AP
"When the president discusses Israel and Iran, it is sometimes hard to tell who he thinks is America's friend and who he thinks is America's enemy. The House of Representatives has no trouble drawing that distinction," Boehner said in a lengthy statement Wednesday afternoon.
Boehner also hinted Obama should dismiss the official who made the remark to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, as part of a piece that warned of a full-blown crisis in US-Israel relations.
"Over the last several months, I have watched the administration insult ally after ally," Boehner said. "I am tired of the administration's apology tour. The president sets the tone for his administration. He either condones the profanity and disrespect used by the most senior members of his administration, or he does not. It is time for him to get his house in order and tell the people that can't muster professionalism that it is time to move on."
Asked about Boehner's comments Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, "It's a little rich to have a lecture about profanity from the Speaker of the House."
Boehner's comments were among the most biting from a slew of Republicans who criticized the White House on Wednesday. The Obama administration moved quickly to denounce the official's comments, calling them "inappropriate" and "counterproductive." However, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday the administration was not attempting to discover which official made the comments.
Tensions between the US and Israel, who have long been allies, have increased dramatically under Obama and Netanyahu. For the last month, officials from both governments have privately and publicly criticized the other over the Palestinian peace process and settlement building in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. Netanyahu's government also staunchly opposes any possible deal on Iran's nuclear program.
"The thing about Bibi is, he's a chickenshit," the unidentified official told Goldberg of his attitude toward the peace process. The official also called Netanyahu a "coward" on the issue of the Iranian nuclear threat.
Boehner's full statement on the matter is below:
"The strength of America's leadership in the world is predicated on the universality of our values, including freedom, democracy, and economic opportunity, and our unwavering support for our friends and allies. This unwavering support is not mere sentiment, but the bedrock of security alliances and security guarantees that have ensured peace and suppressed the desire for international arms races. For the last six years, this long-standing and bipartisan framework has been tested by an Obama administration that has repeatedly chased after adversaries at the expense of core U.S. national security interests and the security, confidence, and trust of our allies.
"Nowhere is the fundamental failure more apparent than in the disrespectful rhetoric used time and again by this administration with respect to the special relationship the United States has with the state of Israel. The administration has tried to convince Congress and the American people that we should trust the president's pursuit of a nuclear deal with the government of Iran while refusing to address substantive concerns about the regime's sponsorship of terrorism and abysmal human rights record. The administration scoffs at the enduring willingness of members of both parties to maintain commitments to our friends and allies, contending that those commitments are mere sentiment, while all the while the administration and the president himself are taken aback that friends and allies won't support him when he ignores them and, in some cases, belittles them.
"When the president discusses Israel and Iran, it is sometimes hard to tell who he thinks is America's friend and who he thinks is America's enemy. The House of Representatives has no trouble drawing that distinction. Over the last several months, I have watched the administration insult ally after ally. I am tired of the administration's apology tour. The president sets the tone for his administration. He either condones the profanity and disrespect used by the most senior members of his administration, or he does not. It is time for him to get his house in order and tell the people that can't muster professionalism that it is time to move on."