Yet his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes as Obama openly weighs using the final stretch of his presidency to ramp up pressure on the Israeli leader finally make peace with the Palestinians. It was also expected to be their last meeting before Obama steps down from the United States presidency. In their public remarks, both leaders described the U.S. Netanyahu even complemented Obama’s golf game and invited him to play golf at a course near his house.
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“We’ll set up a tee time”, replied Mr. Obama, in what appeared to be a mere pleasantry.
It’s a virtual certainty, though, that the two leaders will not be hitting the links anytime soon. And he expressed concern about the rising violence afflicting Israelis and Palestinians.
Part of the goal of Wednesday’s meeting was to assess the dynamic with Mr. Netanyahu to determine what approach, if any, might work.
At the U.N. General Assembly on September 20, President Obama called on several nations with which he has had contentious relations to abide by worldwide rules and do more to improve cooperation on a global level.
“They’ve never papered over their differences”, another senior administration official said.
On Sept. 20, Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly in NY.
The US president said both sides would benefit if Israel recognised it can not permanently occupy the land and if Palestinians rejected incitement and recognised Israel’s legitimacy.
During the encounter, Netanyahu thanked the President for the recently signed military aid package that will give Israel $38 billion for defense over a decade beginning in 2019 and said it will ensure that Israel can defend itself against any threats.
Netanyahu said the agreement “fortifies the principle that…”
The Obama administration has vetoed or otherwise prevented throughout its two terms all Security Council resolutions on the Israeli-Arab conflict not favored by Israel, a record unmatched by its predecessors. “It’s a very hard and unsafe time in the Middle East”, Obama said. U.S. President Barack Obama greets Chilean president Michelle Bachelet as he arrives for a luncheon during the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016.
“I want you to know Barack that you will always be a welcome guest in Israel”, Netanyahu said.
Relations between Netanyahu and the Obama White House have been strained over the Iran nuclear deal, among other issues; the disagreements came to a head previous year at the United Nations when Netanyahu invoked the Holocaust during his address to the General Assembly, dramatically inveighing against the “silence” of the worldwide community, including Obama, in confronting Iran.
“That issue has been less of an area of tension in our relationship”, Rhodes said. “We’ve tried multiple tactics, none of them have succeeded, given the fact that the parties themselves have been unable to come together”.
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France is still pushing for convening an global peace conference with Israeli and Palestinians leaders despite Jerusalem’s opposition to such a format.
