which would have set a timeframe for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“The secretary’s patience is not infinite,” a source close to Kerry told the Post. “The bilateral relationship is unshakable. But playing politics with that relationship could blunt Secretary Kerry’s enthusiasm for being Israel’s primary defender.”
Netanyahu will be in Washington in part for a March 3 address to a joint session of Congress. House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress without consulting the Obama administration.
The White House initially reacted icily to Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress, an appearance apparently meant to bolster opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran as it is currently shaping up, as well as opposition to new sanctions against Tehran.
Earnest suggested Wednesday that Netanyahu and Boehner had broken with protocol in not informing Obama of the prime minister’s travel plans.
“We haven’t heard from the Israelis directly about the trip at all,” he said, adding the White House would “reserve judgment” about any possible face-to-face meeting until explanations are made.
“The typical protocol would suggest that the leader of a country would contact the leader of another country when he is traveling there. That is certainly how President Obama’s trips are planned,” explained Earnest.
“So this particular event seems to be a departure from that protocol.”
Speaking several hours after Earnest, Kerry said Netanyahu was welcome to give a speech at “any time” in the United States. But Kerry agreed it had been a “little unusual” to hear about the Israeli leader’s speech to US Congress next month from the office of Boehner and not via the usual diplomatic channels.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House Democrats, said that Boehner blundered when he invited Netanyahu to address Congress amid sensitive negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program and in the shadow of Israel’s elections.
“If that’s the purpose of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit two weeks before his own election, right in the midst of our negotiations, I just don’t think it’s appropriate and helpful,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday at her weekly news conference. The speech, Pelosi suggested, could give Netanyahu a political boost in elections a few weeks later and inflame international talks aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that he would address Congress in early March. He was initially slated to speak on February 11, but changed the date so he could attend the AIPAC conference.
“The Prime Minister is expected to arrive in the US at the beginning of March and will also participate in the AIPAC conference,” read a statement from the PMO. “The speech in front of both houses of Congress will give the prime minister the opportunity to thank President Barack Obama, Congress, and the American people for their support of Israel.
“I look forward to the opportunity to express before the joint session Israel’s vision for a joint effort to deal with [Islamist terrorism and Iran’s nuclear program], and to emphasize Israel’s commitment to the special bond between our two democracies,” Netanyahu said, according to the statement.
Israel and the United States are close allies, but personal relations between Obama and Netanyahu have reportedly deteriorated over the years.
The pair have publicly clashed over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and about how to tackle Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Obama’s allies fear Netanyahu’s March trip could be used by Israel and by Republicans to rally opposition to a nuclear deal, undercutting years of sensitive negotiations just as they appear poised to bear fruit.
In November the already faltering ties between the leaders were served a new blow when an anonymous US official was quoted calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit” in an article published by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in the American magazine The Atlantic. The article portrayed the rift between the United States and Israel as a “full-blown crisis.”
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WarSclerotic 
January 24, 2015 at 12:02 AM
The silver lining to this is that the more Hussein’s cronies bash Bibi, the more seats Likud will win in March.
Hussein and his gang know this, but they just can’t help themselves!
January 24, 2015 at 2:42 AM
Reblogged this on BPI reblog and commented:
‘It will be hard to trust Netanyahu’ after latest bust-up, US officials reportedly say
January 24, 2015 at 3:49 AM
So… Obama’s miffed that Netanyahu didn’t check with him before speaking to Congress?
Obama must think that’s not how flunkys are supposed to act.
So… Netanyahu saw Obama getting ready to stab him in the back with an agreement with Iran that might be a mortal threat to Israel, so Netanyahu got his boot in first.
And what do you think Obama would have said had Netanyahu checked with Obama first, before making arrangements to speak to Congress? Obama would have forbidden it, then Netanyahu would have been silenced and disarmed and dismissed as a cypher, or Netanyahu would have gone ahead anyway and defied the President, and then as much as Obama is spitting and sputtering now he would have been ten times as apoplectic in the face of Netanyahu’s defiance.
I’m sure Netanyahu’s heard the phrase
“It’s better to beg forgiveness, than to ask permission.”
Obama is a thug.
Netanyahu has stood up with courage against the whole world in defense of the citizens of Israel.
January 24, 2015 at 8:44 AM
“And what do you think Obama would have said had Netanyahu checked with Obama first, before making arrangements to speak to Congress? Obama would have forbidden it, then Netanyahu would have been silenced and disarmed and dismissed as a cypher, or Netanyahu would have gone ahead anyway and defied the President, and then as much as Obama is spitting and sputtering now he would have been ten times as apoplectic in the face of Netanyahu’s defiance.”
