Netanyahu is Either a Liar or a Liar, and the White House Won't be Played

By Laurence Lewis

March 20, 2015 "ICH" - "Kos" - - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is either full of shit or else he's full shit. He won a plurality in this week's Israeli election by peeling votes away from harder right-wing political parties, and he did it by stoking racism and by openly saying what everyone has long known: that he opposes Palestinian statehood. But with the election over, he's now backtracking on his claimed opposition to Palestinian statehood, and now says he does favor a two-state solution. He's backtracking rhetorically, anyway. Because while some may think he's now punking the harder-right voters who supported him because of his statement against Palestinian statehood, anyone who has been paying attention knows that it's really the international community he's trying to punk. Because he wants international support, and particularly support from the United States, but he doesn't want Palestinian statehood. The White House, once again, is not impressed:
 

White House spokesman Josh Earnest warned that the foundation for its policy for supporting Israel had been “eroded”.

“Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations had been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome,” he said.

“Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution. That means we need to re-evaluate our position in this matter, and that is what we will do moving forward.”

Netanyahu is lying to Washington and the international community by pretending he supports Palestinian statehood, and he is doing it by pretending he was lying to the harder-right voters who voted for him because he opposes Palestinian statehood. It's impressive for its sheer brazenness, but little else. Earnest didn't mince words.
 

“What is apparent is that in the context of the campaign and while he was the sitting prime minister of Israel, he walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two-state solution,” Earnest said.

More over the fold.

Netanyahu has always walked back from commitments, and he has continued building new settlements in the West Bank. The facts on the ground reveal Netanyahu's true intent. Apparently, President Obama didn't mince words:
 

President Obama waited nearly two full days before making a congratulatory phone call to Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday evening, as his administration was still seething over the Israeli leader’s pre-election comments.

In a striking indication of how bitter tensions remain between the two, Mr. Obama told Mr. Netanyahu directly that the United States would have to “re-assess our options” after the prime minister’s “new positions and comments” on the two-state solution, according to a White House official who spoke without authorization to detail the private conversation.

During the phone call, the official said, the two also discussed the comments the prime minister had made about Israeli Arabs.

The official White House report on the call didn't mention the criticism but it did reaffirm "the United States’ longstanding commitment to a two-state solution that results in a secure Israel alongside a sovereign and viable Palestine." It also made clear that Obama again made clear to Netanyahu that he intends to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program, something the American people overwhelmingly support and Netanyahu has been trying to undermine.

Netanyahu is burning the last rickety bridges he had in the international community, and the White House now will re-evaluate its position on Middle East peace. Because Netanyahu is an obstruction to it.