Israeli officials blunted the intended barb, saying the prime minister felt he had to come to the United States and speak “directly to the American people, to Congress” because the issue with Iran is so critical – and the president appeared “worryingly ready to compromise” with Iran.
White House officials were quoted as saying it would be “hard to trust” Netanyahu in the future.
<menacing music>
As if they have ever trusted him at all.
<quick flash to Obama striding away from Oval Office and ordering staff to leave Israeli delegation (including Netanyahu) “to think things over” while he has “dinner with the family.”>
There were also reports earlier this month that Obama ordered Netanyahu to stop urging members of Congress to support sanctions against Iran during a phone call on January 12.
Under pressure from reporters at home who themselves saw the hypocrisy for what it was, Josh Earnest made another attempt on Friday:
“This administration goes to great lengths to ensure that we don’t give even the appearance of interfering or attempting to influence the outcome” of democratic elections abroad,” he reiterated on Friday.
Technically that is true for the Obama administration and it does provide a ninth hour cover for the White House. They lucked out that Netanyahu changed his schedule.
But there’s been a long-standing White House tradition of how to treat “Bibi” dating back as far as the Clinton Administration.
In 1996, then-MK Binyamin Netanyahu was challenging incumbent Labor Prime Minister Shimon Peres for his post in national elections set for May 29.
The race was becoming very close. Peres was to be in Washington for the annual AIPAC conference, as Netanyahu is scheduled to be this year. A flurry of suicide bombings in the months prior had made mincemeat of the diplomatic campaign Peres was running on. He now had to prove he could keep Israelis safe and secure, as well as build peace with Palestinians.
Peres was invited to visit the White House on April 30 by by his good friend, U.S. President Bill Clinton, allegedly to work on peace agreements with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.
The obvious target of the invitation: Netanyahu, a hawk with his military history and a background of having served in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. This was not for the faint of heart, as grassroots Israeli voters well knew.
Peres and Clinton were photographed repeatedly, trying to overcome the gory images of the 62 Israelis whose blood was spilled by Palestinian terrorists that March.
It nearly worked – but at the end, Netanyahu won and statesman that he was, Clinton immediately reached out to invite Israel’s new prime minister to the White House.
What a contrast from that administration to this one, where members of the president’s staff call Israel’s head of state “chickenshit” in leaks to the Israeli media. Over the weekend they did it again, with a “senior American official” telling Haaretz, “We thought we’ve seen everything… 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.”
<menacing music>
This is behavior worthy of The Sopranos. But it’s a little pathetic to see this coming from senior staff around the supposed “leader of the free world.”