GOP’s Pawlenty Blames Obama for Mideast Deadlock

By JTA June 29, 2011

Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty charged that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is “further away now” than it was the day President Obama took office.

Speaking Tuesday before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, criticized Obama’s handling of the Middle East conflict, calling his lack of judgment on dealing with Israel “stunning.”

“It breaks my heart that President Obama treats Israel, our great friend, as a problem, rather than as an ally,” Pawlenty said. “Today the president doesn’t really have a policy toward the peace process. He has an attitude. And let’s be frank about what that attitude is. He thinks Israel is the problem. And he thinks the answer is always more pressure on Israel.”

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