Obama won’t brush off Netanyahu’s remarks on Palestine
President Obama suggested in an interview published Saturday that the United States would not brush aside Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election-eve remarks against a Palestinian bid for statehood.
“We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership,” Obama said during an interview with The Huffington Post.
{mosads}”And so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don’t see a chaotic situation in the region,” Obama said.
Netanyahu, who won decisively in this week’s elections, shored up the conservative vote by pushing back against a two-state solution and refusing to give territory to those who would launch “radical Islamist attacks against Israel.”
Netanyahu appeared to back down from that position after the White House criticized his remarks.
“I don’t want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution,” Netanyahu said during an interview Thursday with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
The White House suggested Friday that the U.S. could change its policy toward Israel, its longtime and closest Middle East ally, which Obama reenforced to The Huffington Post, citing his congratulatory call to Netanyahu.
“I indicated to him that given his statements prior to the election, it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing that negotiations are possible,” Obama said.
“We are going to continue to insist that, from our point of view, the status quo is unsustainable, and that while taking into complete account Israel’s security, we can’t just in perpetuity maintain the status quo, expand settlements. That’s not a recipe for stability in the region,” Obama said.
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