Tag: Benjamin Netanyahu

How Much Does Obama Hate Israel? 1.9 Billion Times

Jon Ponder
Bunker busters
Bunker busters

One of the many persistent right-wing lies about Pres. Obama is that he hates Israel. It may be true that he’s not fond of the country’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, a despicable figure who is closely aligned with Republicans in the U.S. Congress, a cabal that makes no secret of its contempt for the president. But there’s no evidence that Obama loves or hates Israel any more than he likes or dislikes any of America’s allies.

Writing in the Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf summed up this particular right-wing myth about the president last summer:

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Netanyahu is not Richard Nixon

Buck Banks

For twenty years, many people in Israel and in the West have expressed the hope that Benjamin Netanyahu would prove to be the Richard Nixon of the State of Israel … the Nixon who yearned to enter the pantheon of statesmen, and who defied his Red-baiting past and initiated diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. … It is amazing to recall how long this fantasy persisted.

— David Remnick, writing in the New Yorker.

Pelosi: Netanyahu’s Address was Condescending

Buck Banks

I was near tears throughout the Prime Minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States… and saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran and our broader commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation.

— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by The Hill, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress.

Netanyahu: I’m Not Dissing Obama

Buck Banks

My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.

— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opening “his high-profile visit to the American capital by playing down any personal dispute with President Obama, but he said that he had a ‘moral obligation’ to warn against the dangers of an American-brokered nuclear deal with Iran,” the New York Times reports.

Albright: Netanyahu Is Meddling in U.S. Affairs

Buck Banks

He is interfering in our internal affairs. … I don’t want to interfere in Israeli internal affairs, but it strikes me that there is an awful lot going on in his neighborhood in the Middle East, and that’s where he should be.

— Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of meddling with U.S. politics, The Hill reports.