White House defends US envoy Gutman over Israel remarks

[Gerald]

The White House has rejected Republican calls to sack the US envoy to Belgium over remarks he made last week on anti-Semitism in Europe.

Ambassador Howard Gutman said failure to resolve the Middle East conflict was breeding a new type of bigotry.Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused the envoy of downplaying anti-Semitism.But the Obama administration said it had "full confidence" in the diplomat, and that he was expressing his opinion."He was sharing his views on an issue," state department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Monday. "Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16041640


Note: 5 December 2011 Last updated at 22:04 GMT