Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a liberal think tank on Tuesday that he’s committed to building bipartisan support in the United States for Israel, months after he fiercely opposed President Obama and many Democrats who supported the Iran nuclear deal.
The four-term prime minister said that for him, “it’s vital that Israel remain an issue of bipartisan consensus” in the United States. “It’s crucial,” he said to applause at the Center for American Progress.
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The decision by President Obama, some Democrats and left-leaning groups to support the U.S.-led agreement between Tehran and six world powers to curb its nuclear weapons program drove a schism between Israel and American progressives. That schism delayed talks between the U.S. and Israel on a new defense aid agreement.
It also led to some criticism at the Center for American Progress, which was founded by former Obama administration officials, for inviting Netanyahu to speak after he publicly went against Obama on the Iran deal.
But Netanyahu told the group his meeting with Obama on restarting the defense aid talks was a “very good meeting,” and thanked Obama for meeting with Netanyahu more than any other leader.
“I deeply appreciate that,” Netanyahu told Neera Tanden, the former Obama administration official who leads the Center for American Progress. The time Obama has invested in their relationship and the importance he attaches to it “I think are unique,” Netanyahu said.
The two have disagreed but there are “no disagreements now about what we need to do moving forward,” he added.
Netanyahu said he and Obama agreed on Monday to “hold Iran’s feet to the fire” when it comes to living up to the terms of the nuclear deal, to block Tehran’s regional aggression, and to thwart its “international terror network.”
Their talk focused heavily on the new memorandum of understanding regarding military and defense aid to Israel, he said.
“Israel always has to have a qualitative edge to defend itself,” a position with which Obama agrees, he said.
On the long-stalled peace process, Netanyahu said the only “condition” to peace is that any official Palestinian state must recognize Israel, not seek its destruction, and not “flood” its territory with Palestinian descendants, which is what he said happened in the Gaza Strip.
If both sides agree to leave peacefully in adjacent states, both peoples can flow freely back and forth, he said.
“Leading Arab countries might encourage a future Palestinian leadership, or even this one, to accept this kind of deal” of mutual recognition and security, Netanyahu said. The Israeli people would go along with that, he said.
