Obama Takes 'Cheap Shot' at Israelis, King Says
By Michael McAuliffDaily News
July 9, 2010
President Obama’s statement that Israelis are suspicious of him in part because his middle name is Hussein was a “cheap shot” that belittles Israelis’ real problems with White House policies, said Rep. Pete King.
“That’s a terrible cheap shot,” King (R-L.I.) told The Mouth. “And if he wants to get cute about it, King Hussein of Jordan was one of the best allies Israel ever had.”
King says that Obama has problems with Israelis because he made drew a moral equivalency between Israel and Iran, treated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poorly, and directed more favorable attention to the Muslim world with such efforts as his speech to Cairo.
Asked about suspicion of him in an Israeli television interview, Obama said, “Some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is ‘Hussein,’ and that creates suspicion.”
But his middle name “has nothing to do with it,” King said. “The fact is that his policies from day one have had an anti-Israel overtone…. He has no one to blame but himself. He should forget his name — that’s just a cheap game and he should knock it off.”