Obama on Netanyahu: We’re Not Holding Hands, Singing Kumbaya

[rush transcript]
OBAMA: "Josh Letterman." 
LETTERMAN: "Thank you, Mr. President. You've made very clear that you're not buying Prime Minister Netanyahu attempts to walk back the comments that he made before the election opposing Palestinian statehood and reassessing your approach. What could prime minister Netanyahu do, if anything, in the short-term to persuade you that he's serious about Palestinian peace and that he is an honest broker and is there any truth that Israel was spying on the Iran talks and president ghani, if I may, you've been working hard to pursue reconciliation talks with the Taliban, but there is indications that that is not going so well and they may not be willing to sit down with you. What makes you hopeful that you can get those talks off the ground and do you want the U.S. To be involved in toez -- in those talks?"
OBAMA: "Let me first of all address your second question about spying allegations. As a general rule, I don't comment on intelligence matters in a big room full of reporters. And I think I'll continue that tradition. But with respect to the possibility of a -- an agreement that ensures that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon, we have not just briefed Congress about the progress or the lack there of being made, but we also briefed the Israelis and our other partners in the region and around the world. And if, in fact, an agreement is arrived at that we feel confident will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, it is going to be there for everybody to see. And people are going to be able to lift up the hood and see what is in there. So I have confidence that if there is an agreement, it will be a good agreement that is good for American security and Israeli security and the region's security. And if it isn't, then there probably won't be an agreement. So there will be, I think, significant transparency in the whole process. With respect to Israel's relations with the Palestinians, I think it is important to understand that the issue here is not what I believe, but it's what the Palestinians and the parties in the negotiations and the Israeli people believe is possible. That's the most important issue. I've said before and I'll simply repeat. Prime minister Netanyahu in the election run-up stated that a Palestinian state would not occur while he was prime minister. And I took him at his word, that that is what he meant. And I think that a lot of voters inside of Israel understand him to mean thattin equivocally. And afterwards he pointed out that he didn't say "Never" but there would be a series of conditions in which a Palestinian state could potentially be created but of course the conditions were such that they would be impossible to meet any time soon. So even if you accept it, I think the corrective of prime minister Netanyahu in subsequent days, there still does not afear be a prospect -- appear to be a prospect of a meaningful framework established that would lead to a Palestinian state even if there were a whole range of conditions and security requirements that might be phased in over a long period of time. Which was always the presumption. I don't think anybody ever envisioned in any peace agreement, certainly not one that prime minister Netanyahu would agree to, or that that the Israeli people would agree to, that overnight you suddenly have a Palestinian state right next to Jerusalem and that Israel would not have a whole range of security conditions that had to be met and that it would be phased in over a long period of time. So the issue has never been do you create a Palestinian state over night, but the question is do you create a process and framework that gives the Palestinians hope and the possibility that down the road they have a secure state of their own, standing side by side with a secure and fully recognized Jewish state of Israel. And I think it is not just my estimation, but I think it is hard to envision how that happens based on the prime minister's statements. And so when I said that we now have to do a -- an evaluation of where we are, it is not in reference to our commitment to Israel's military edge in the region, Israel's security, our intelligence cooperation, our military cooperation, that continues unabated. And I will continue to do whatever I need to do to make sure that our friends in Israel are safe. That is what I've done since I've been president. And that is not going to stop. And so the Israeli people need to know that. But I am required to evaluate honestly how we manage Israeli-Palestinian relations over the next several years. Because up until this point, the premise has been both under Republican and democratic administrations that as difficult as it was, as challenging as it was, the possibility of two states living side by side in peace and security could marginalize more extreme elements, bring together folks at the center and with some common sense and we could resolve what has been a vexing issue and one that is ultimately a threat to Israel as well. And that possibility seems very dim. That may trigger then reactions by the Palestinians that in turn illicit counter reactions by the Israelis and that could end up leading to a downward spiral of relations that would be dangerous for everybody, and bad for everybody. So, bottom line, just to summarize here, number one, our military intelligence cooperation with Israel will continue unabated, unaffected, and we are committed to making sure that the Israeli people are safe from rocket attacks and terrorist attacks aime civilians. Number two, that the evaluation that is taking place is specific to what happens between Israelis and Palestinians going forward. We'll continue to engage the Israeli government as well as the Palestinians and ask them where they are interested in going and where they see this interest being resolved. But what we can't do is pretend there is a possibility of something that is not there. And we can't continue to premise our public diplomacy based on something that everybody knows is not going to happen, at least in the next several years. That is something that we have to -- for the sake of our own credibility, I think we have to be able to be honest about that. And I guess one last point about this, because obviously I've heard a lot of commentary, there is a tendency I think in the reporting here to frame this somehow as a personal issue between myself and president -- prime minister Netanyahu. And I understand why that is done because when you frame it in those terms the notion is well if -- we all just get along and everybody cools down, then somehow the problem goes away. I have a very business-like relationship with the prime minister and I've met with him more than any other world leader, I talk to him all of the time. He is representing his country's interest the way he thinks he needs to and I'm doing the same. So the issue is not a matter of relations between leaders, the issue is a very clear substantive challenge. We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel's security, for Palestinian aspirations and for regional stability. That is our view and that continues to be our view. And prime minister Netanyahu has a different approach. And so this is -- this can't be reduced to a matter of somehow let's all hold hands and sing kumbaya, this is a matter of figuring out how we get through a knotty difference that has a consequence for the countries and the region."