US officials: Netanyahu ‘myopic, untrustworthy, disrespectful of Obama’

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-officials-netanyahu-myopic-entitled-untrustworthy-disrespectful-of-obama/

A new profile of US Secretary of State John Kerry in The New Yorker casts light on the stormy relationship between the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have often clashed publicly over the Iran nuclear deal and the Palestinian conflict but who also routinely refer to each other as friends.

The piece, written by the magazine’s editor in chief, David Remnick, quotes “American officials” who describe Netanyahu as “myopic, entitled, untrustworthy, routinely disrespectful toward the president, and focused solely on short-term political tactics to keep his right-wing constituency in line.”

The piece goes on to describe the “sources of Kerry’s exasperation with Netanyahu.” Quoting State Department aides, it says these “range from the injustice of settlement building in the West Bank to the way he employs Yitzhak Molcho, his lawyer and confidant, to stifle even the most inconsequential negotiation.”

Remnick quotes Kerry as saying that, in 2010, Netanyahu balked at an opportunity to revive the peace process between Israel and Syria, despite assurances from President Bashar Assad that “he was ready to make a deal.”