“I never retracted my speech in Bar-Ilan University six years ago calling for a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognized the Jewish state,” Netanyahu said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution," Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. But on Thursday, with his job safely back in his hands, Netanyahu took to the US airwaves to assuage White House concerns he has reneged on the peace process.White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that, despite Netanyahu’s American media interviews, the US will “still evaluate” its policy on the Middle East peace process.With a sharper tone since first reacting to Israel’s election results on Wednesday, Earnest characterized Netanyahu’s claim that Arabs were voting “in droves” against him as a “cynical Election Day tactic.”Obama administration officials hinted broadly that the US may – for the first time – back a UN Security Council resolution laying down the principles for a two-state solution, or support a Palestinian bid to join the UN as a full member. What we will look at is the content of a resolution.”The prime minister’s pre-election comments, Earnest said, called into question his commitment to the pursuit of peace and have forced the US government to reassess its stance.“What is clear is that in the context of the campaign and while he was the sitting prime minister of Israel he walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two state solution,” Earnest said.The Israeli-US Strategic Partnership Act that passed the House of Representatives last December, identified a two-state solution as a US goal to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, Earnest said.”We believe [Netanyahu] changed his position,” Psaki said. He blamed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for being responsible for part of that change, saying that he refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and has made a pact with Hamas that calls for Israel’s destruction.He also said that all territory vacated in the Middle East is taken over by Islamist forces.“If you want to get peace, you’ve got to get the Palestinian leadership to abandon their pact with Hamas and engage in genuine negotiations with Israel for an achievable peace,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to suppress a vote, I was trying to get something to counter a foreign- funded effort to get votes that are intended to topple my party, and I was calling on our voters to come out.”Netanyahu, in his first interview since the election, said while he and Obama may have their differences, “we have so many things that unite us. We have a situation in the Middle East that is very dangerous and presents a common challenge to us.”The prime minister said that although he has not yet spoken to Obama, he is sure he will soon.“We work together. America has no greater ally than Israel, and Israel has no greater ally than the United States.”Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni said Thursday it was sad that “after another zigzag from Netanyahu on two states, there is no one left in the world who believes the prime minister of Israel.”No Likud MK was willing to criticize Netanyahu Thursday for his two-state endorsement, despite many being opposed to such a move.Meanwhile, US administration officials were quoted in The New York Times on Thursday saying that Obama – following Netanyahu’s reelection – will not “waste his time” on the managing Israel-US relations, delegating it instead to Secretary of State John Kerry.The Times quoted a senior White House official as saying that the US position has been to support direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.“We are now in a reality where the Israeli government no longer supports direct negotiations,” he said.
– With polls showing him in trouble on the eve of Israel's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed his support for a two-state solution with Palestinians and immediately reversed his political fortunes. With his victory less than two days old, he has already backtracked, reports the Jerusalem Post. “I haven't changed my policy," he tells Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC in an interview that airs this evening, as quoted in the New York Times. "I don’t want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution, but for that, circumstances have to change." Netanyahu says his comments before the election—in answer to a question, he said there would be no two-state solution under his watch—were more a reflection of how things had changed on the Palestinian side in recent years. “I was talking about what is achievable and what is not achievable," he said. "We have to have real negotiations with people who are committed to peace.” Critics had accused him of pandering to right-wing voters to avoid defeat. In the MSNBC interview, Netanyahu also denied that his last-minute video warning supporters that Arabs were voting "in droves" was an attempt to whip up anti-Palestinian sentiment, reports CNN. "I wasn't trying to suppress the vote," he said. "I was calling on our voters to come out." The original two-state comment in particular had irritated the White House, which warned it was re-evaluating its relations with Israel.