CNN news 2015-03-27 加文本

cnn news 2015-03-27

Describing his relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "business-like", President Obama said there's nothing personal in their disagreement on two key issues - the Iran nuclear talks and prospects for Palestinian statehood.

"This can't be reduced to a matter of somehow let's all eh, eh, you know, hold hands and sing Kumbaya."

The president rejected Netanyahu's latest position in favor of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, something the prime minister rejected just for his re-election.

"He pointed out that he didn't say never, but that there would be a series of conditions in which a Palestinian state could potentially be created, but of course the conditions were such that they would be impossible to meet anytime soon."

Making matters worse, senior Obama administration officials complained to the Wall Street Journal that Israel is spying on the Iranian nuclear talks and leaking details to Congress. It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other.

The newspaper quoted one official: "It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy." The President tried to laugh that off.

"It's a general rule I don't comment on intelligence matters in a big room full of reporters."

But law makers on both sides are puzzled, House speaker John Boehner denied receiving any classified information from the Israelis.

"I'm not sure what the information was, but I'm baffled by it."

As did the top two men on the House Intelligence Committee.

"We have not been briefed by the Israelis on anything that's in the Wall Street Journal article at all. And none of those cases have the Israelis discussed with me anything that I would consider as classified or even all that sensitive."

The Israeli prime minister's office's denying it all, saying these allegations are utterly false. "The state of Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel's other allies." But the accusations are not completely new. Just last month, the White House was openly complaining about Israeli leaks.

"There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate."

And Republicans suspect some of the anonoymous complaints about Israeli's spying are just more sour grapes on the White House over Netanyahu's medaling in the Iran's nuclear talks. As one GOPA puts it, "It's flat out laughable that they said to suggest that the Israelis had to tell the U.S. Congress to be concerned about a bad deal."