The administration of US President Barack Obama has expressed its displeasure over Israel's recent announcement that it would be building more housing units in east Jerusalem but now reported namecalling directed at Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be added to the tensions between the two allies.
Jeffrey Goldberg, diplomatic correspondent for The Atlantic, reported today that he was recently speaking to a senior Obama administration official about, "the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most who reportedly said to Goldberg: “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit.”
“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” the official said
“The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”
Goldberg quoted another offical who reportedly agreed with the first official's assessment but added that Netanyahu was also a "coward" on the Iranian nuclear threat issue.
The second official reportedly told Goldberg that the "Obama administration no longer believes that Netanyahu would launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities."
“It’s too late for him to do anything. Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. . . Now it’s too late.”
“The feeling now is that Bibi’s bluffing,” the second official reportedly added.