Patent horse shit. Had dim bulbs Boehner and Bibi followed protocol, Obama would have decided yea or nay on the invitation to speak. If the proposal had been turned down, not even Boehner would be so obtuse as to extend an invitation. Bibi then would have to gain exposure at AIPAC.
But now that the Boehner-Bibi chicken has left the hen house, Bibi can expect payback; perhaps not terribly overt at first, but over the long haul, including after the next U.S. Prez election. As conveniently popular as Bibi appears to be among U.S. Conservatives, they, too, have limits to patience. If Obama has not played a tune to Bibi’s liking, at least Bibi has been in the information loop. Henceforth, he may be culled from that loop, and expect little better from a Republican admin which knows as well as any politician how to interpret, demographics, numbers, and boors.
January 24, 2015 at 3:17 PM
So Buck, in your mind “protocol” trumps constitutional responsibility. Well, John Boehner is the leader of an equal branch of government, he doesn’t need the permission of your Lord and Master, Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him), to speak to anyone – (just wanted to make you feel at home there Buck, see how I did that?).
John Boehner doesn’t need to play Oliver Twist your Obama’s Mr. Bumble. He doesn’t need to go on bended knee to Obama and say “Please sir, may I have some…” before he can get permission to hear from anyone he wants. Boehner especially doesn’t need Obama’s permission when it is so obvious to most Americans that Obama is hostile to the people and interests of the United States and is leading the country down the path to destruction and Boehner, as representative of the people, is only (finally) fulfilling his constitutional responsibility to make the law of the land.
You think Netanyahu is “in the information loop” with Obama, where have you been? Obama is hostile to Israel and has sabotaged Netanyahu repeatedly. It’s obvious that Obama and Buck have a hidden agenda, no not your agenda to follow “protocol”, but the hidden agenda to get rid of Netanyahu and replace him with a lapdog who would follow orders, Obama’s orders, which would be to the benefit of Obama, and to the detriment of Israel.
So your highest objective in life is “demographics, numbers and boors”, playing politics in other words? Well, I’m pretty sure that Netanyahu is concerned with something a little more important to the people of Israel, like the continued existence of Israel and its people, but I’m sure that’s something that you and Obama would just sneer at.
I think Netanyahu has enough examples to go by to see what “following Obama’s orders” leads to. How’s Obama’s orders working out for Gaddafi and the people of Libya? or Morsi and the people of Egypt? Or the people of Iran who tried to rise up against the evil mad dictators of their country in the Iranian Green Movement but who are now suffering and forgotten in Ahmadineiad’s torture chambers?
January 24, 2015 at 3:40 PM
“So Buck, in your mind “protocol” trumps constitutional responsibility. Well, John Boehner is the leader of an equal branch of government, he doesn’t need the permission of your Lord and Master, Barack Hussein Obama”
Well written TY. I had a similar response in mind but yours did quite nicely.
Our friend Buck says, “Conservatives, they, too, have limits to patience”
He’s correct. As a conservative, I too have lost my patience…..with the Obama administration.
January 24, 2015 at 4:10 PM
LS i see it in this way :
John Boehner and a lot more people have concerns about the safety of the USA and are not willing to alienate Israel more their only real and trust worthy ally in the middle east with a bad treaty with iran.( at the end Israel will do what has to be done to protect Israel )
The black hand is heading to a treaty what will not be a treaty if not approved by the government ( a president cab not make a treaty and war on his own, as far as i know ) .
As we say a rat pushed into a corner makes strange jumps.
And it will harm the concretion livini and kerry, obama, they try to influence the democratic election process in the oncoming elections in Israel.
kery and obama do not want to talk to BIBI when he visit, clear, would be bad for livini !
But who cares, the game play is clear as a just cleaned window, you look straight trough it.
PS:
Read this post here https://warsclerotic.wordpress.com/
by Caroline Glick
Iran, Obama, Boehner and Netanyahu
January 24, 2015 at 7:08 PM
That’s a fair assessment Joop.
January 24, 2015 at 3:59 PM
Typo, Mubarak not
Morsi, it’s too early, more coffee…January 24, 2015 at 7:40 AM
The BHO – gang is talking about TRUST ? In any other nation, the illegal BHO – gang would be impeached ! Woe,woe to a nation run by people like the BHO – gang…..especially when going against Israel, this means inviting disaster !
January 24, 2015 at 8:54 AM
And what exactly is illegal about the BHO admin? Kindly share that with the unenlightened masses who read this blog. As for “Woe . . .when going against Israel . . . disaster!”: that smacks of bombast and spittle.
January 28, 2015 at 6:35 AM
Buck – the question should be asked the other way : what is legal about the BHO – gang ? From the beginning (elegibility ) to almost every action today, Mr BHO is taking down the USA very quickly – thats disaster enough. But it could get much worse very quickly : take the subject of NEMP – the BHO gang is begging for someone to do it ….