The Israeli PM is caught between hardliners and Barack Obama
Benjamin Netanyahu hoped his trip to Washington would ease tense relations between his government and Barack Obama’s administration over building new settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. Instead relations got worse. “Netanyahu was truly stunned by the Obama administration’s unprecedented willingness to criticize Israel over building in the annexed part of Jerusalem,” explained the Washington Post. “Over the past year, Netanyahu ‘pushed the envelope with Obama,’ said Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli peace negotiator, referring to haggling over a full settlement freeze that had precluded a resumption of peace talks. Now that Obama has pushed back, Netanyahu ‘is worried and afraid,’ Beilin said.” Within hardliners in his governing coalition threatening to pull out if any concessions are made to Washington, Netanyahu is in a bind.