Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a report that he called Obama advisers Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod "self-hating Jews" is "a lie."
Netanyahu said he never made the remark in an pre-Rosh Hashanah interview with Israel’s Channel 10. The original report was printed in Haaretz but did not cite a source for the quote From the interview transcript:
Yaakov Elon: "A remark has been attributed to you to the effect that Obama’s Jewish advisers, Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod are self-hating Jews. Is there truth in this?"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "This is a lie. I did not say this; I did not say this. Neither do I think it. I think that, first of all, their Jewishness is not relevant in this case. It is their private matter. They are, first of all, US citizens. They are the President’s advisers and I am certainly not going to classify them."
The remark had previously been denied by a Netanyahu spokesman and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.
