Marco Rubio and Benjamin Netanyahu Toast Israel Ties — With Water Bottles
Image by getty images
Senator Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toasted their nations’ close ties on Wednesday with a click of plastic water bottles reminiscent of the Republican’s sip seen ‘round the world in Washington last week.
Photographers captured the cross-table gesture in Netanyahu’s office moments after Rubio remarked how Israel resides “in a challenging neighbourhood,” and he was “pleased” President Barack Obama would be visiting Israel next month.
“Certainly our commitment to that partnership is bipartisan and it should remain that way,” Rubio said, adding how he felt Israeli-US ties were “one of the most important ones we have”.
Rubio famously interrupted his delivery of the official Republican response to Obama’s State of the Union address on Feb. 12 to take a swig of water from a plastic bottle, video of which went viral across the Internet.
Netanyahu had his own brush with embarrassment this past week with Israeli newspaper reports that his family had spent several thousand dollars in the past year on gourmet ice cream.
Rubio, 41, from Florida was an active campaigner for Mitt Romney’s failed bid to unseat Obama in November. Netanyahu also made little secret of having backed Romney, having had strained ties with Obama over Middle East policy differences.
Netanyahu said, though, in response to Rubio’s comments on Obama’s impending visit that “we look forward to receiving him”.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
