French President Nicolas Sarkozy told U.S. President Barack Obama last week he was fed up with dealing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and considered him a liar. Sarkozy made the comment during a private conversation with Obama during a G20 summit in the French Riviera town of Cannes last week, and the remarks were overheard by a small number of journalists but not initially reported. "I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar," Sarkozy told Obama during a frank exchange in which the U.S. president took him to task for backing the Palestinian request for membership in the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments, which were relayed by a French Internet outlet Tuesday. Obama said he had to deal regularly with Netanyahu even if Sarkozy was fed up with the Israeli leader, according to the translation of a French interpreter during their Cannes exchange. In their quest for statehood recognition, the Palestinians have requested membership in the U.N., in addition to the organization's Paris-based UNESCO subsidiary. France voted in favor of the UNESCO request but said last week it would abstain in any vote on membership in the U.N. Washington has vowed to veto such a move, and Paris and Washington have urged renewed peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
Sarkozy tells Obama he is fed up with Netanyahu
Sarkozy made the comment during a private conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama during a G20 summit in the French Riviera town of Cannes last week, and the remarks were overheard by a small number of journalists but not initially reported.
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