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Obama Won’t Congratulate Netanyahu, Congratulated Putin and Iran Boss
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On March 18, 2015 @ 11:30 am In The Point | 35 Comments
Obama is nothing if not petty. Congratulating foreign leaders is a formality.
The EU, which hates Netanyahu, congratulated him. UK Prime Minister Cameron congratulated Netanyahu.
In a message on Twitter, Mr Cameron said: “Congratulations to Netanyahu on election result. As one of Israel’s firmest friends, UK looks forward to working with new government.”
India’s PM Modi warmly congratulated him even posting a message in Hebrew.
PM Harper in Canada congratulated Netanyahu.
The message from the White House was quite different.
The Obama administration stopped short of congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his party’s election victory, sitting on the sidelines until the coalition-building process plays out following Tuesday’s vote.
“We’re going to give space to the formation of that coalition government,” David Simas, director of political strategy and outreach, told CNN Wednesday. “We’re not going to weigh in one way or another.”
Simas didn’t mention Netanyahu, who declared victory, by name. Instead, he congratulated the Israeli people for the “democratic process.”
The message from Kerry was mum.
US Secretary of State John Kerry declined to comment on the Israel election when asked by reporters on the sidelines of nuclear talks with Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland.
As David Steinberg has pointed out at PJ Media, Obama has called to congratulate foreign leaders winning elections even when they’re enemies and when those elections are very dubious.
Obama breaks three decades of silence with call to Iranian president
Obama began by congratulating Rouhani on his June election. He referred to the long mistrust between the two sides but said he believed the talks were already making progress.
Obama Calls to Congratulate Putin
As the New York Times reported earlier in the week, there are serious charges that Putin rigged the election: “A day after claiming an overwhelming victory in Russia’s presidential election, Vladimir V. Putin on Monday faced a range of challenges to his legitimacy, including charges of fraud from international observers and a defiant opposition that vowed to keep him from serving his full six-year term.”
Even the State Department called for an investigation into the election earlier in the week.
Yet with President Obama reportedly calling to congratulate Putin, apparently the White House isn’t too concerned with the fraudulent election–or even its worrisome outcome.
Report: Obama Congratulates Top Chinese Communist on New Position
A report in the Chinese state-run Xinhua outlet claims that President Barack Obama congratulated Xi Jinping on his “election” to be the top Communist in China. Jinping will be the next president of China, and now controls the Chinese military.
Obama will call Chi-Com leaders, Iranian leaders and Putin to congratulate them for winning rigged and undemocratic elections, but he won’t congratulate Netanyahu.
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