Share

Obama-Netanyahu meeting in DC to discuss post-deal environment

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said they will discuss implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and other regional issues, as well as efforts to counter ISIS.

Advertisement

President Barack Obama and the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, after months of chilly relations, will meet at the White House on 9 November to talk about the Iran nuclear deal that Israel’s government has harshly criticized and tried without success to block. Lawmakers had arranged Netanyahu’s appearance without White House input.

Republicans may attempt to get another vote through before Congress’ window to kill the deal expires Thursday, but in any case, Obama has pledged to veto any law should it pass.

How Obama will handle the ongoing strife in the Occupied Territories is anyone’s guess now that he has won his day with Israel over the Iran deal.

In March, Netanyahu addressed Congress at the invitation of Republican House Speaker John Boehner about the Iran deal, which the Israeli leader called “very bad” and said would guarantee that Iran gains nuclear weapon capabilities.

Netanyahu had described the agreement as a “mistake of historic proportions”.

The paper added that these “preliminary low-level contacts preceded what in coming weeks turn into full-fledged meetings at the highest levels” and culminate in early November when Obama and Netanyahu meet in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu, however, had no right to interfere in the political process of the United States; his doing so and his extreme demagoguery in the Israeli elections last March question his moral authority to govern. “But the fact that the leaders of these two countries can come together and have a conversation and have an in-person meeting reflect the commitment from the leaders of both countries to the strength of this relationship”.

Earnest said Friday that “the president has indicated on a number of occasions his desire to begin consultations with our Israeli allies about how to further deepen that cooperation”.

Netanyahu said that it is Israel’s responsibility, as the only democracy in the Middle East, to repel those who slander the Jewish State.

Advertisement

“The best thing for Israel, a kind of historical opportunity, is to deal with the mutual relationship with the United States on the one side and with neighboring Arabs on the other side”, he said.

White House seeks November meeting between Obama, Netanyahu