Israel Freezes Defense Aid Talks with US Pending Iran Deal
Senior officials in Defense and Foreign Ministries decide to suspend talks with US on security aid until after Iran deal is finalized.
By Cynthia Blank
June 25, 2015
A joint meeting of senior representatives in the Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office resulted in the decision to temporarily suspend dialogue with the United States regarding defense aid to the Jewish state.
The freeze will remain in place until the conclusion of talks between Iran and P5+1 world powers on Tehran's nuclear program, if not later.
The main reason for suspending the dialogue, officials told Walla! News, is the mounting tension between the White House and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government.
[...]
Other officials though have suggested Israel may prolong the freeze until a new US president is inaugurated in early 2017, thereby avoiding contact with current US President Barack Obama, whose relationship with Israel has been contentious. [emphasis mine]
Yes, there is more here.
Oren: Obama intentionally abandoned core principles of Israel's alliance with America
After years of 'diplomatic' reticence former envoy to the US removes the gloves.
In polite diplomatic circles, former ambassador to the US Michael Oren is the Israeli envoy to love, current ambassador Ron Dermer the one to hate.
[...]
Now no longer a diplomat, but a Kulanu MK, Oren has taken the gloves off. That much is evident in excerpts that have emerged from Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide – his upcoming book about his tenure as ambassador to Washington from 2009-2013 – and as he speaks and writes more about those tumultuous years as part of promoting the book.
In an op-ed piece Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, entitled “How Obama Abandoned Israel,” Oren wrote that US President Barack Obama had intentionally abandoned two key principles of the American- Israeli alliance: that there be no public daylight between the two states, and that there be no surprises.
While both Netanyahu and Obama have made mistakes in the relationship, only one – Obama – “made them deliberately,” Oren wrote....
There is more, which adds balance to the above comments, here.
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