Kerry: Romney wrong on Obama and Israel

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) accused Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of a “fundamental lie” on Friday for repeatedly claiming that President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus.

Kerry's harsh words come as the White House has pushed back at any suggestions that there is daylight between Israel and the United States on preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. 

After Obama spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone on Friday, the White House immediately said the two were in “full agreement,” even though Obama has not heeded Netanyahu's calls to spell out specific red lines Iran will not be allowed to cross.

Speaking on MSNBC, Kerry called the notion that Obama has thrown Israel under the bus “unbelievably cynical” and a “fundamental lie.”

“And Mitt Romney ought to be ashamed of himself for continuing to say it when he knows that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have both said this administration has the strongest security and military cooperation with Israel it has ever had. Ever,” he said. “And the president has taken steps to put America in a position to deal with Iran with whatever eventuality may be necessary, and I mean whatever eventuality may be necessary.

“The president has said point-blank American policy is not a matter of containment, it is a matter of prevention,” Kerry said. Iran “will not have the ability to make a bomb. And the president is prepared to back that up. So, there is no gap here.”

Romney accused Obama during his acceptance speech for the GOP nomination in Tampa, Fla., last month of “throwing allies like Israel under the bus.” He and other Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), have since repeated the line, hoping to hurt Obama on national security and with Jewish voters ahead of the November election.

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