rssObama vs. Netanyahu: Tale of the Tape
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 5:16 pm
- 3 Comments
This afternoon’s joint White House appearance between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a pretty low-key affair, as predicted. Hard disagreements got sanded down, platitude-level pleasantries got played up, and a placid time was had by all. Netanyahu can return home tomorrow night justifiably happy that Obama didn’t rebuke him in any public way. Disagreements were pretty subtle — but they were in evidence. Let’s tally them up from the transcript.
Explicit references from Obama to a Palestinian state or a two-state solution: Two.
Explicit references from Obama to George Mitchell, his peacenik envoy to the Middle East whom certain right-wing alleged friends of Israel think is too “fair-minded”: Two.
Preferred locution for the endpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from Netanyahu that doesn’t include any reference to Palestinian statehood: “A substantive solution that allows the two people to live side by side in security and peace.” Repeated twice.
Netanyahu’s description of the Iranian threat to Israel: “The worst danger we face is that Iran would develop nuclear military capabilities.”
Obama’s response, from a policy perspective: “Iran can achieve its interests of security and international respect and prosperity for its people through other means, and I am prepared to make what I believe will be a persuasive argument, that there should be a different course to be taken.”
Explicit references from Obama to the 2007 Annapolis peace process and/or the roadmap as binding commitments, which Netanyahu has disputed: Two, including three uses of the word “obligations.”
Follow Spencer Ackerman on Twitter
3 Comments
Comment posted May 18, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
George Washington on Israel
“A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.” ~George Washington Farewell Address
“The nation which indulges toward another habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests.” ~ George Washington
“Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Pingback posted May 18, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
[...] of today’s on-camera Q&A with Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. And here’s a breakdown of points for and against from Spencer Ackerman at the Washington [...]
Comment posted May 19, 2009 @ 3:40 am
George Washington on Israel
“A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.” ~George Washington Farewell Address
“The nation which indulges toward another habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests.” ~ George Washington
“Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
