Ran Baratz, Netanyahu’s media chief calls Obama anti-Semitic, Kerry ‘comical’

“But obviously, the decisions that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to make about who will serve his government and represent him and his country are decisions that he rightfully will make on his own”.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu’s appointee, Ran Baratz, also once compared Secretary of State John Kerry to one “whose mental age doesn’t exceed 12”.

Back then, Obama had criticized a speech by Netanyahu in the US Congress. The Israeli prime minister had given a speech in the U.S. legislature against the then freshly-finalized deal between Iran and the P5+1.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Baratz’s comments about Obama and Kerry were “troubling and offensive”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “review” his appointment of a potential media chief for calling President Barack Obama anti-Semitic.

Netanyahu wrote on Twitter that Baratz’s posts “are totally unacceptable and in no way reflect my positions or the policies of Israel”.

Israeli officials say that Baratz will not be accompanying Netanyahu to the U.S. Baratz apologized and requested to clarify his comments in a meeting which will take place when Netanyahu returns from DC.

They said that while Obama remains committed to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, he does not believe it’s possible before he leaves office in January 2017, barring a major shift.

Officials on the call, which also included U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, said the idea of talks right now wasn’t realistic given the situation on the ground, where clashes over the Temple Mount earlier this fall spilled over into a wave of stabbing attacks against Israelis and heightened tensions in the area. “I’m sorry for not briefing the prime minister on these things beforehand”, he wrote on Facebook, adding that it is clear to him that when holding public office one must act accordingly.

Israel’s commitment to democracy must be maintained and affirmed, and the Prime Minister should work to block legislative proposals that restrict free speech and political expression.

“And that comes, of course, with much tolerance and understanding toward Islamic anti-Semitism”.

“The Jews in America who see Obama as pro-Israeli are the most extreme in their criticism of Israel”, he wrote.

And efforts will be made to try and move forward without the Israeli and Palestinian sides actually talking directly to each other on the issue.

The Times of Israel noted that the spokesman’s appointment still needs to be approved by Netanyahu’s cabinet next week. “It would be premature to talk about numbers or dollar figures”, Shapiro said.

Foxman was expressing publicly what several Jewish leaders said privately on Thursday following the revelations about Baratz’s Facebook diatribes: they were harshly critical of the appointment but even more exasperated by its timing.

He earned a PhD in philosophy from Hebrew University, did his military duty in air force intelligence and lives in the Jewish settlement of Kfar Adumim in the West Bank.

“I read for the first time the comments published by Dr. Ran Baratz on the Internet about the U.S. president and public figures in the US”.