Netanyahu complimented his host on “what I hear is a terrific golf game”, and invited Obama to visit Israel after leaving the presidency to play a round. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
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Still, Mr Obama has not ruled out the possibility that, in his final months in office, he will seek to influence the future debate by laying out what he sees as the contours of any viable deal. One avenue for such a bid would be the Security Council.
“We’ll set up a tee time”, Obama quipped.
“We do have concerns around settlement activity as well”, the president went on to say. 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.
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 global community, including Obama, in confronting Iran.
Rubio in a statement suggested that the letter did not emphasize enough that the Palestinians were at fault for the impasse.
“I think Prime Minister Netanyahu, even in areas and times when we’ve had differences on other issues, has always made clear that President Obama has done as much for Israel’s security as any other president”, said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
The US and Israeli leader have been reported to have a tense relationship.
During their meeting in NY on the sidelines of the annual convening of the United Nations General Assembly, the two leaders also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the crisis in Syria.
In public, Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu spent most of their time touting a 10-year military assistance deal their countries struck this month worth 38 billion dollars, the largest tranche of military aid the USA has ever given another country.
This time, at least, the leaders have a concrete achievement to showcase as evidence that America and its closest Mideast ally are sticking together: A 10-year military assistance deal worth $38 billion, the largest tranche of military aid the USA has ever given another country.
Netanyahu thanked the President for the military aid deal which provides Israel with $38 billion over the next ten years, saying “Israel has no greater friend than the United States and the United States has no greater friend than Israel”.
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, writing in The Washington Post last week, said the pact was a failure.
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The tense relationship between Obama and Netanyahu over the past eight years will probably increase pressure on the president’s successor to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine problem.
