Tag Archive for Barack Obama

| October 2, 2014
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Netanyahu tells Obama: Let’s Bring Arab states into Israel-Palestinian peace process

Obama meets Netanyahu for 1st time in 7 months, telling the PM: The Gaza status quo must change.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Barack Obama during their White House meeting Wednesday that he wants to integrate Arab states in the peace process with the Palestinians. Obama told Netanyahu that the status quo between the two sides, in Gaza and the West Bank, must change in order to advance peace.

White House, Washington, DC, October 1, 2014.

US President Barack Obama (R) speaks with Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) during a bilateral meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, October 1, 2014.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| September 24, 2014
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Obama tells UNGA: Status quo in West Bank & Gaza is unsustainable

Barack Obama reveals, ‘Violence engulfing Middle East made too many Israelis ready to abandon hard work of peace.’ 

By i24news

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama stated that the status quo in Gaza Strip and the West Bank is not sustainable.

US President Barack Obama speaks during the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations in New York on September 24, 2014 ( Jewel Samad (AFP) )

“US President Barack Obama speaks during the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations in New York on September 24, 2014 – Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP

Further touching on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the leader charged that the “violence engulfing the Middle East made too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| September 3, 2014
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PLO Official Angered by Obama’s Recognition of Jewish History

Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi attacks Obama’s speech for ‘adopting Zionist discourse’ in his approach to Israel-Arab conflict.

By Israel Today Staff

 

One of Israel’s chief conditions for a genuine peace deal is that the Arabs acknowledge the Jewish people’s historical connection to this land.

PLO (Palestinian Authority) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi

Arguments can be made regarding who rightly controls which areas today, but these disputes can only be resolved peacefully if the Arabs accept that the Jews are not a foreign invader. At least, that’s how Israeli officials view the situation.

Last week, Israel’s “partners” in the Palestinian Authority again signaled they are not prepared to move beyond this obstacle to peace. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 19, 2014
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Survey: Israelis’ confidence in Obama is higher than ever before

Latest Pew Research survey shows Israel as resolutely pro-U.S. & very supportive of its use of drones & surveillance, in the fight against terrorists.

 

The fact that Israelis are one of the most staunchly pro-American people in the world is not new. But that their confidence in Barack Obama’s ability to handle world affairs climbed dramatically in 2014 to reach an all-time high? That will surely surprise and confound both supporters and detractors of the U.S. president.

Obama in Washington

U.S. President Barack Obama, Washington, December 7, 2013. – Photo: AP

Nonetheless, these are some of the findings included a new poll on global attitudes released this week by the Pew Research Institute.

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Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| July 10, 2014
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Israel PM accuses Hamas of double war crime, should be held responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza

PM Netanyahu says Hamas is committing war crimes of intentionally targeting Israeli civilians with their rockets, and again using the local Gaza population as human shields to protect the terrorists.

 

 

As Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas mulls applying for membership in the International Criminal Court as a way to press charges against Israel for alleged war crimes, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders on Wednesday that Hamas was guilty of two types of war crimes.

PM Natanyahu

“Hamas is committing a double war crime by intentionally trying to hit Israeli citizens, and using the local Gaza population as human shields,” Netanyahu said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 1, 2014
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Obama condemns killing of Israeli youths, calling parties to exercise restraint

Reiterating Obama, the State Department urges restraint on both sides.

Chairman of House Foreign Relations C’tee  says US should be under no illusion that unity gov’t wants peace.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, MICHAEL WILNER

 

NEW YORK — The United States issued a measured response to the murder of three Israeli teenage boys on Monday, two weeks after the students first gripped the heart of the Jewish nation, and hours after Israel Defense Forces found the missing – Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrah and Gil-Ad Shaer – dead in an open field.
obama

US President Barack Obama – Photo: REUTERS

In a statement issued to the press, US President Barack Obama balanced a message of empathy as a father with a call for restraint from a leader familiar with spiraling conflicts in the Middle East.

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Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| June 26, 2014
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Israel’s President Peres at White House, talks Pollard & Iraq with Obama

 

Shimon Peres’ final foreign trip as President of Israel yields reported breakthrough in the efforts to release the American born spy, Jonathan Pollard.

By i24news

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres met with his American counterpart Barack Obama on Wednesday, to discuss the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, the sectarian violence ripping through Iraq and the issue of Jonathan Pollard, a US-born Israeli spy who was arrested in Washington in 1985 and jailed for life.

Shimon Peres sits with Barack Obama in Washington 25 June 2014 – Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Washington was reportedly considering releasing Pollard early in exchange for Israeli concessions in the troubled peace process with the Palestinians brokered by the United States, which has since foundered. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 8, 2014
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Clinton’s memoir: Obama’s demand for 2009 settlement freeze was ‘tactical mistake’

In soon to be released memoir, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (& possible 2016 presidential candidate) says White House hard line on Jewish construction did not work, and describes Obama’s fury at PM Netanyahu.

