Free Republic

JNS.org – President Barack Obama said at a news conference on Tuesday that the US is considering the possibility of supporting the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state through the United Nations as part of his administration’s ongoing re-evaluation of relations with Israel. Late last year, the US voted against a Palestinian-initiated resolution in the UN Security Council that called for a Palestinian state with borders based on the pre-1967 lines. The measure garnered eight affirmative votes among the 15-member Security Council, falling just one short of the nine votes it needed to pass. Obama on Tuesday continued his recent...

It would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago for the White House to consider furling up the diplomatic umbrella it had used for decades to shield Israel at the UN. But even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attempted to do damage control for a series of recent controversial pronouncements, reiterating his support for a two-state solution and apologizing for his election day anti-Arab rhetoric, Washington seemingly remains determined to “reassess” its policy vis-à-vis Israel and the Palestinians. This could mean that Washington will hold back from vetoing a French or Jordanian resolution calling for the creation...

Leaked report outlines 40 suggestions to sway Israeli policy; EU source: more chance of implementation in wake of Netanyahu rejection of Palestinian state. A European Union report obtained by Ynet on Wednesday outlines suggestions on how to pressure Israel into returning to negotiations, in a list of 40 possible decisions. An EU diplomatic source told Ynet that there was a definite chance that the recommendations in the report, which the member states have yet to approve, were more likely to be implemented following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement during his election campaign that a Palestinian state would not be created...

EXCLUSIVE: Some 1,500 new housing units Har Homa on hold due to political sensitivity, Netanyahu's office presses pause on discussions. Israel is freezing construction of 1,500 new housing units in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, beyond the Green Line, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election eve declaration that building in Jerusalem would continue regardless of international pressure. The massive construction plan in Har Homa has been suspended "for neither planning nor professional reasons," Ynet has learned. The Ministry for Construction and Housing and Jerusalem municipality confirmed that two critical planning discussions set for the coming week on advancing...

White House occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron With the mega ironies of our tumultuous times in competition for top spot, it must be The Irony of Ironies that Obama and his minions are down to a ‘Tee’ exactly what they accuse America of being: despicable bullies of the world. First seizing then standing on sanctimony and Projection 101 are Commandments 1 and 2 in Marxist ideology. History shows that whenever Marxists make it into high office, they seize the moral high ground from which they lecture the masses from bully pulpits provided by the media of...

TV pollster says surveys showed Likud trailing by 3-4 seats at noon on election day; then PM issued controversial Facebook post. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Election Day high noon appeal to his supporters to go out and vote to offset the “droves of Arabs” flowing to the polling stations may have played a decisive role in his victory, the country’s best-known political pollster indicated Wednesday. Pollster Dr. Mina Tzemach told the Knesset Channel that, at noon on election day, March 17, her surveys showed Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Camp to be leading Netanyahu’s Likud by three to four seats. Then, at...

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to relations with President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been — elevated is not quite the right word — placed in rare company."I have a very businesslike relationship with the prime minister," Obama declared Tuesday.

“He thinks he is going to do a Nixon to China. He is the man who is going to develop the entente, the understanding, the condominium with Iran to run the Middle East. We will join with them. We are going to recognize their presence, their dominance in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, and now in Yemen as that will be the reward for having cut a deal with us on nuclear weapons.” “That’s impossible, O’Reilly said, “because if that ever were to come true, we would alienate all of the Sunni nations. Saudi Arabia, the Emirates…” “But that’s exactly...

Barack Hussein Obama has acknowledged the 'reality' that there won't be a 'peace agreement' during his term in office, and has decided instead to attempt to force the creation of a 'Palestinian state' through the United Nations. For all of this he blames Binyamin Netanyahu. In a stark assessment of U.S.-Israel relations, Mr. Obama, speaking at a news conference, put a firm end to one of the top foreign-policy goals of his second term: a Middle East peace deal that includes the creation a Palestinian state.“What we can’t do is pretend that there’s a possibility for something that’s not...

Sources in the Israeli government claim the White House tried to influence the recent election because it wanted “revenge” against Benjamin Netanyahu. “The White House is driven by three main motives,” an unnamed senior official told the Times of Israel. “The first is revenge. The second is frustration: It’s no secret that they were involved in an attempt to bring down the Netanyahu government – something that we have clear knowledge of – and failed. The third is the administration’s attempt to divert attention from the negotiations with Iran to the Palestinian issue.” The source was likely referring to the...

