In Overheard Comments, Sarkozy Calls Netanyahu a ‘Liar’

By ISABEL KERSHNER
NYT

JERUSALEM — The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, told President Obama that he could no longer bear Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and went on to call Mr. Netanyahu a “liar” in a private conversation overheard by several French journalists last week at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Cannes.

“You are fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you,” Mr. Obama replied, according to reports that flooded the main Israeli news sites on Tuesday.

The Israeli prime minister’s office refused to comment. An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for diplomatic reasons, acknowledged that given the once-close personal ties between Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Netanyahu, “it all comes as a surprise.”

The publication of the comments, bound to embarrass all three allies, came at a delicate juncture hours before the imminent release of a significant report on Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

(More here.)