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Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman today issued the following statement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a Joint Session of Congress this morning:

“I was pleased to hear Prime Minister Netanyahu once again reiterate his support for and pledge to work toward a two-state solution where the Israelis and Palestinians live as neighbors.  America wants to be a partner in the process and work with both sides to reach that goal.  However, no matter how well-intentioned the President may be, his recent speech placing preconditions on Israel only to start the process is misguided, unprecedented, and counter-productive.”

“President Obama should be encouraging the two sides to sit down for direct negotiations, not making unrealistic demands in order to get talks started.  If any demands were to be made, the onus should be placed on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to put an immediate end to their ongoing troubling actions.  Whether it is making a pact with Hamas or unilaterally seeking UN recognition instead of restarting peace talks, the PA is hampering the peace process and their leadership needs to end these counterproductive actions and come to the table.”

“We cannot turn our back on Israel.  To turn to our greatest and sole democratic ally in the region and say to them ‘You need to make all the concessions’ is imprudent.  Yet that is essentially what the President told Israel during his speech last week.”

“There has been a historic sea change in the Middle East in recently.  The uprisings across the region have the potential to bring positive change to the Middle East and our foreign policy goals must support just that.  The Palestinian Authority’s ‘unity government’ with an avowed terrorist group runs counter to the principles of democracy that are flourishing in the region and ending that pact, Mr. President, is where the alarm should be sounded.”