the white house sent a stern message on monday to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, with president obama's chief of staff declaring that tel aviv 'must end' a 47 year policy of holding contested territory that palestinians claim as their own 'an occupation that has lasted for almost than 50 years must end,' denis mcdonough told an annual convention of 'j street,' a left wing jewish advocacy group, in washington, dc obama himself did not attend, but sent mcdonough to read a speech in his stead while he attended a science fair for schoolchildren at the white house and gave brief remarks to an investment summit 'an occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end,' said mcdonough, his eyes often glued to his paper 'and the palestinian people must have the right to live in and govern themselves in their own sovereign state' 'palestinian children deserve the same right to be free in their own land as israeli children in their land,' he declared later to applause scroll down for video  obama chief of staff denis mcdonough spoke at the annual meeting of j street, a liberal jewish group, insisting that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu withdraw his objection to palestinian statehood  missed the deadline: j street's printed program left open the possibility that president obama might have delivered the speech, but he had declined to address the more conservative aipac group three weeks ago  mixed signals: the white house has excoriated israeli prime minister benjamin netnyahu and negotiated a nuclear deal with iran while simultaneously insisting it's a strong ally to tel aviv  the printed program said only that a 'us administration speaker' would address the crowd had the president delivered the message himself, comparisons would have instantly been made to the american israel public affairs committee, j street's conservative counterpart, which obama snubbed during the week when netanyahu was in the us to deliver a speech to congress but obama managed to be elsewhere, leaving mcdonough to walk on stage to the sound of the who's 'teenage wasteland' – whose fourth stanza opens with, 'the exodus is here / the happy ones are near' he immediately grabbed the liberal crowd's attention with news that the president 'has appointed more women, minorities, and openly gay judges' than any other oval office occupant but it was mention of a 'two state solution' to the decades old arab israeli conflict that brought the disproportionately young crowd, seeded wth raucous college students, to its feet 'president obama asked me to convey his deep appreciation to all of you for your partnership and your work on behalf of the us israel relationship,' mcdonough said near the beginning of his speech 'especially building support for our efforts to advance a two state solution' netanyahu, now poised for another four years as prime ministrer, pledged before last week's israeli elections that with his likud party in power, he would refuse to allow the palestinian authority to graduate to full statehood he qualified that promise after his come from behind victory on election day, saying conditions on the ground would have to change before he would consider approving a palestinian state the pa, he said, would have to break with hamas and other terror groups, and stop firing rockets into israel the white house focused monday on netanyahu's pre election vow, saying that 'we cannot simply pretend that these comments were never made' the obama administration, like others before it, supports the idea of israeli and palestinian states coexisting on adjacent lands but unlike past presidents, obama's testy relationship with his israeli counterpart has brought him to the verge of taking action busy, busy, busy: president barack obama sent his chief of staff to deliver an ultimatum to israel while he presided over a science fair in the east room at the white house  enthusiastic: liberal jews, led by college students on spring break, erupted into applause at the mention of a two state solution  tensions: palestinian authority leader mahmoud abbas (right) argues – and j street agrees – that israel is encroaching on his people's lands with settlements (left) built by netanyahu's government  the us has for decades used its permanent member veto on the united nations security council to block resolutions demanding palestinian statehood that, white house officials signaled las tweek, could soon change mcdonough followed his saber rattling in netanyahu's direction with a calmer assurance that 'no matter who leads israel, america’s commitment to israeli national security will never waver' that was meant to be a salve for jews who fear a nuclear armed iran less than 1,000 miles away, an outcome the white house says it's trying to avoid with secret negotiations conducted in switzerland the us, mcdonough said, 'will do everything in our power to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon' 'the deal we are pursuing is both realistic and achievable,' he said of the bilateral talks, which netanyahu and congressional republicans in washington have criticized as a tool of appeasement that's too soft on tehran 'a scenario where iran forgoes domestic enrichment capacity for all time would surely be ideal, but it’s not grounded in reality,' mcdonough declared 'not even our closest partners support denying iran the ability to pursue peaceful nuclear energy forever, and iran already knows how to enrich uranium' 'we can’t turn back the clock on that,' he said
washington 'j street last week's jewish bibi netanyahu palestinian mcdonough denis mcdonough arab obama israel us annual
president obama didn't personally address the annual meeting of 'j street,' washington's most influential left wing jewish group  he sent chief of staff instead to read a speech to thousands of activists while he attended a science fair and an investment summit  denis mcdonough insisted the us will remain friendly to israel  but he slammed bibi netanyahu for saying before last week's election that there wouldn't be a palestinian state while he was prime minister  hundreds of college students in the audience cheered at mcdonough's mention of a 'two state solution' to the arab israeli conflict 