OBAMA INTERFERING IN ISRAELI ELECTIONS

The POTUS was recently quoted by Jeffrey Goldberg in a pretty hostile column at Bloomberg saying "Israel doesn't know its own best interests". Some Likud officials are charging now that Obama is interfering in the Israeli elections:

...Likud officials accused Obama of “gross interference” in the Israeli election and said the president was “taking revenge” against Netanyahu for his perceived intervention in the November US election on behalf of unsuccessful Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The officials said Obama had been swayed against Netanyahu by President Shimon Peres and former prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, who heads the Likud’s response team, said Goldberg was merely a dovish publicist trumpeting the views of the American far-Left.

“This is gossip a journalist wrote, and the facts suggest that the opposite is true,” Erdan said. “Israelis expect their prime minister not to give in to pressure, even if it would give them applause in the United States.”

That's right, and Goldberg himself is a disgrace. Again, we have here a case of leftists denying the legitimacy of Israeli land all for the sake of fabrications.

Update: Netanyahu has responded:

Only the people of Israel can decide who will represent their best interests, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in remarks directed at President Barack Obama a week prior to the general election.

"I think everyone knows that the citizens of Israel are the only ones who can decide who will faithfully represent the vital interests of the state," he said. [...]

Netanyahu told reporters on a tour of an army base near Gaza that, "Over the last four years, we have faced tremendous pressure and we will continue to stand up for the vital interests of Israel and its security."

"We will do everything necessary to defend the security of the citizens of Israel in this area as well as in other areas," the prime minister said, in remarks broadcast by public radio.

Exactly.

Update 2: FOX News says that Obama's comments could backfire.

Update 3: more notes from Jonathan Tobin.