New White House Chief of Staff sparred with Netanyahu in '98
As Commerce Secretary in the Clinton administration, new White House Chief of Staff William Daley sparred with then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Commerce Secretary Daley sparked a tense exchange of words in 1998, when he answered a question after a speech at the Brookings Institution by suggesting that Netanyahu -- the prime minister at the time -- was less interested in peace than his people, and that an election could fix that.Hmmm.
"Every poll we've seen, every poll that has been reported about the people of Israel are overwhelmingly in favor of the peace process moving forward," he said. [G]enerally governments end up reflecting their people. It may take some elections to do that but that generally happens. ...And hopefully that the people of Israel, again, who overwhelmingly are supportive of peace will make their voices heard a little louder to the political establishment."
Netanyahu fired back at the time, demanding an apology.
" I don’t know whether he said the things that he hinted at or called for changes in the Israeli government. If he said these things, they’re grave remarks which are unacceptable to us," he said. "If these things were indeed said, I expect an apology and unequivocal correction of the comments."
Of course, it was little secret that Clinton did want to get rid of Netanyahu, and his political team would help do it. The Obama Administration has resisted the temptation to interfere with Israel's domestic politics -- some Americans grumble that the Israelis play American politics and we don't play theirs -- but Daley obviously isn't allergic to the idea.
Labels: Bill Clinton, Binyamin Netanyahu, William Daley
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:23 AM
2 Comments:
"The Obama Administration has resisted the temptation to interfere with Israel's domestic politics"
So what was the Jerusalem 'settlement' fiasco with Biden all about?
Isn't Obama attempting to weaken Bibi with the help of (Ehud) Barak?
How about funding to organisations that tell Noam Shalit to protest outside of Bibi's residence, rather than the offices of the Red Cross in Geneva?
yeah yeah yeah the peace process. Like processed cheese it's no cheese and all process. Except now even the process has ground to a halt. Brilliant idea rescuing Arafat and cronies from exile, so far that's really worked out. Oh, there's this bitter broken down pit bull sulking down at the local dump. I know, we'll put him up in the spare bedroom!
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