Kerry angered by Obama interview

Israel’s Maariv newspaper claimed on Wednesday that tensions surfaced between the US State Department and the White House after an interview given by President Barack Obama last week in which he attacked Israel’s positions over the negotiations. Obama’s words, it is claimed, could sabotage the efforts made by Secretary of State John Kerry to reach a framework agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Maariv quoted unnamed American and Israeli sources in Washington as saying that “the White House concealed the interview context from Kerry”, which angered him.

According to the US source, Obama “attacked” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally during the interview, “which could undermine Kerry’s efforts”. The same source claimed that Kerry’s “greatest fear is that the interview could damage Netanyahu’s and Israel’s confidence in the efforts made by the US administration to reach an agreement”.