Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, March 23, 2015

White House chief of staff says US will have Israel’s back

23 March 2015, 8:26 pm 1 Edit

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, speaking at the J Street conference in Washington, tells the crowd that the US commitment to Israel is not contingent on who the prime minister is.

“No matter who leads Israel, America’s commitment to Israel’s security will never waver,” he says. “Our security, military and intelligence cooperation is stronger than it’s ever been, and that’s not going to change.”

McDonough also refers to Netanyahu’s “troubling” remarks on Election Day and in the run-up to the vote, rejecting Palestinian statehood: “Such contradictory comments call into question his commitment to a two-state solution. We cannot simply pretend that these comments were never made,” he says, to massive applause.