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President-elect Donald Trump's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should already put to rest qualms about the future partnership between the United States and Israel, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer contended Thursday.
Speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Spicer pointed to Netanyahu's recent praise of the president-elect and his willingness to work with the incoming administration as a sign of good things to come between Israel and the U.S.
Spicer told Hewitt:
I will tell you that the relationship with Israel, both in terms of what the president-elect has said and what you say Prime Minister Netanyahu said yesterday in terms of looking forward to working with this next administration, really should highlight to anybody who is concerned about Israel or who loves Israel that this administration is going to put Israel in its rightful place as a true, true friend of the United States and a beacon of democracy in the Middle East.
In the wake of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians, Trump took to Twitter to reassure his administration's commitment to Israel.
We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1482934786.0
not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1482935111.0
Netanyahu said Wednesday that he is looking forward to working with Trump on repealing the resolution.
On Thursday, Spicer said that while the Obama administration has "every right" to continue to "do certain things" as Obama is still the president, some items — such as the U.N. resolution — do make the transition to Trump's presidency more difficult.
"[Obama] is still president for the next 22 days to do certain things. But I think that, you know, is something that I believe makes it a little bit tougher in terms of the transition on the policy side," Spicer said.
However, the former Republican National Committee spokesman did differentiate between the logistics and policy sides of the transition and complimented the president for being "very gracious" in terms of the transition logistically.
Listen to Spicer's full interview here.
