Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said on Sunday the “Israeli government does not trust the American government” and President Barack Obama’s foreign policy was “confused,” “apologetic,” and “misguided.”
“We’ve never had a situation like this where there’s been such a disconnect between the U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister,” King said NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
King said Obama’s foreign policy has been muddled “from the day he started his apology tour back in 2009 where he was, no matter what people say, apologizing for America, somehow suggesting that we’ve been anti-Islam until he became the president ….”
“What he is doing by that is telling our allies they can’t trust us and he’s also telling unaligned that the U.S. is not a reliable ally,” King said, before noting that Obama was sending “terrible signals” by scheduling a meeting with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in New York next week while Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has to explain his relationship with Obama on “Meet the Press.”
Last week, the Israeli press reported that Netanyahu’s request to meet Obama in New York was denied. In addition, after Netanyahu publicly stated the United States should draw a red line when it comes to Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented that America preferred negotiations over red lines.
Netanyahu downplayed reports of tension between Israel and the Obama administration on “Meet the Press.”
“I think he’s met me more than any other leader in the world, and I appreciate that,” Netanyahu said. “Our schedules on this visit didn’t work out … but we continue to be in close consultation.”