MJ Rosenberg has a genius post about Israeli President Shimon Peres sending his New Year's greeting to Iran right on the heels of Obama's greeting to Iran.
I hear that the White House is furious.
Today's Times reports that when asked about the Israeli move, Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I know we notified our allies about our
message last evening," saying he did not know if the Israelis had been
notified.
Of course, they were. No other ally is as concerned about Iran as
Israel so Jerusalem must have been at the top of the list of those
notified.
Did it respond with a hasty and insulting message in order to kill
the effect of President Obama's? If so, it was a serious breach. If
the shoe was on the other foot, Jerusalem would go ballistic.
know what happened. If it was an innocent coincidence, fine. If it
wasn't, it bodes ill for any US attempt to mend relations with Iran
Ilene Cohen makes a similar point about the gestures:
article online entitled, "Obama and Israeli Leader Make Taped Appeals
to Iran," which is mostly about President Obama's truly groundbreaking
message to the people and government of Iran. No threats. No nuclear
talk. No regime change talk. Peres of Israel, by contrast, issued
greetings to the people of Iran in a typically cheesy Israeli
production urging them to think twice about Ahmadinejad; the smallness
screams out. I found it offensive to see the two sets of greetings
packaged together by the Times, since other than that both were
"messages" to Iran, they have nothing else in common. Mr. Peres, you
are no Barack Obama.
And here's another Jewish writer echoing that point to me:
This is amazing. The President of the United States offers an olive branch
but the Times couples it with bullshit from the twobit President of a
pissant country. Also, is it a coincidence that Peres issued this
today? Or is his intent to make it look like a coordinated good
cop/bad cop act.
"pissant country"
bwahahahaa
And today, Iran's response to President Obama is being characterised as a rejection of his overtures.
What is the White House response to Israel's diplomatic dissing by sending an immediate and different message? What is our media's response? This is the news, goddammit, and instead we're all being manipulated from Tel Aviv. Obama has to assert himself by refusing to tolerate this crap. No way around it.
Now I've seen everything. Only an iguana with an IQ of 7 could really believe that Obama's speech was not coordinated with that of Shimon Perez. Is it because the White House says so? Saying so doesn't make it so!
Israel is trying to make Iran's leaders 'think' Obama is coordinating with Israel.
Read W&M on how Israel has always tried to deep six US relations with any other country in the ME.
The dog pissing on (y)our leg, no question about it.
This must rankle with the Administration, musn't it, Peres' (is he losing his mind? See also Davos) basically sabotaging their (Obama's?) initiative, after all of J'sem's warmongering toward the Mullah's?
A few more of these incidents and a massive rift between W'ton and J'sem becomes unavoidable. Then we might actually see Obama's true colours…
All in all these niggling changes don't make me feel like breaking into 'Winds of Change' song, a la Scorpions, but some modicum of optimism is filling me.
Thank also once more to Mondoweiss to keep us Europeans informed of the small but intricate shifts in internal US foreign policy, the adventures with the Lobby and related matters…
Adventures with the Lobby! Episode 21: The Barbarians are at the Gate
Ah, American,
"Deep six," my foot. The aim is to keep the situation ambiguous. The Peres' speech is meant to make Obama look like the better choice.
I fell backward into the sewer of geopolitics some thirty years ago and now, having lived for nearly eight dedaces, I wish I had a hard hat and a light. And I've been a Jew for the whole time. But there is no light.
Peres thinks he's on the same level as the President of the United States?
Loved this:
This was the original heading to the on-line story in the Times about Obama's message to Iran — before they judged to piggy-back the one from Peres:
In a Video Appeal to Iran, Obama Offers a ‘New Day’
And this is what Peres said, according to the Jerusalem Post:
President Shimon Peres issued an audio greeting to the Iranian people, urging them to shake off the rule of "an oppressive and fanatical regime" and return to relations of peace and harmony with Israel, which, he recalled, the two countries enjoyed when the Shah was in power, until 1979. He called on the "noble Iranian people" to eschew the rhetoric of hate and even offered a greeting for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, in Persian.
Israel Radio, which operates a channel in Persian, aired the message, also conducting an interview with Peres where he recalled a visit to Iran in the 1970s and recounted his visits to Iranian military bases and praised the "gracious" demeanor of the Shah…
He dismissed the apparent hordes of supporters seen in televised speeches given by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "sycophants or people who are afraid [of the regime]."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461631803&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Sound like "reaching out" to you?
If it wasn’t calculated to undermine Obama’s message (I think so), then certainly it was meant to inflame the Iranian regime. . .
Obama's comments stand.
Iran's response was that the US must remove its support from Israel to consider detente.
What are they thinking? Israel is an ally. Iran is a gamble.
