Israel Matzav

Israel's opposition leader lets the cat out of the bag: Netanyahu 'loathes' Obama

In an interview that was shown on Israel's Channel 2 on Friday night, Labor party and opposition leader Yitzchak Herzog let the cat out of the bag on Friday night. According to Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu 'loathes' US President Barack Hussein Obama. I wonder whether he loathes Herzog more.

Netanyahu and Obama have long been perceived as having a strained relationship, with policy differences emerging over how to stop Iran’s nuclear program, and the prime minister’s expansion of settlements, among other issues. Obama gave an interview which indicated criticism of some of Netanyahu’s key policies just as the prime minister was flying to meet him at the White House in March, and Netanyahu was seen by some in the US as having sought to bolster Mitt Romney’s prospects in the 2012 presidential elections.

But formally Israeli and American leaders have generally insisted that the two work together professionally. Obama took pains to speak of “my friend Bibi,” using the prime minister’s nickname, when he visited Israel last year, and Netanyahu reciprocated by calling him “my friend Barack.” For a figure as prominent as Herzog to use Israel’s most-watched news program to declare that the prime minister loathes the US president was unprecedented.

Sources close to Netanyahu have claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry had promised the prime minister that the US would not work with the new Palestinian government, and had thus breached understandings with Israel. Herzog charged that Netanyahu “does not listen” to the international community, and they don’t listen to him. Under Netanyahu, Israel was now “completely isolated,” he said.

As opposition leader, Herzog receives regular briefings on diplomatic and security issues from Netanyahu and other leading figures. He has been urging relatively dovish members of the governing coalition — notably the Hatnua party led by Tzipi Livni and the centrist Yesh Atid of Yair Lapid — to leave the government and back him. Herzog said Israel needed to negotiate with the Palestinians on the principle of a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with land swaps and “arrangements” to resolve the contested fate of Jerusalem.

When it was suggested to him that Netanyahu was prepared to go along with such ideas, Herzog retorted, “His mistake is that he’s not put a proposal on the table.

I don't think we're completely isolated. Australia is on our side.

But in any event, I'm completely fine with Netanyahu loathing Obama. I loathe Obama too. And I'm not committing suicide for anyone.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Middle East peace process, Yitzchak Herzog

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:13 AM