Former White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod declared that President Obama feels “very much unrestrained” on the issue of Israel on Wednesday’s broadcast of “The Lead” on CNN.
After anchor Jake Tapper read a passage from Axelrod’s book that said President Obama “had been pulling his punches with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for fear of antagonizing some elements of the American Jewish community,” and asked if the current strained relations between the US and Israel was due to Obama not pulling his punches anymore.
Axelrod stated “I think that– they clearly had a strained relationship because the president had a view of pushing this peace process forward and he felt both sides have been difficult in that regard.” He then went on to place the blame for the decline in relations on Netanyahu, but added that the president is “having the time of his life right now. I think he feels very much unrestrained in terms of speaking to all these issues. But I don’t think that’s the provocation that led us to where we are now.”
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