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more than one occasion, I told President Obama, and before that Presidents Bush and Clinton, the following: "On issues that we believe are essential to the security and future of Israel and of the Jewish people, Israel will make its decisions alone and on its own responsibility and act upon them. We cannot, and will not want to", I added, "delegate the responsibility for such decisions, when required, even to the best of our friends — which 1s you." The US presidents, I note, did not always like this statement — but they respected it. ¢ Inthe same token, I told members of the cabinet more than once — "we must always remember that the US 1s also a sovereign state. And it expects us to respect its right to form HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029375