The most shocking part of this interview is NOT that this administrations officials are calling our best friends and allies "Chichen S***". It is the paragraph where the administration states: The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickens**t,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.
He did NOT refer to President Putin of Russia, NOT Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea, NOT President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, NOT President Xi Jinping of Communist China but rather our closest ally in the Middle East. What are semi-retired President Obama's REAL priorities?
The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here
The Obama administration's anger is "red-hot" over Israel's settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East. Profound changes in the relationship may be coming.
Jeffrey Goldberg
Oct 28 2014, 2:52 PM ET
The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.
This comment is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other behind closed doors, and is yet another sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis. The relationship between these two administrations— dual guarantors of the putatively “unbreakable” bond between the U.S. and Israel—is now the worst it's ever been, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/the-crisis-in-us-israel-relations-is-officially-here/382031/?single_page=true
He did NOT refer to President Putin of Russia, NOT Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea, NOT President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, NOT President Xi Jinping of Communist China but rather our closest ally in the Middle East. What are semi-retired President Obama's REAL priorities?
The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here
The Obama administration's anger is "red-hot" over Israel's settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East. Profound changes in the relationship may be coming.
Jeffrey Goldberg
Oct 28 2014, 2:52 PM ET
The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.
This comment is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other behind closed doors, and is yet another sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis. The relationship between these two administrations— dual guarantors of the putatively “unbreakable” bond between the U.S. and Israel—is now the worst it's ever been, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/the-crisis-in-us-israel-relations-is-officially-here/382031/?single_page=true