I so much wish that MJ Rosenburg would allow comments on his blog, or some way to communicate with him directly.
agree that it was typical of israelk to sabatoge the whole thing, this time by piggybacking on oabmas message.
but it's worth noting that Bush had statements like this to "the iranian people" all the time, similarly eloquent.
the difference in the adminstrations is the OVERALL tone, not just in one video
Obama offers a a fledgling olive branch, Israel, our "special [very expensive)" partner, tells the Iranians we liked you better when your leaders were a proxy government for the USA-Israeli special interests. Jeez.
I think Obama was intent on at least going through the motions of offering true diplomacy, rather than simple gunboat diplomacy (if nothing else, to set up a peace-intent charade before the attack on Iran), but the Israelis, being Israelis, just had to jump in too. The Israeli mouth that reached out was truly juvenile–asking the Persian mass man to feel good about the Shah regime? I thought jews were suppose to be smart…
My original understanding was the videos were made in tandem, which may have come from the original NY Times article. Regardless, the Iranians should point out the same day Obama sent the video to Iranians a US troop lander crashed into a US nuclear submarine in the Strait of Hormuz. The troop lander is an offensive weapon used for invasions, not the kind of vessel used to ensure shipping lanes are safe. President Obama should precede his words with actions, otherwise they appear as lies.
Israeli leaders are haughty. They know they are the little state here and they would not survive without big daddy's support so they act up. Jealousy was definitely at play here. Peres wasn't going to let Obama bask in the international light of praise that would follow. He couldn't turn the spot light off so he dimmed it by issuing his own statement. What a shrewd move.
Remember what Clinton said about Netanyahu during the (Oslo?): "Who the fuck does he think he is? Who's the fucking superpower here?"
I wonder if Obama said something similar. If he did it was probably out of earshot of Rham Emanuel.
Having said that, the message may have resonated with the public more than with the government. As a Muslim, it certainly would make me happy if Obama came out with a Ramadan greeting, but at the same time that wouldn’t take away from my criticism of how he ignored American Muslims in his election. In fact, as I would think about it more I would realize how superficial the greeting is because come next election he will marginalize us again so that he’s not accused of being a secret Muslim or God forbid, have a bit of sympathy for them.
@ Witty, I almost hate to do this. Subject anyone else to your totally predictable prose. but here it is….
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/03/21/did_israel_intentionally_subert_obamas_iran_messag/#comments
Israelis are the experts in cheesy messages. Just in case anyone missed this great Israeli defense firm's presentation to Indian officials:
Hmm, since i wasn't able to embed the video, here's the link
link to blog.wired.com
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@ ahmed,
I heard that in India it was received well. But as a South Asian, no I'm not Indian, I was insulted. Forget the cheesy, it bordered on disrespect for South Asian culture. I'm not very uptight and can laught with anyone about race/muslim jokes but this video just made me uncomfortable.
The woman's shrill voice was very annoying and her make-up was horrible. The dance was horrible. I think Indian dance is beautiful and artistic as opposed to the vulgarity of the hip-hop dance culture. I don't know but the video made me uncomforable, but then I'm not Indian so I will just leave it to the Indians to decide if they liked it or not.
Israel is an ally.
Posted by: Richard Witty
Does the United States benefit in any measurable way from having Israel as an ally?
"Israel is an ally."
This was true during the Cold War but it no longer seems to apply. Israel has become a parasite.
Israel is an ally in the same sense the old "welfare queens" were Democratic allies/voters. Clinton changed the welfare laws, stealing the Republican agenda; now Obama is revising again, without mentioning the
old term "welfare." Time for the USA to reform its foreign aid policy.
Early Saturday am (around 7:30) the Obama video story was played large and central, w/o mention of Peres. Checking later, I saw the fonts had been reduced, story shoved off to the left column, both videos presented together as a package. Having been pleasantly surprised by the 7:30 story (well, ok, ASTONISHED — enough that I watched it twice, drinking strong coffee to make certain I wasn't still asleep), the later, good cop/bad cop iteration was down-letting.
Does the United States benefit in any measurable way from having Israel as an ally?
No.
Saleema, as an Indian, I can't believe it was well-received. look at how it was mocked on this Desi, secular website, Sepia Mutiny
sample response:
That was absolutely horrible. Just plain horrible. Babies are crying, donkeys are braying, ostriches have their heads in sand. Seriously, for a million dollars they could have financed a film with legit Bollywood actors and really pimped their company in some fictional Indian military action flick.
@ ahmed,
Great Site. I checked it out. I'm glad i wasn't the only one unhappy about it and that Indians were rightly offended as well. I read it on Haartez that it was received well in India. Glad to know it's not the case.
Gawd, how cheesy and disrespectful of another culture can one get? I sure hope the Indians were offended. If not…… even a SNL skit on the subject would be better.
My all-time favorite is Conan's Indian call center bit:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e977439bF29f5P
and another one, that was a parody of an indian film, but i can't find the clip anywhere.