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July 7, 2010

Obama Praises Israeli "Restraint" at Netanyahu Meeting
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President Obama hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the
White House Tuesday for the first time since Israel’s deadly assault on
a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May. Obama and Netanyahu emphasized the
"unbreakable" bond between Israel and the United States, and downplayed
recent US-Israeli tensions over Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
Despite ongoing Israeli settlement expansion, roadblocks, closures and
the attack on the flotilla, Obama said he thinks Israel "has shown
restraint."

President Obama: "I think the Israeli government working through layers
of various governmental entities and jurisdictions have shown restraint
over the last several months that I think has been conducive to the
prospects of us getting into direct talks. And, my hope is that once
direct talks have begun, well before the moratorium has expired, that
will create a climate in which everybody feels a greater investment in
success. Not every action by one party or another is taken as a reason
for not engaging in talks so there ends up being more room created by
more trust."

Netanyahu went on to downplay talk of simmering U.S.-Israeli tensions,
saying that ties between the two governments remain strong.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Here I will have to
paraphrase Mark Twain, that the reports about the demise of the special
U.S.-Israeli relationship aren’t just premature, they are just flat
wrong. There is a depth and richness of this relationship that is
expressed everyday, our teams talk, we don’t make it public. The only
thing that is public is that you can have differences on occasion in the
best of families, in the closest of families, that comes out public."

Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama comes as the Israeli military prosecutor
has launched disciplinary and legal action in four separate cases from
Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza last year.



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