Obama has crossed the line - It's not the 'settlements' stupid, it's the fact that Israel exists

Here's a great comment regarding this post:

Poor use of Terms
I think if way back when, if Israel would have used more appropriate terminology when defining 'settlements', to instead have called them neighborhoods like any other in Israel, they wouldn't be in this dilemma. This is simillar to the term 'occupied territories', what nonsense, land won in battle is considered occupied, since when? What other country has this stupid notion of 'occupied territory'. Is the State of Texas or New Mexico, won in a war with Mexico, considered occupied? No. Israel's very poor use of terms such as these are causing many problems for themselves.

Joe Brooke - USA (06/03/2009 07:46)

from The Jerusalem Post
Jun 3, 2009
by GIL HOFFMAN

Barack Obama's administration's criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies has crossed the line into interfering in Israeli politics, top Likud ministers and MKs said Tuesday.

Kadima officials responded to the allegations by disagreeing that the US was meddling but expressing concern that such a perception by the Israeli public would harm their party and end up strengthening the prime minister. They accused Netanyahu's associates of portraying Obama as an enemy of Israel in order to unite the public behind him.

The charges of American interference began April 16 when Yediot Aharonot quoted Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel telling an unnamed Jewish leader: "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister [of Israel]."

Likud Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled said Tuesday that the statement was inappropriate and was just one of many examples of American interference in Israeli politics since Netanyahu's election in February.

Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon, also of the Likud, has accused Israeli Leftist groups of coaching Obama's administration on how to handle Netanyahu.

Netanyahu himself appeared to endorse that assertion when he told a Likud MK over the weekend: "What do they want from me? Do they want my government to fall?"

Israeli diplomatic officials were quoted in Ma'ariv on Tuesday accusing the Obama administration of attempting to force Netanyahu to bring Kadima into his coalition and adopt its policies on the Palestinian-state issue.

"They are pressuring Livni to retreat from her opposition to joining Netanyahu's government, so she can enter it and prevent the worsening of relations with the US," a diplomatic official was quoted as saying.

Likud MK Danny Danon, who has close ties with Evangelical leaders in the US, was most blunt in his criticism of Obama. He said Obama refused to admit that the public in Israel chose a different direction, just like America did.

"The American administration thinks that there were only elections in the US," Danon said. "Any attempt to intervene in Israeli politics only strengthens Netanyahu, who has the support of the public, especially after this interference."

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