Spokesman skips answering question

President Obama's chief spokesman has deflected a question about Hamas and its intentions for Israel.

Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, posed the question to press secretary Robert Gibbs: "Why did the president expect Israel to agree to a two-state solution when Hamas, which rules Gaza, insists on a one-state solution and the end of Israel?"

Gibbs replied, "Well, the president discussed directly with the prime minister, as you heard him say, the need to do all that we can to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That's the obligation of all involved as well as the obligation, as you've heard the president say both in visiting parts of Israel that are shelled by rockets as well as today, that the mutual – there's mutual security obligations on the part of the Palestinians, and that the best way to minimize the – any impact that Hamas has is to address both of those concerns directly."

As WND reported Sunday, a national security adviser for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted ahead of Netanyahu's White House meeting with Obama that the two leaders have a different approach to the conflict.

WND first reported last week that unlike the Bush administration, Obama's staff is not coordinating its policy on Iran or the greater Middle East with Israel and has not been informing the Jewish state of its plans or recent diplomatic developments in the Mideast, according to sources in Netanyahu's office.

The silence extends to U.S. talks with the Palestinians, the sources said.

"Our intention and our hope as we go to Washington is to establish close intimate cooperative relationships on these sensitive matters," a top Netanyahu official told WND last week.

According to other sources in the prime minister's office, Israel has been obtaining the vast majority of its information regarding U.S. plans and advances for the Middle East from third parties, mostly European diplomats.

This is in stark contrast to Bush's eight-year presidency, during which the White House and State Department routinely briefed Israeli counterparts on Middle East affairs to the extent that the majority of official U.S. and Israeli statements on various policy issues were heavily coordinated.

"Right now there is next to no communication coming to us from the White House," said a source in Netanyahu's office.

Kinsolving was rebuffed on a second question.

"Does the president believe his CIA chief was right or wrong? That's all," Kinsolving asked, referring to the dispute between the agency at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over what she was told about interrogation techniques for captured terrorists.

"We did this earlier," Gibbs said.

He had interrupted another reporter during the news briefing to cut off a similar question.

The reporter asked: "Somebody suggested that Speaker Pelosi should come forward with the evidence of her allegation that the CIA misled her. Does the president agree that she should have some evidence ...

"You know, I appreciated the opportunity to get involved in this on Friday and I declined, and I haven't changed my mind on Monday," Gibbs said.

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