Barack Obama's campaign yesterday accused George W. Bush of launching an "unprecedented political attack on foreign soil" during a speech to the Israeli Knesset that linked Mr Obama's call for talks with America's enemies to 1930s-style appeasement of Hitler.

Although Mr Bush did not mention Mr Obama by name, many suspect the president's remarks to Israel's parliament offered a foretaste of White House plans to assist John McCain in his goal of painting the likely Democratic nominee as unfit to be commander-in-chief.