Obama: There is No Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations
President Obama told Fox News' Bret Baier Wednesday that there was "no crisis" between the United States and Israel despite the tension set off by Israel's announcement that it would build new housing units in East Jerusalem during a visit to the country by Vice President Biden.
"Israel's one of our closest allies, and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away. But friends are going to disagree sometimes," Mr. Obama said.
"I specifically sent Vice President Biden to Israel to send a message of support and reassurance about my belief that Israel's security is sacrosanct and that we have a host of shared interests," he continued.
"There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward," he added.
"The actions that we taken by the interior minister in Israel were not helpful to that process," said the president. "Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged as much and apologized for it."
The United States responded aggressively to the announcement of new housing units, calling it an "insult" and pressing the Israelis to change course. The U.S. special Mideast peace envoy, George Mitchell, canceled a planned trip to the region.
Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their proposed state and say they will not re-engage in direct peace talks unless the decision to build the 1,600 new units is overturned. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital.
Mr. Obama was also asked about Iran.
"It is one of our highest priorities to make sure that Iran doesn't possess a nuclear weapon," he said.
The president added that the Iranian government has been more concerned with oppressing its people than engaging in diplomatic relations, and said the U.S. was thus pushing "aggressive sanctions." He said the White House hasn't "taken any options off the table."
Mr. Obama also said that it was very important that Iran not attain a nuclear weapon because if they did, it could "set off a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East," something that would hurt U.S. security.
The president was also asked about health care and Tiger Woods in the interview that was at times combative.
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