White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Sunday distanced himself and President Obama from an anonymous U.S. official who said that “there will be a price” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation to speak before the U.S. congress.
“There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave,” the anonymous official told Haaretz on Friday.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked McDonough about the quote in Haaretz on Sunday.
McDonough said that he doesn’t know who gave the quote to Haaretz and that it doesn’t represent the views of the White House.
“I can guarantee that it’s not me, not the president, and not what we believe,” he said.
McDonough explained that Obama will not meet with Netanyahu during his upcoming visit since it will take place soon before the Israeli elections.
“We think that, as a general matter, we, United States, has stayed out of internal politics in the countries of our closest allies. That’s true whether it’s Great Britain, where we just recently had a visit from Prime Minister Cameron a full four months before their election, or in Israel,” he said.
Todd also asked McDonough if he agreed with former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, who said that Netanyahu should cancel his trip to the U.S.
McDonough said he would “leave that” to Oren and Netanyahu.
Watch the interview via NBC:
