Report: Obama Says “Israel” Doesn’t Know Own Best Interests

Local Editor

Influential US columnist Jeffrey Goldberg quoted US president saying in private conversations that Netanyahu leading "Israel" down a path toward near-total isolation by advancing settlement plans.
"US President Barack Obama has stated repeatedly in private conversations that "Israel" doesn't know what its own best interests are, in reaction to Jerusalem's advancement of new settlement plans," influential American columnist reported on Tuesday.

Following the November 29 UN vote to upgrade the Palestinians to non-member observer state status, "Israel" announced that 3,000 housing units would be built in areas beyond the Green Line, and zoning and planning for thousands of other units throughout Judea and Samaria would be authorized, including in the controversial project between al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Ma'aleh Adumim settlement called E1.

In his weekly Bloomberg column published on Tuesday, Goldberg wrote "When informed about the "Israeli" decision, Obama, who has a famously contentious relationship with the prime minister, didn't even bother getting angry. He told several people that this sort of behaviour on Netanyahu's part is what he has come to expect, and he suggested that he has become inured to what he sees as self-defeating policies of his "Israeli" counterpart."

The White House publicly criticized the E1 building plans immediately after they were announced in late November, stating that "these actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve a two-state solution."

"On matters related to the Palestinians, the president seems to view the prime minister as a political coward, an essentially unchallenged leader who nevertheless is unwilling to lead or spend political capital to advance the cause of compromise," Goldberg wrote.

Source: JPost, edited by moqawama.org