At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu distanced himself from anti-American remarks appearing in the Israeli media of late, stressing the ironclad relationship that exists between the United States and Israel, pointing out that he or any member of his administration are not responsible for such statements.
In all likelihood, the prime minister was referring to a Yediot Achronot report, in which “sources close to the prime minister” are quoted as bashing the Obama administration, including the secretary of state, adding the administration is “hostile” against Israel, and is pushing to “give them Yerushalayim” for the Palestinian state.
The prime minister explained both the Congress and Senate support the administration, and during his recent visit to Washington, in meetings with Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all were in agreement regarding the need to restart diplomatic talks between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority).
Despite the prime minister’s strong statement regarding Yerushalayim, he was not willing to sign any major policy statement that ministers wished to have him hand to President Barak Obama during his recent visit.
At present, it appears the prime minister is more concerned about the future of his coalition, which rests in a significant part on Labor and its left-of-center policies. The Labor faction is scheduled to convene after yomtov, at which time it is expected there will be a majority to bring Kadima into the coalition, a move that would compel further concessions straying away from the platform on which the Likud was elected to head the coalition.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
Bibi, you let Obama make Asher Yatzar on you and you are pretending its rain. Enough already. Say it like it is!
“The Labor faction is scheduled to convene after yomtov, at which time it is expected there will be a majority to bring Kadima into the coalition, a move that would compel further concessions straying away from the platform on which the Likud was elected to head the coalition.”
I think that this statement is more of an opinion than fact. If we can recall correctly Shas dropped out of Kadima’s coalition last term in order that they could join Likud’s coalition. If Kadima would join the coalition, I think it would be safe to assume that Shas, Gimmel, and Lieberman’s party would drop out leaving Likud, Labor, and Kadima, which would never happen. The thought of such a coalition reminds me of the Three Stooges, you know a lot of talk and silly play without anything really tachlisdig coming out of it. 🙂