GOP rep: Obama’s treatment of Israel a ‘series of calculated insults’

by Nikita Vladimirov - 12/27/16 9:39 AM ET

.@TomColeOK04 on Pres. Obama's treatment of Israel: It’s been a series of calculated insults https://t.co/kKfV319hpu

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) December 27, 2016

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) says President Obama’s relationship with Israel has been a “series of calculated insults.”

Asked Tuesday by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” whether he thought Obama was supportive of Israel during his two terms in office, Cole said many of Obama’s policies were “reckless.”

“I think he has certainly been supportive in terms of defensive weapons and those kinds of things. But no, you look at the Iranian agreement, I think that was very reckless and I think it endangered Israel,” he said, listing examples of what he considered Obama’s cold treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

{mosads}”So no, I think its been series of calculated insults,” he added.

Cole slammed the Obama administration’s decision not to veto a United Nations resolution Friday that condemned Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.

“No it didn’t do the right thing. Frankly its a break in our long-term policy, not on the settlement issue, but making sure the U.N. resolutions are not one sided,” Cole said.

“To do it [in] the last 30 days of your presidency, when you know the incoming administration holds a different position, I think was reckless and reprehensible, and I am going to be interested to see whether or not the Israeli charge that the Unites States actually colluded in this is true. I think it’s too early to tell,” he added.

Cole said the U.S. allowing the resolution to pass “shows a certain pettiness” toward Israel.

“I think this was a last insult on the way out the door. And I don’t think it makes the president look very well, and certainly to do something that you know is deliberately at odds with what the incoming president is going to do on a stage this big I think shows a certain pettiness that I am surprised to see in President Obama,” he said.