Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) criticized President Obama for the efforts of his “political machine” to remove Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show”
After hearing a clip of the president saying, “I have a very businesslike relationship with the Prime Minister. I’ve met with him more than any other world leader. I talk to him all the time. He is representing his country’s interests the way he thinks he needs to, and I’m doing the same. So, the issue is not a matter of relations between leaders. The issue is a very clear, substantive challenge. We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel’s security, for Palestinian aspirations, and for regional stability,” Rubio remarked “he’s wrong on both counts.”
Rubio continued, “number one, he can’t say he has a businesslike relationship or that it isn’t personal when his entire political machine, virtually, some of the top people in his political operation were in Israel, on the ground, trying to defeat Netanyahu, which is unprecedented. You know, he didn’t send anyone in any other country to try to influence the outcome of those elections. And from Jeremy Bird, down to others that were deeply and intricately involved in his campaigns in the past, he sent them down there to start the equivalent of a superPAC to try to oust Netanyahu. So I mean, what he’s saying is absurd in terms of it not being personal. That sounds pretty personal to me.”
Rubio added, “as far as the two-state solution, I would say what many Israelis say, which is ‘yeah, that’s the ideal outcome. It’s also the least likely.’ And here’s why, because you don’t have the conditions today for that to happen. You have a Palestinian Authority that has no interest at this moment. Certainly Hamas has none, but the Palestinian Authority has no interest at this moment on being a serious partner for peace. They continue to reward and elevate people they call martyrs, who we call terrorists, who have killed Israelis and even Americans. They’ve walked away from very generous offers over the last, at least twice over the last 15 years that have been made by the Israelis. The conditions just do not exist at this point. They teach their children to hate Jews, that it’s a glorious thing to kill Jews. These are the sorts of things that make it impossible at this moment to have an agreement. And in fact, if you’re standing from the Israeli perspective, what you see is the possibility that that second state that some are calling for would be nothing more than a launching pad for further attacks against Israel in the future.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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