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‘Gates called Netanyahu an ungrateful ally to U.S. and a danger to Israel’
(Haaretz) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “ungrateful” toward the United States, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who left his post in July of this year, claimed during a closed meeting with senior American government officials.
The news came to light after journalist Jeffery Goldberg reported in a blog post that the meeting took place a short time before Gates’ departure. According to Goldberg, several senior government officials claim Gates told President Obama that not only is “Netanyahu ungrateful, but also endangering his country by refusing to grapple with Israel’s growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces if it keeps control of the West Bank.”
The report was not the first instance of an alleged mistrust of Netanyahu by global leaders. Earlier in the year former Downing Street communications chief Alistair Campbell indicated that former Prime Minister Tony Blair felt that the Israeli PM was untrustworthy. In the second volume of his diaries, wrote candidly of the British view of then, and current, Netanyahu, saying Foreign Office officials had nicknamed Netanyahu “the armor-plated bullshitter.”
Campbell goes on to say that this view was not held exclusively by U.K. officials, adding that former premier, and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Blair during a meeting that he was “was pessimistic because Bibi was a total bullshitter.”
Turkey to enforce more sanctions on Israel: PM Erdoğan
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday Turkey would implement further sanctions against Israel and said that “our ships will be seen more frequently in those waters,” referring to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Erdoğan said that Turkey was “totally suspending” defense industry ties with Israel, after downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel.
“Trade ties, military ties, ties regarding defense industry, we are completely suspending them. This process will be followed by different measures,” Erdoğan told reporters in Ankara.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
