Though Bush did not refer to Obama by name, his remarks, political analysts say, were made in the context of Obama's repeated pledge to talk with the Iranian President and other leaders shunned by the Bush administration in an effort to resolve the differences.

Bush's comments made in Jerusalem during an address to Israeli Parliament on the country's 60th anniversary were promptly denounced by Obama who accused him of indulging in "politics of fear" and strongly condemned by his rival Hillary Clinton as "offensive and outrageous."

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush told the Israeli parliament.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," he said, drawing parallels with the 1930s capitulation to the Nazis.

Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Biden denounced Bush for making the statement especially in a foreign country and said if he believes too strongly, he should fire his Secretaries of State and Defence who too have advocated policies of negotiations with the Iranians.