Benjamin Netanyahu criticizes Bill Clinton’s remarks

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he "regrets" the comments made by ex-US president Bill Clinton who had said that Russian immigrants to Israel are a key obstacle to reaching peace with the Palestinians. 

In particular, Bill Clinton, speaking Tuesday at the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference, said that an increasing number of members of the Israel Defense Forces "are the children of Russians and settlers, the hardest-core people against a division of the land."

Clinton said that the migrants from Russia are a staggering problem. “It's a different Israel. 16 percent of Israelis speak Russian,” he said.

Responding to Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu said: “As a friend of Israel, Bill Clinton surely knows that immigrants from the former Soviet Union have contributed and continue to contribute greatly to the progress, development and strength of the Israel Defense Forces and to the state of Israel.”