WASHINGTON D.C. – At the East Room of the White House today, President Obama signaled that he wasn’t prepared to forget Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments characterized as rejecting the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Referring to Netanyahu’s statement before the election, Obama said he “took him at his word,” even though the Israeli Prime Minister walked back his statement after winning the Israeli election. Obama signaled frustration that the media continued to portray the conflict between himself and Netanyahu as personal. “I have a very businesslike relationship with the prime minister,”...

President Obama said at a White House press conferenceTuesday that his decision to reevaluate United States policy towards Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election is not personal, it's strictly business. "One last point about this because I've heard a lot of the commentary," Obama said in response to a question about whether there was anything Netanyahu could do to stop Obama from changing his administration's policy on Israel. "There is a tendency I think in the reporting here to frame this somehow as a personal issue between myself and Prime Minister Netanyahu." "I have a very businesslike relationship...

Leading figures in Washington's pro-Israel community are calling on the Obama administration to turn down the temperature. ​For years defensive of their support for US President Barack Obama and his White House, Washington's pro-Israel establishment now fears that the train of US-Israel relations is "running off the tracks." Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, their reactions ranged from deep concern to "bewilderment." "The fact that the outcome of a Democratic election in Israel seems to be of great concern" to the Obama administration, said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, "is cause for deep anxiety and puzzlement." "Whatever...

Analysis: The Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and Gulf state rulers trust Israel's re-elected prime minister to handle the Iranian issue, and the Americans to pressure him on the Palestinian issue. The Arab world, just like officials in Jerusalem and in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, is monitoring the steps of the American dance which is casting a shadow on the elections results here. One can definitely say that the roof did not collapse on the Arab leaders' heads when Netanyahu won. The elections here appeared odd, and if there was any attention, it focused on the joint Arab list, and...

Central Elections Committee Chairman Salim Joubran will meet with the president Wednesday, to submit the official election results. Netanyahu will likely be called to the President's Residence on the same day for an official ceremony in which Rivlin will ask him to form the government. Official coalition negotiations can then begin in earnest, and will take place at the Knesset as a cost-saving measure. The talks come ahead of negotiations over ministerial portfolios, which are to officially begin Wednesday. The policy of the new Israeli government is at the center of coalition talks this week, with Bayit Yehudi and Yisrael...

President Obama is angry with Israeli voters for re-electing Benjamin Netanyahu, and he’s willing to risk the lives and security of Israeli citizens to show it. The State Department is reportedly considering reversing the decades-long policy of protecting Israel’s security at the United Nations and is threatening to allow the Security Council to compel Israel to enter forced negotiations with Hamas-controlled Palestine. This action would be reckless—and shameful. At a time when anti-Semitic attacks are rocking Europe, and the need for a secure, Jewish state has rarely been more apparent, the Obama administration would force Israel to negotiate with entities...

As WND reported last month, the U.S. has not been standing on the sidelines when it comes to mobilizing the all-important Arab vote.

Analysis: The Obama administration has launched a media blitz against Netanyahu, fearing a narrow right-wing government that could be a potential 'nightmare' for the US. The accusations from the US over Israeli espionage, published Monday in The Wall Street Journal, are unfair and even a little ridiculous. The American administration and the government official who leaked the information are well aware that Israel is capable of obtaining this information in a completely legitimate manner from those party to the negotiations with the Iranians, as well as through other legitimate means within the intelligence community. It is no secret that Israel...

Historian reveals the key clashes between US presidents and Israeli prime ministers, and why none have been as bad as the current one. The current diplomatic crisis between Israel and US President Barack Obama's administration is the most vicious and public yet among only a handful of crises that have marred the close, long-running relationship, says an expert on relations between the two nations. Obama's frosty relationship with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hit new lows this month, with the White House criticizing remarks Netanyahu made on election day, in which he said a Palestinian state would not be founded if...

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the J Street conference in Washington on Monday, echoing White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough's comments earlier in the day. Baker acknowledged his disappointment with "the lack of progress regarding a lasting peace," saying that the chances for a two-state solution diminished since Netanyahu's reelection last week. Baker further slammed Netanyahu's "diplomatic missteps and political gamesmanship," saying that the prime minister's "actions have not matched his rhetoric," according to Politico. Earlier in the day, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough offered a similar...