By

 

Former U.S. Secretary of State claims in a new memoir that the American administration made a tactical error by demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze construction in the settlements in 2009.

Washington, September 1, 2010.

U.S. President Barack Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House in Washington, September 1, 2010. – Photo: Reuters

“In retrospect, our early, hard line on settlements didn’t work,” Clinton writes in Hard Choices, to be released next week, AP reported.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| April 25, 2014
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Obama: Neither side has shown the political will for peace

 

In the U.S. president’s 1st public comment on the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, Obama suggests pause in peace talks may be needed so get both sides back on track.

By The Associated Press

 

President Barack Obama says the halt in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians underscore how neither side has shown the political will to make tough decisions that would sustain Mideast peace talks.

Mahmoud Abbas & Barack Obama at White House on 17 March 2014 – Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP

Obama says reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the militant group Hamas is the latest example of, quote, “unhelpful” steps that have undermined discussions. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 16, 2014
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NYT calls on White House to drop peace efforts

New York Times reports how Obama & Kerry should ‘move on & devote their attention to other major int’l challenges like the Ukraine.’

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U.S. President Barak Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry should drop their Middle East peace efforts and “move on and devote their attention to other major international challenges like Ukraine,” the New York Times wrote in an editorial on Tuesday.

Kerry and Lieberman


Kerry, right, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Washington last week. – Photo: AFP

Instead of continuing to promote peace negotiations, the paper wrote, the United States should “lay down the principles it believes must undergird a two-state solution, should Israelis and Palestinians ever decide to make peace.” Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| March 21, 2014
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Ya’alon ‘leaked’ the truth so U.S. administration insists on explicit apology

Obama administration official says Minister Ya’alon’s explanation was inadequate & seeks an apology to his counterpart Chuck Hagel for ‘offensive and highly disappointing comments.’

By

 

The Obama administration is insisting on an explicit apology from Israeli Defense Minister Ya’alon and is refusing to make do with his widely-reported conversation on Thursday with Defense Secretary Hagel.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon – Photo: Olivier Fitoussi

Contrary to claims that Ya’alon has already apologized, a senior administration official said last night “Minister Ya’alon has not offered an apology to Secretary Hagel or any other member of the U.S. Government for his offensive and highly disappointing comments, which do not reflect the depth of our security cooperation and the enduring relationship between the United States and Israel.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| March 17, 2014
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Abbas tells Obama: Palestinians Ready for peace based on ’67 lines

 


After his White House meeting, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, said Palestinians recognized Israel’s legitimacy back in 1988 and in 1993.

By i24news

 

US President Barack Obama on Monday told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that both he and Israeli leaders must make tough political decisions and take “risks” for peace.

Le président de l'Autorité palestinienne Mahmoud Abbas (g) et Barack Obama à la Maison Blanche, le 17 mars 2014 ( Saul Loeb (AFP) )

Mahmoud Abbas & Barack Obama at White House on 17 March 2014 – Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP

Meeting Obama at the White House, Abbas said a scheduled Israeli release of a fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners by March 29 would show how serious Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about extending peace talks.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 6, 2014
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Palestinians tell Obama: ‘We Have Nothing Left to Make Concessions On’

Palestinian Authority statement adds that the dream of peace is slowly fading away & any 2-state solution is ‘evaporating.’

By and

 

The Palestinians responded Wednesday to U.S. President Barack Obama’s promise to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “to make tough decisions” in their March 17 meeting, saying they have nothing left to make concessions on.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, November 11, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

A top U.S. official told Haaretz that Obama made the promise to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in Washington Monday.

The Palestinian Authority said in a statement Wednesday, “It is important for you to know Mr. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 4, 2014
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Obama puts on a performance for the press at Netanyahu meeting

 

U.S. president preferred to avoid a public confrontation this time, so he already sent Netanyahu his message via the Sunday Bloomberg interview.

By

 

 

WASHINGTON – It was tough not to notice the significant differences between U.S. President Barack Obama’s withering criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Bloomberg interview published on Sunday, and the praise he heaped on the Israeli leader in front of the cameras at the White House a mere 24 hours later.

Obama and Netanyahu in the White House.

Obama and Netanyahu during a meeting at the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2014. – Photo: AFP

Netanyahu was surprised when he landed here Sunday and immediately had to face the headlines about Obama’s comments.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| March 3, 2014
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Netanyahu lands in Washington saying, ‘It takes 3 to dance the Mideast Tango’

Israel’s PM Netanyahu is to meet Kerry, Obama & Biden on Monday, and is then scheduled to address the AIPAC conference on Tuesday.

By

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived late Sunday in Washington, where he was scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and address the AIPAC conference.
Netanyahu

Netanyahu addressing journalists during a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. September 15, 2013 – Photo: AFP

Upon landing, Netanyahu told reporters that he was committed to negotiations for a final settlement and was waiting to see proof that the Palestinians were as well.

“It takes at least three to dance the Middle East tango,” Netanyahu said.  

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
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