Awkward! Netanyahu Congratulates Obama on His Win

By: Sarah JonesNov. 7th, 2012more from Sarah Jones

Israeli PM Netanyahu was obviously banking on a Romney win. In fact, he all but staked his own political futures on Sheldon Adelson’s mouthpiece taking the White House. Now he’s facing intensified scrutiny over the awkward position he’s placed his country in with their biggest ally. Netanyahu rushed congratulations to the President last night.

Watch here, as PM Netanyahu meets with US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro in Jerusalem to congratulate President Obama. Video via GPO:

Shapiro can barely suppress his grin as Netanhyau goes through the rather desperate motions of making nice, praising the “rock solid” relationship between Israel and the U.S.. To be fair to Bibi, it seemed that he saw the writing on the wall at the UN conference after Obama gave him and his red line the cold shoulder, as then we saw a subdued Netanyahu suggesting that war was not imminent before the election after all.

What is often missed in discussions of Israel and America is that Netanyahu is not Israel. The relationship between the two allies is stronger than the difficult relationship Obama has with the right wing war hawk. Netanyahu made the mistake of thinking he could push Barack Obama around, and he quickly met with the brick wall that is Obama’s steel core of convictions about how we will conduct our foreign policy.

In polling, the entire world except Pakistan was rooting for Obama to win in last night’s election, so it’s no surprise that other world leaders from Britain, China, France and Russia rushed to congratulate the President. Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted congratulations to his “friend” and in a statement said, “But above all, congratulations to Barack, I enjoy working with him, he’s a very successful American president and I look forward to working with him in the future.”

Netanyahu also sent a congratulatory tweet including a picture of the President and him. Benjamin Netanyahu ‏@netanyahu:

PM Netanyahu Congratulates US President Barack Obama on his Election Victorybit.ly/SSG53R twitter.com/netanyahu/sta…

— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) November 7, 2012

So maybe he’s thinking all is well that ends well. What we are thinking is that all of Sheldon Adelson’s and Karl Rove’s dirty money couldn’t buy American love… Something Netanhayu might want to think about.

Awkward! Netanyahu Congratulates Obama on His Win was written by Sarah Jones for PoliticusUSA.

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7 Responses to Awkward! Netanyahu Congratulates Obama on His Win

Thomas Johnson

Nov. 8th, 2012 at 12:03 am

Bibi’s behavior was shameful. He should be slapped – soft or hard, public or private is yet to be determined – but there should be some punishment. Next time HE wants something see how WE respond. Dick.
What do you think? 0 0
- Sandra
  
  Nov. 8th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
  
  President Obama gave Bibi a good smacking during their last phone call and we all saw Bibi falling on his own petard. He’s arrogant and a war monger and thought PO was a pushover and would do whatever he wanted. PO walks and talks softly but carries a big strong stick, leaders who underestimate this wonderful man, do so at their own risk.
  What do you think? 0 0
Sally

Nov. 8th, 2012 at 5:00 am

Bibi knows Mitt as well as anyone..did he really think he was going to snap his fingers and Mitt would start bombing? After all, once installed in the Oval Office, one would think even awkward Mitt would understand the gravitas of the office. Or maybe not..tahnkfully, we will never know.
Hey, maybe Bibi can join that Trump march on DC…when is it again?
What do you think? 0 0
- Shiva (Moderator)
  
  Nov. 8th, 2012 at 7:27 am
  
  the key here is thank goodness we will not know. Romney had all but promised Israel that we would go to war for them and he would do that at the behest of the of evangelical Christians
  What do you think? 0 0
Shiva (Moderator)

Nov. 8th, 2012 at 7:32 am

I recently read an article that Netanyahu had ordered the airstrike against Iran. Unfortunately for him his military told them they didn’t have the legs to withstand such an attack. The Israeli military is not capable of attacking Iran. On top of it the Israeli military is not capable of dealing with the aftermath of such an attack which ultimately would not be successful. Even worse for Netanyahu public opinion was heavily against him as far as attacking Iran. I think his time is just about over. And I don’t blame the president for dropping a pile of logs on top of him. Netanyahu has to understand that there is more to this world than Israel. He believes that his country is the basis for our religion and that we are all religious. While the majority of people in the United States support Israel, that doesn’t mean they want to crash our own economy to go to war unnecessarily.
What do you think? 0 0
j

Nov. 8th, 2012 at 7:36 am

Netanyahu is toast – I hope, even before he was elected he was a war hawk (as long as it is with our
blood and treasure).
What do you think? 0 0
Joy

Nov. 8th, 2012 at 8:52 am

Obviously, Bibi was watching the same polls and listening to Fox News if he thought Romney was going to be his BFF.
What do you think? 0 0