Did Obama 'disrespect' Israel's Netanyahu?

Obama and the Israeli prime minister made a rather tense joint appearance Friday, a day after Obama called out Israel in a globally broadcast speech

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jim Young)

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a "lengthy meeting" in the Oval Office Friday, a day after the president gave a sharply criticized speech calling for Israel to largely redraw its borders along pre-1967 lines (before the Arab-Israeli war ended with the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and other territories under Israel’s control). The relationship between the two leaders "has never been warm," says Helene Cooper in The New York Times, and the Israeli prime minister objected to Obama's plan in a "furious phone call with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton." Netanyahu later called the pre-1967 boundaries "indefensible," while GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney insisted the president had "disrespected" Israel, and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) charged that Obama had "betrayed" a U.S. ally. Is Obama guilty as charged?

Obama isn't treating Israel like a friend: Obama's language shifted "away from Isarel and toward the Palestinians," says Elliott Abrams at National Review. That may be a political calculation, but regardless, it's clear that "the administration persists in treating Israel as a problem rather than an ally." Obama's remarks should have been more fully "discussed with the Israelis instead of being dumped on their heads... with zero advance notice or warning or explanation, leaving them scrambling to figure out what it all meant."

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