The sharp criticism by the Obama administration of Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem has been rebuked by a number of US senators from both the Democratic and the Republican parties. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who lost against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, said: "It might be well if our friends in the administration and other places in the United States could start refocusing our efforts on the peace process. Now we have had our spat. We have had our family fight, and it is time for us now to stop and get our eye back on the goal, which is the commencement of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."
McCain and the independent senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, both urged the administration to ease the tone of the dispute, which they said was demonstrating disunity and weakness to steadfast allies of Iran. "It is unnecessary; it is destructive of our shared national interest. It is time to lower voices, to get over the family feud between the US and Israel. It just doesn't serve anybody's interests but our enemies.
Congressman Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House of Representatives, declared: “To say that I am deeply concerned with the irresponsible comments that the White House, vice president and the secretary of state have made against Israel is an understatement. In an effort to ingratiate our country with the Arab world, this administration has shown a troubling eagerness to undercut our allies and friends.”
On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had upbraided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone call for the housing announcement, and White House officials have since repeated the criticism in public. "It is hard to see how spending a weekend condemning Israel for a zoning decision in its capital city amounts to a positive step towards peace," Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas, was quoted by AP as saying.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has reportedly delayed his departure to the region, where he is scheduled to hold separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The State Department on Monday said it was still awaiting a formal response from Israel to Clinton's call and, while repeating elements of the criticism, stressed that the US commitment to Israel's security remained "unshakable."