On Wednesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer spoke out against the White House for its policies on Israel. The issue took center stage Wednesday as the 2012 GOP presidential contenders appeared at the Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates Forum in Washington, D.C.
According to Krauthammer, President Obama’s Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made some ill-advised remarks over the weekend, even though he said the current Israeli government bent over backwards for negotiations with the Palestinians.
“Well, it was a statement made over the weekend, and you can be sure it was approved – every word of it by the White House,” Krauthammer said. “It was a very strong attack on Israel, blaming it essentially for absence of peace process. In fact he said that Israel has to, quote, ‘Get itself to the damn table,’ meaning negotiating table. Now, this is egregious. It is really blaming the victim. The Israeli government, the Likud government has accepted a Palestinian state, the first time in the history of Likud.”
Krauthammer rehashed some of the past statements the Palestinians have made toward Israel, particularly Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“The Israelis have been ready for unconditional negotiations and Abbas, the president of the Palestinians, has put up all kind of conditions, has refused to go to the table and said has openly in an interview with The Washington Post a few years ago he wouldn’t lift a finger or make concessions whatsoever to Israel because Obama, of the United States, will deliver Israel,” he continued. “So, for the Secretary of Defense to go out and to say the process [because] of Israel is dead is egregious.”
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“It tells you about the adamance and the hostility of this administration, which the Israelis are feeling,” he alleged.
Krauthammer estimated that 98 percent of American supporters of Israel are gentiles and said that the country has very strong support among evangelical Christians.
Later in the show’s broadcast, Krauthammer discussed the Obama administration’s approach to the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.
“Well, knowing how polite Canadians are, it probably wasn’t awkward,” Krauthammer said. “But I think Obama knows exactly what he has done and I think Chuck [Lane] is right. Obama has a talent for alienating and injuring friends, allies — Canada, Israel, the British and appeasing the enemies. And I think it is a pattern the Republicans ought to seize, explain and run on.“