U.S.-Israel relations teetered on the brink Wednesday after Obama officials were quoted in the Atlantic calling Benjamin Netanyahu a coward and chicken excrement. Israel is very mad. Susan Rice immediately went on a talk show and blamed the attack on a Mel Gibson video. -Argus Hamilton
Kerry phones Netanyahu to apologize over 'chickens---' slur
... “ 'That’s a completely normal course of events: Someone tells the truth, and then because the truth isn’t diplomatic, they have to say the y weren’t authorized to speak,” Goldberg said. “The level of frustration [in the White House] is incredibly high, possibly higher than ever, from the Washington side, and people are boiling over.' ”
The Atlantic The Obama administration's anger is "red-hot" over Israel's settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East. Profound changes in the relationship may be coming.
... "The fault for this breakdown in relations can be assigned in good part to the junior partner in the relationship, Netanyahu, and in particular, to the behavior of his cabinet. Netanyahu has told several people I’ve spoken to in recent days that he has “written off” the Obama administration, and plans to speak directly to Congress and to the American people should an Iran nuclear deal be reached. For their part, Obama administration officials express, in the words of one official, a “red-hot anger” at Netanyahu for pursuing settlement policies on the West Bank, and building policies in Jerusalem, that they believe have fatally undermined Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace process."...
However...
Mideast Chickens Coming Home to Roost "The Obama administration is incapable of imagining that it might be wrong."
... "What is striking is that the reality is not just generally the opposite, but almost precisely the opposite. In each of the matters for which they fault Netanyahu, it is the Obama administration, not Netanyahu, that has been unreasonable. Only months into his presidency, Obama demanded that Israel cease building settlements, foreshadowing his absurd determination to withdraw Israel to its pre-1967 borders. Despite three decades of saber-rattling from Iran’s mullahs and obfuscation about its nuclear program from government authorities, the Obama administration has put limitless faith in Iran’s noble intentions. And, of course, it is laughable for this White House to scorn someone else for prizing political self-interest." ...
...
"It is not simply that Obama created the crisis in U.S.-Israel relations. It is that neither he nor his representatives are capable of taking stock and realizing it. That is a much deeper problem than diplomatic infelicities."
Mideast Chickens Coming Home to Roost "The Obama administration is incapable of imagining that it might be wrong."
... "What is striking is that the reality is not just generally the opposite, but almost precisely the opposite. In each of the matters for which they fault Netanyahu, it is the Obama administration, not Netanyahu, that has been unreasonable. Only months into his presidency, Obama demanded that Israel cease building settlements, foreshadowing his absurd determination to withdraw Israel to its pre-1967 borders. Despite three decades of saber-rattling from Iran’s mullahs and obfuscation about its nuclear program from government authorities, the Obama administration has put limitless faith in Iran’s noble intentions. And, of course, it is laughable for this White House to scorn someone else for prizing political self-interest." ...
...
"It is not simply that Obama created the crisis in U.S.-Israel relations. It is that neither he nor his representatives are capable of taking stock and realizing it. That is a much deeper problem than diplomatic infelicities."
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