Being “honest” with Israel, how revolutionary. And as Michael D. Shearer notes, Pres. Obama even gives Dick Cheney grace. On the eve of his visit to Saudi Arabia, then Egypt, where he will give his outreach speech to Muslims and Arabs, Obama reiterates his Israeli policy regarding settlements.
Via NPR, which has the transcript and the audio.
“I don’t think we have to change strong support for Israel,” Obama said during an interview with NPR hosts Michele Norris of All Things Considered and Steve Inskeep of Morning Edition.
“We do have to retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace,” Obama said. “And that’s going to require, from my view, a two-state solution.”
… It will also require, he said, a freeze on Israeli settlements, including expansion to accommodate successive generations of settlers, and for Palestinians to make progress on security and end “the incitement that understandably makes Israelis so concerned.”
The president also suggested that the United States’ special relationship with Israel requires some tough love. “Part of being a good friend is being honest,” Obama said. “And I think there have been times where we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction, the current trajectory, in the region is profoundly negative, not only for Israeli interests but also U.S. interests. And that’s part of a new dialogue that I’d like to see encouraged in the region.”
Israeli’s Netanyahu remains belligerent, saying that what Pres. Obama asks equals “freezing life.”
Pres. Obama also weighs in to say Dick Cheney’s analysis is “flawed,” but that he doesn’t doubt the former vice president’s motives in wanting to protect this country.
This is one of the flaws of our current president. Giving quarter to people who have only one interest at heart: destroying his presidency.
It doesn’t mean Pres. Obama has to go out of his way to castigate Dick Cheney. But giving him respect is something, given his record, Mr. Cheney has not earned. On Israel, the Bush-Cheney administration did nothing to promote equilibrium. Then there is Iraq, but also Afghanistan. So it really doesn’t matter the motives of Dick Cheney, because the outcome of what his rhetoric and actions have wrought deserve condemnation and nothing less. Something Obama can offer simply by saying they had their chance and couldn’t move the ball, with much left in his lap to do, because of what Bush-Cheney’s foreign policy philosophy left undone.
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