According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, President Obama will be calling Benjamin Netanyahu “in the coming days” concerning the Israeli Prime Minister's election victory on Tuesday. In the mean time, the White House is criticizing Netanyahu for his comments about Arab-Israeli voters during the campaign and election.
“There’s one other thing that I anticipated might come up that I just did want to mention as it relates to the Israeli elections. Specifically, there has been a lot of coverage in the media about some of the rhetoric that emerged yesterday that was propagated by the Likud Party to encourage turnout of their supporters that sought to, frankly, marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens.
"The United States and this administration is deeply concerned by divisive rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens.
"It undermines the values and democratic ideals that have been important to our democracy and an important part of what binds the United States and Israel together. We’ve talked a lot about how our shared values are an important part of what binds our two countries together, and rhetoric that seeks to marginalize one segment of their population is deeply concerning and it is divisive.
"And I can tell you that these are views that the administration intends to communicate directly to the Israelis," Earnest said on Wednesday.
[…] The White House has said it will be days before President Obama gives Bibi a call. […]
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