Kerry apologizes Netanyahu for chickenshit remark Fri Oct 31, 2014 11:53PM GMT 23 US Secretary of State John Kerry has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize for offensive remarks made by an unnamed American official. The top US diplomat on Friday talked with Netanyahu over the issue, according to the Israeli media. On Tuesday, a senior Obama administration official described Netanyahu as a “chickenshit,” expressing the US president’s frustration with the Israeli leader. “The thing about Bibi [Netanyahu] is, he’s a chickenshit,” the official told US magazine the Atlantic when asked about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate Barack Obama the most. The apology came one day after Kerry condemned the remarks by the anonymous White House official. “We condemn anybody who uses language such as was used in this article,” Kerry said during an appearance at the Atlantic’s Ideas Forum on Thursday. “It is disgraceful, unacceptable, damaging.” I have never heard that word around me in the White House. I dont know who these anonymous people are who keep getting quoted, but they make life much more difficult, Kerry said. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest dismissed the comments. “Those comments do not reflect the United States position, and they do not reflect the personal views of the president of the United States,” Earnest said. Relations between the Obama administration and Tel Aviv have been strained over a number of issues. Earlier this month, the United States criticized Israel’s plan to build more than 1,000 settler units in the occupied Palestinian lands. Meanwhile, top American officials refused to meet with Israeli Military Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon during his visit to the United States last week. The refusal was an angry response by Washington after Ya’alon mocked Kerry’s efforts to forge a peace deal between Tel Aviv and the Palestinians. The Israeli minister had called Kerry’s efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace “messianic and obsessive.”
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 20:34:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015