AT THE POINT WHERE BIBI GETS TO COME TO THE UR'S DEFENSE...:

Barack Obama does not hate Israel, says Binyamin Netanyahu (Daniel Nasaw in Washington and Ian Black, 3/18/10, The Guardian)

Hagai Ben-Artzi, the husband of the Israeli premier's wife, said on Israeli Army Radio that the US president dislikes Netanyahu and the Israeli people because he had spent years in the church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who he said is "antisemitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish." Obama once declared the fiery liberal Chicago preacher was his spiritual mentor but disavowed him during the campaign.

"As a politician running for [the] presidency he had to hide it," Ben-Artzi said, "but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly: there is an antisemitic president in America."

Ben-Artzi then reiterated that "Jerusalem is the Israeli people's capital and the capital of the state of Israel, and it is whole and united."

"Once the Americans tried to intervene in anything related to Jerusalem we told them one simple word: 'No'," he said.

Netanyahu distanced himself from the remarks, with a spokesman saying it was not the first time the two had disagreed.

"I have a deep appreciation for President Obama's commitment to Israel's security, which he has expressed many times," Netanyahu said.

...it's obvious who this was a crisis for.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 18, 2010 5:32 AM