The rocky relationship between the Obama administration and the current government of Israel is no secret. But apparently, former U.S. Secretary of Defense – under Bush and Obama – Robert Gates’ emotional loath towards Prime Minister Netanyahu once led him to try and ban Netanyahu from the White house, Jeffrey Goldberg reports.
In his new book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” Mr. Gates highlights his apparent loathing for Netanyahu, whom he first met when he was a deputy national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush and Netanyahu was Israel’s deputy foreign minister.
“I was offended by his glibness and his criticism of U.S. policy — not to mention his arrogance and outlandish ambition — and I told national security adviser Brent Scowcroft that Bibi ought not be allowed back on White House grounds,” Mr. Gates writes.
Gates also recalls the moment he later expressed himself about Netanyahu being an ‘ungrateful’ ally. In 2010, PM Netanyahu reportedly lectured Gates at length on the possible dangers Israel may face during a conversation about American arms sales to Saudi Arabia. According to Gates, Netanyahu asked him, “What about a counterbalancing investment in our military? How do we compensate on the Israeli side?” Gates goes on to write: “Exasperated, I shot back that no U.S. administration had done more, in concrete ways, for Israel’s strategic defense than Obama’s.”
Gates writes that he told Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Israel should welcome the sale to Saudi Arabia because the two countries shared a common enemy in Iran. “I urged that if Israel couldn’t see Saudi Arabia as a potential ally against Iran, he should at least tactically concede that its hostility to Iran was in Israel’s interest,” Gates writes.
Following the infamous tense meeting between Netanyahu and Obama, where Netanyahu lectured the President in the Oval Office over israel’s history, Mr. Gates told a meeting of the National Security Council Principals Committee that Netanyahu is not only ungrateful, but also endangering his country by refusing to grapple with Israel’s growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces if it keeps control of the West Bank.
Gates also writes in his memoir that he is very worried about Israel’s future, and particularly about the policies of the Netanyahu government. “I, as a very strong friend and supporter of Israel, believe Jerusalem needs to think anew about its strategic environment,” Gates writes. “That would require developing stronger relationships with governments that, while not allies, share Israel’s concerns in the region, including those about Iran and the growing political influence of Islamists in the wake of the Arab Spring. … Given a Palestinian birthrate that far outpaces that of Israeli Jews, and the political trends in the region, time is not on Israel’s side.”
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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6 Responses
As soon as he agreed to work for Obama I knew he was no good.
Yeah,Mr. Gates, The US is a wonderful,loyal ally!! Just tell this to the Shah of Iran, to President Mubarak, to the South Vietnamese , to Saudia Arabia…yup, the US is a wonderful loyal ally! What a joke ! Bibi is absolutely right i not trusting the Us for one moment, Obama and, who knows, his successors, would throw israel over in a nanosecond if it so wishes and all of the promises and nice words would end up in the garbage can!
And, Mr. Gates, you are wrong in your assertion about different Palestinian and Israeli birth rates- they are roughly the same now! Another lie….
all DEMOCRAT PROGRESSIVE=REGRESSION
Anyone who’s background is in the intelligence community does not have favorable opinions on Israel cheny/rumsfeld vs. Rice/Gates/penneda
Re Comment No. 2: Your recitation of former US allies, i.e., the Shah of Iran, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, South Vietnam et al., does not prove your point that the US is not a good ally, and certainly does not mean that the US is not a good ally for Israel, or that the current Israeli prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, should not trust the present US administration.
First of all, the US has been Israel’s most reliable ally since 1948, and may be its only ally at present.
Second of all, alliances are dynamic relationships and shift as circumstances change. The Shah, President Mubarak and South Vietnam lost US support because they were unable to uphold their ends of the bargain that brought about their alliances with the US. All those regimes lost control of their countries, notwithstanding extensive American support.
As for Mr. Netanyahu, his thumb in the eye of President Obama during the 2012 US presidential election was a disgrace to all Israel, and it is commendable that President Obama has not terminated the US-Israel alliance in light of Mr. Netanyahu’s insult to the US and its president.
nfgo3: Your own words prove my point. As you write “alliances are dynamic relationships”.What makes you so sure that the israeli-US relationship would not change in the future? Saudia Arabia- a good ally of the US,for sure- has just been blindsided. You think it will be different with israel? May I also remind you of 1967 ,when Abba Eban flew to Washington with all the actual written promises and understandings, only to see LBJ totally renege on these written promises.And it is only thanks to Nixon-that reviled President by Americans-that israel was able to overcome in the 1973 war.
Yeah-sure, just trust the US- just as Czechoslovaia trusted the allies.
As far as what you call “the thumb in the eye”, what do you call the reneging of Obama of the Bush letters? Or the cairo speech, that totaslly undercut israel’s position? Yup, just trust Uncle Sam.