Former New York Mayor Ed Koch expressed disappointment in President Obama on Thursday for his treatment of Israel after it continued construction in East Jerusalem – the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians.

"I have been a supporter of President Obama and went to Florida for him, urged Jews all over the country to vote for him saying that he would be just as good as John McCain on the security of Israel. I don't think it's true anymore," Koch told Fox News' Neil Cavuto.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a chilly reception at the White House last week after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem during a visit from Vice President Biden. The announcement drew sharp condemnations from Washington and calls to cancel the construction plans – requests that Netanyahu says he will not heed.

Koch said he believes Obama "orchestrated" what happened in Israel.

"What they did is they wanted to make Israel into a pariah," he said. "It's outrageous in my judgment. "

Koch said he's shocked that Congress, which largely supports Israel hasn't "stood up and said to the president, 'you're wrong on this, Mr. President.'"

No details from the reportedly tense Obama-Netanyahu meeting have been made public. The administration's precise demands on Israel and what Israel has offered in return have also remained under wraps.

But that didn't stop Koch from offering his harsh assessment of the Obama administration.

"I believe that the Obama administration is willing to throw Israel under the bus in order to please Muslim nations," Koch said. "We'll know when I'm right or wrong."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/01/koch-outraged-obamas-treatment-israel-housing-construction/-world/

Boy. Obama just seems to keep alienating the voting bases that got him elected.

The Environuts are pissed cuz he allowed drilling for oil...sounds like a lot of Jewish folks are gonna be irritated because of the treatment of Israel...

He better start pushing for amnesty for illegals because he's gonna NEED those 12-20 million votes.

I have a feeling Axlerod will not make it till the end of the term.

wow Koch is still alive?

isnt he like 120 now?

70's or 80's

so, you shouldnt show respect to world leaders when visiting their country because its weakness,,,but if ISRAEL is disrespectful to you, you should bow down,,,because.....

just an example of the hypocrisy in the world and how you cant please everyone,,,,

It was very embarassing and disrespectful, knowing the VP was coming to work with palestinians and israelis, to not forewarn him in ANY way of this new , possibly more divisive, decision.

There is no "good reason" for this whole dust up - it is a fabricated non-crisis. The PA has been refusing to come to the bargaining table without preconditions. That's their bad. Obama is somehow pretending to be shocked about a policy which Israel had followed for 60 years?



What part of "Jerusalem is our eternal capital" was the part which has had him confuzzled?



Israel offered back in 2000 to relinquish 97% of the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for peace commitments from the PA and security commitments from the international community but was turned down. So they can be forgiven if they are a little skeptical about the prospects for new talks. In the meantime they need to live their lives.

Now, they have a terrorist fiefdom supported by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran in Gaza who are holding one of their citizens hostage and numbskulls in Ramallah who can't offer any assurance of security and refuse to discuss peaceful coexistence diplomatically unless Israel agrees to abandon part of their capital first.

The UN who permits a group of Islamic states to repeatedly pass one-sided hateful anti-Israel resolutions, sanctions openly anti-Semitic discussion forums like Durban, and does not distinguish between terrorist bombings and self defense...and a militant neighboring theocracy - Iran - who is ramping up thousands of centrifuges in fortified rock bunkers with anti-aircraft batteries to process uranium calling for genocide publicly.

Oh Great.

Let's bash Israel some more about it.

This administration is in a bad spot.

Their voting base wants a hard line on Israel.

The people that give the most money to democrats.. American Jews.. are probably a little less likely to support the hard line approach.

They have AIPAC screaming in their ears.. They have the UN issuing dossier after dossier about war crimes and human rights violations..

The arab states want a peace process moving forward. Israel doesn't want a peace process moving forward unless the arabs meet certain conditions, many of which are absurd.

Hamas and Fatah are basically at war.. So who do you negotiate with?

It's a losing proposition with no end in sight..

I tend to agree,,except I havent read of the current administration taking any 'hardline' so much as showing some unhappiness with the way the situation was handled and the timing of it..

Heheheheh...you said Koch...heheheheh...

I didn't say they were taking a hardline. I said there is a group within their party that wants them to take a hardline.

You can't force peace on Fatah and Hamas. They don't want it. The Israelis want peace but there is no reasonable way to achieve it without disarming and destroying the terrorists.

Get rid of the terrorists first. Get firm commitments from the international community to root them out and take a zero tolerance position. Russia looks like a good ally in this push right at this time. Then, once the terrorism is dealt with, there can be negotiations for peace.

But don't expect Israel to ever offer Camp David 2000 again. It was extremely unpopular in Israel and resulted in the election of Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Ideally, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will help resettle some of the Palestinians from the West Bank and Egypt will help resettle some of the Gazans.

Perhaps there will be a de-militarized PA state somewhere but it sure is not clear how that will work since everyone except Israel and the U.S. is against it.

Theres no peace in the middle east because of israel , theres nothing more to say about it . Israel or the jews or hebrews which ever name you want to use started this war and have refuse to let the muslims come home and there well be no peace till they can come back to there home which they lived in for thousands of years long before the hebrew s found there country . As far as obama goes and the oil drilling ,I think he's being a stand up type person when he's willing to dril in the rich folks front yard just like they have done in the reg . peoples front yards . This country doesn't have many people like that .
In my opinion the only problem he has is, Its hard to soar like an eagle when your surrounded by turkeys ...

Screw the palestinians

aw you don't really mean that . thats just you dark parts speaking out . the palestinians are going to win in the end .

arent israelis and palestinians BOTH allies of the US,, and if not,, why not?

Nice attitude. /sarcasm No wonder many Arabs think of Americans as arrogant militarists.

Not necessarily. There are plenty of Jews who oppose Zionism and Israeli/US terrorism against arabs.

Several Palestinian organizations are listed by the U.S. State Department and many other countries as terrorist organizations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_designated_terrorist_organizations

So in that respect the "governments" are not both allies of the U.S.
For example Hamas is the government of Gaza, and Fatah, the Al-Aqsa brigades, Islamic Jihad and Hibullah are all associated in various ways with the PA. The PA itself has defended and endorsed terrorist activities such as rocket attacks and bus bombings.

That does not mean the the people living in the west bank and gaza are all enemies of the U.S. of course.

Zionists in general do not support terrorism of any form. Zionism has nothing to do with terrorism - see definition here:

http://www.mideastweb.org/zionism.htm