MK Ayelet Shaked. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israeli MK Ayelet Shaked slammed the Obama administration for not “understanding the rules of the jungle” when it comes to Mideast policy during remarks to U.S. Evangelical Christian pastors at the Knesset on Thursday.

“I want to thank you for your support for Israel,” Shaked told the visiting Christian leaders, who were in Israel as part of a solidarity mission organized by Christians United For Israel (CUFI).

Shaked thanked the U.S. for recently approving additional Iron Dome funding, but did not hold back criticism of President Barack Obama, saying that his administration “lacks a fundamental understanding of the Middle East.”

“They don’t understand the rules of the jungle,” Shaked said when describing recent cease-fire efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who drew a lot of criticism in Israel over the inclusion of Hamas supporters Qatar and Turkey in talks.

Since being elected to the Knesset in 2013, Shaked has been a rising star in the Jewish Home party and outspoken in her nationalist views. She even drew recent criticism from Turkey’s Islamist and anti-Israel Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who compared her to Adolf Hitler, for remarks she made on Facebook at the beginning of Operation Protective Edge.

Additionally, Shaked touched on several additional hot-button issues in her speech, including her party’s position on Judea and Samaria and prospects for a two-state solution. She told the pastors that “a Palestinian state is dangerous for Israel” and that Israel should annex Area C of the West Bank, a position that has been advocated by her party’s leader, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett.

CUFI Executive Director David Brog reacted to Shaked’s comments by explaining that CUFI “has a clear policy—we do not interfere in internal Israeli politics.”

“The people of Israel are the only people who have the right to make the decisions about war and peace, on which their future depends,” Brog toldJNS.org.

“We invited members of both Yesh Atid and Bayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) to address our delegation, and Ayelet Shaked was the only senior member of either party to accept our invitation, and we were honored to hear her,” he added.