Josh Earnest Calls Out Netanyahu for Flip-Flopping on Two-State Solution

The day before he was re-elected as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu said there would not be a Palestinian state under his watch. Three days later, in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, he reversed his previous comments, saying he still supports a “two-state solution.” So, which is it?

“Words matter,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during Thursday’s briefing, adding that there could be “consequences” for those words in this case. “Everybody who’s in a position to speak on behalf of their government understands that that’s the case, and particularly when we’re talking about a matter as serious as this one.”

During the same briefing, Earnest elaborated on the way that the White House sees that Netanyahu “walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two-state solution” in the context of his campaign. He said the Obama Administration would have to “evaluate” its approach to these issues given Netanyahu’s comments and that there will likely be a phone call between the president and prime minister soon to discuss what comes next.

As Fox News’ Leland Vittert reported in the clip below, the “re-evaluation” by the U.S. could mean a reverse of a long-standing policy to block a United Nations vote to grant statehood to Palestine against Israel’s objections.

Watch video below, via Fox News:

[Photo via screengrab]

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