'Regardless of outcome, Israel will retain bipartisan support'

The Israeli government is indifferent to the results of the U.S. presidential elections, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israel Radio on Tuesday in a wide-ranging interview.

Asked whether Israel would be disappointed if Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who is seen as more sympathetic toward Israel, loses on Tuesday, Ayalon, who was Israel's ambassador to the U.S. from 2002 to 2006, said: "For Israel, the best American president is the president who will be best for America. The one that the Americans elect. We have never interfered, and we must never interfere, but we will continue to enjoy the bipartisan support of the U.S., so the result of the election almost doesn't matter.”

"Anyone who thinks that Israel was counting on any kind of result is sadly mistaken. I can tell you for a fact that we are not involved, we made no bets, and that we are even indifferent toward the election results," Ayalon said.

Addressing speculations that President Barack Obama, if re-elected, would pressure Israel to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, Ayalon said, "I don't expect pressure on Israel. Israel does not need any pressure to achieve diplomatic agreements or peace — it is in our own best interest.”

But he said it was more important to preserve the security, existence and future of Israel, and not rush into any agreement, doing so only in a calculated fashion out of mutual respect.

"We cannot do that while the Palestinians are waging unilateral moves," Ayalon said.

"I think President [Barack] Obama said it himself. He tried, at the start of his term, to launch certain efforts, which failed. The reason they failed was because, again, you can't achieve peace through pressure, but only through true desire on both sides. Unfortunately we don't see any true desire on the side of [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, especially not in light of his latest actions and the provocative bid he is planning at the U.N."

As for Abbas' recent interview on Channel 2, in which he implied that he would be willing to relinquish the Palestinian demand for a right of return in exchange for peace with Israel, Ayalon said, "If Abbas really thinks that, he should say so in Gaza, Ramallah, or the offices of the Arab League in Cairo." He added that even Abbas' spokesman had admitted that the president's remarks were meant to influence the coming Israeli elections.

Pressed about the personal differences between Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ayalon said, "The reality is that when you are at the helm of the most important and powerful superpower in the world, or at the head of the Israeli government, there may be bouts of personal conflicts, but these are pushed aside when your objectives are nearly identical in terms of the Iranian issue, the upheaval in the Arab world, the global economy or the conflict with the Palestinians. I think that though every country has the right to its own stance — not everything is identical — overall the relationship will continue to be a working, good relationship. The moves on the ground will be more important than the personal relationship, and I don't foresee any change on that front. On the contrary."

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