Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the only foreign leader he can recall who has forcibly interfered in a foreign policy debate in Washington, US President Barack Obama said in an interview aired Sunday.Obama spoke about Netanyahu in an interview he gave to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that was taped Thursday, but aired in full Sunday night.
In a clip released ahead of the airing, Zakaria asked Obama about Netanyahu’s stiff opposition to the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program reached between Tehran and the six world powers – the US, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany. Congress is expected to vote on the deal by September 17. Netanyahu has mounted a public campaign against the deal which he believes is a historic mistake because it legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program and leaves it with the ability to produce atomic weapons.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has injected himself forcefully into this debate on American foreign policy in Washington. Can you recall a time when a foreign head of government has done that. Is it appropriate for a foreign head of government to inject himself into an American debate,” Zakaria asked. Obama responded, “I do not recall a similar example.” While he might not have been publicly insulted the way George Bush Jr. was by Ehud Olmert, President Obama must be well aware of Mr Netanyahu’s persistent defiance of his repeated pleas to Tel Aviv to stop settlement activity.In his June 4, 2009 speech to the Muslim world, the president had called for a total halt to new settlements and an end to the expansion of the existing ones. Israel treated his call with contempt and has since then continued to do both. Then on one of his visits to the US, Mr Netanyahu used what for American Congress and executive is a potent weapon — the America Israel Public Affairs Committee. Standing on American soil he told the AIPAC that he categorically rejected a halt to settlement activity and said, “Jerusalem is not a settlement”. Congress also cheered him and, according to NYT’s Thomas Friedman, the standing ovations he received were “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.” It is too early to say who will get the Democratic ticket, but from his party’s point of view, President Obama has done two wrongs — he is the man responsible for the Iran deal and he has publicly accused an Israeli prime minister of interfering in American affairs.
pk.shafaqna.com
