Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said yesterday that he thinks the White House policy on negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians is “counter-productive.”
Schumer was on the “JM In The AM” radio show yesterday, and said that he’s told President Obama and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that “their actual policy on trying to bring about negotiations is counter-productive,” because:
When you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they’re not going to sit down and talk. Palestinians don’t really believe in a state of Israel.
“They need to be pushed to get there,” Schumer said, adding that the relationship between the U.S. and Israel “is much deeper than the disagreements on negotiations.”
Full audio here.
Late Update: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responds that he doesn’t “think it’s a stretch to say we don’t agree with Senator Schumer.”
