Ira Glunts reports:
This weekend the Israeli daily, Ma’ariv, published an interview in Hebrew with Professor Ben Zion Netanyahu, the 99-year-old father of the new Israeli prime minister. The elder Netanyahu is known for his outspokenness and extreme right-wing views--and he did nothing to contradict his reputation. He decreed that the only solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is the use of military force. He stated that he would not return the Golan Heights to Syria because "you do not return land." He also explained that in his view it is impossible to compromise with Arabs. The Prime Minister's father further opines that the Turks used brutal deadly force to suppress the Arab population and that should be an example to Israel in dealing with Arabs whose nature dictates that they live in a state of perpetual war.
There are reports that the Prime Minister's Office unsuccessfully tried to convince Ma'ariv to suppress publication of this article since the elder Netanyahu's controversial views would be embarrassing for his son.
When I learned of the interview, I searched Google hoping to learn more about the father. In doing so, I stumbled across a February television interview with both father and son, again, in Hebrew. In this brief television appearance the then-candidate Benjamin Netanyahu appears very comfortable when his father states that Israel is today in great danger of being completely destroyed and that the "holocaust never ended and is continuing at this very moment." In this dual appearance, Benjamin Netanyahu, reflecting the direct influence of his father's view that no territory should ever be returned, proclaims that there will not be any evacuations of settlements during his administration. This position places him on a direct collision course with the Obama administration which claims to want to work toward a negotiated peace in the region.
What follows is a translation of Netanyahu's statements (from 3:55 of the video):
Question: So you can say that the Likud [Netanyahu’s party] will not evacuate settlements during its term of office?
Netanyahu: Yes.
Question: Will not evacuate?
Netanyahu: Indeed.
As the interviewer stated, Benjamin Netanyahu has been greatly influenced by the views of his father. Under his father’s watchful eye and possibly affected by what some say has been an overbearing parental manner that influence is very painfully apparent.
i left this link here a few days ago… it is about the same issue.
link to richardsilverstein.com
The Netanyahus, father and son,have hardened their mind to the extent that it denies human inclinations for sweetness and trust.
They are ungracious and unforgiving and dangers to any healthy commonweal.
I recall seeing 'Bibi' Netanyahu on the “Today” program in the early 80s. He was asked if there was any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. He said no because Arabs were incapable of fulfilling any agreement they entered into*. I believe that at the time of this “Today” program appearance, Netanyahu had just been made Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
*You know how those desert critters are! (LOL – see the Silverstein article referenced above about Bibi's dad)
Q: You don’t like the Arabs, to say the least.
A (Bibi's dad): “The Bible finds no worse image than this of the man from the desert. And why? Because he has no respect for any law. Because in the desert he can do as he pleases.
ENTIRE SILVERSTEIN POST WITH EXCERPTS OF THE INTERVIEW WITH BIBI NETANYAHU'S FATHER – link to richardsilverstein.com
Oh Netanyahu will evacuate settlements, only they'll be caravan outposts. There will be wide media coverage of the violent uprooting of the settlers (or rather, outposters). And Israel will say to the world, Look at what we give and give to the Palestinians. And they respond with terror.
This is the Israeli game, no matter who the government. But I'm willing to bet that Netanyahu will raise this type of deception to new levels.
Israel won't ever to win the hearts and minds of anyone as long it keeps allowing right wing fundamentalists to seize hilltops in the West Bank, cut down the olive groves and throw rocks at Palestinian children on their way to school. There are only two places in the world that treat such abuses as fully defensible–Israel and the United States.
JERUSALEM POST headline:
'Israel not taking orders from Obama'
Do you think they will stop taking money?
It seems the apple falls very close to the tree.
Netanyahu is not his father.
You guys attempted the same "guilt of the father" crap with Rahm Emanuel.
Netanyahu's administration is too early to judge, except for his approval of large settlement construction, on his first day.
Obama is a very popular man in the world, in Israel, and in the US. His very public insistence on a two-state solution, carries weight. Netanyahu will seek to delay the two-state, but will likely not go head to head against the US.
Do you think they will stop taking money?
They don't have to, at least not yet. There is no political force in the US that can yet stand up to Aipacs hold over the US Congress. Not even Obama, even if he wanted to.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562922110&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
'Israel not taking orders from Obama'
link included….
"You guys attempted the same "guilt of the father" crap with Rahm Emanuel."
@ Witty: I don't think there is generally homogenous thinking on this site. There is a wide spectrum. Maybe you don't notice. By the way, Rahm Emanuel makes me very nervous. Which army did he serve in? HMMMM let me think about it!
If anything this says just as much if not more about recent U.S. administrations, clearly including Clinton's, Bush's and now Obama's. Who after all do they think they are fooling with all their incessant talk of "peace processes" and "two-state" solutions and on and on? It was bad enough even without Netanyahu given that despite their words the Israelis just kept expanding the settlements. But then to continue such talk when a guy like Netanyahu is in power and who openly says what he intends?
A good deal of it must be simple shame; they aren't willing to go to bat for cutting off any aid to Israel, so instead, knowing the settlements will go on and never be removed they just simply pretend that they will if just the right peace process is commenced under just the right alignment of the moon and the stars. And so the settlement will go on until 99% of all Palestinian land is settled, and presumably our aid will go on infinitely to defend that.
What fools our government considers us.
You can't have your Palestinians (in their own state) and eat them also. Israel is the python that swallowed the Occupied Territories.
@ Witty
"Netanyahu is not his father.
You guys attempted the same "guilt of the father" crap with Rahm Emanuel."
Yeah, look at Chas Freeman's father. Oh we needn't bother with that. A much more flimsy
guilt-by-association will do. Why not ignore dads who were outright terrorists? BTW, it's nice we have Emanuel as Obama's gate-keeper; makes
all Americans feel well cared for once they know Emanuel can influence where our soldiers are sent, especially since Rahm personally chose to serve another nation while his own was at war
(as a civilian servant supporting the mechanics of the IDF).
"Netanyahu's administration is too early to judge, except for his approval of large settlement construction, on his first day."
LOL
Res ipsa loquitor.
"Obama is a very popular man in the world, in Israel, and in the US. His very public insistence on a two-state solution, carries weight. Netanyahu will seek to delay the two-state, but will likely not go head to head against the US."
Especially considering his approval of settlements on his first day in office.