House Speaker John Boehner called the Obama administration’s treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “reprehensible.”
“I think the animosity exhibited by our administration toward the prime minister of Israel is reprehensible,” Boehner said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “And I think that the pressure that they’ve put on him over the last four or five years have, frankly, pushed him to the point where he had to speak up.”
Netanyahu has faced criticism from Obama for saying that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine was impossible. The prime minister was accused of flip-flopping soon after wining re-election, which just followed a controversial address to Congress in which the Israeli leader warned against a deal with Iran over its nuclear program.
Boehner didn’t see a problem with the flip-flop.
“He doesn’t have a partner. How do you have a two-state solution when you don’t have a partner in that solution, when you don’t have a partner for peace, when the other state has vowed to wipe you off the face of the earth?” Boehner said. “So until there’s a willing partner, willing to sit down and have peace talks, I think it’s irrelevant whether we’re talking about a two-state solution.”
Boehner will visit Israel during the congressional recess, though he says it’s not a victory lap for Netanyahu.
“There are serious issues and activities going on in the Middle East, and I think it’s critically important for members of Congress to hear from foreign leaders, other governments, other parts of their government, to get a real handle on the challenges that we face there,” Boehner said.
