Yossi Klein Halevi has a piece up at The New Republic on Obama’s detestation of Netanyahu and how it skews his policy against Israel. Writes a friend:
Many falsehoods. That the settlement freeze fell through because of Palestinian recalcitrance; that Iranian dissidents in 2009 chanted en masse “Obama, are you with us or against us?” No dissident quoted in the U.S. ever said such a thing, but leaders of the dissidents did say that Obama’s stance was correct; that nothing but harm could come of American posturing and denunciation, given our history with Iran.
Most symptomatic is this paragraph:
Still, in recalling his record, Obama omitted some crucial details. Israelis still recall with disbelief how Obama refused to honor Bush’s written commitment to Ariel Sharon—that the U.S. would support settlement blocs being incorporated into Israel proper. And never has an American president treated an Israeli prime minister with such shabbiness as Obama has treated Netanyahu. Indeed one gets the impression that of all the world’s leaders, Obama most detests the prime minister of Israel.
It is completely ad hominem: a reading-in that implies Obama’s resentment toward a “strong” Jewish leader–borne out by none of the facts. Also note the first-person turn, away from logic and policy (therapeutically seeking reassurance), in the final two paragraphs.
For me to trust Obama on Israel’s ultimate security threat, I need him to speak directly to Iran, not to American Jews and the Israeli public. I need to know that he is as committed to a military solution as he is to a diplomatic solution, if the first option fails. I need to know what his red line is for determining when diplomacy has exhausted itself. …
Mr. President, I’m not reassured. On this one I need to watch my own back.
What possible policy could answer such a fraternal plea? Answer: repeat after Netanyahu, “We are you, and you are us.”
We’re in for much more of this.
Update: An Iranian friend says that some Iranians did chant what Halevi says they chanted. “The Iranian words ‘oo ba ma’ means ‘he’s with us,’ which I heard was also chanted on its own. The Iranians depicted in this vid chanted: ‘Obama, Obama, ya ba oona ya ba ma.’ That means, ‘Obama, Obama, either with them or with us.'” The author of my post points out that this activity never got wide circulation in the U.S. media.
when an over-indulged child is finally told no by a parent that has had enough that child often lashes out in a petty, pouty way – not wanting the discipline that is now imposed and hoping to undo it as quickly as possible … only through sustained discipline does that child get molded to conform to a new, better type of behavior … the israeli regime, the Likkudniks and their agents and sympathizers here are that crying little child in shocked disbelief that their outrageous conduct will no longer be tolerated
Netanyahu isn’t even popular in Israel. It’s difficult to gauge because I can’t find any recent approval ratings. Even the ‘right-wing’ news gives him crap these days and several haaretz journalists at least speak their mind on the guy. A nation’s leader is supposed to represent the nation. That doesn’t always mean the nation likes the leader. Bush’s approval ratings were average until 9/11 when they soared. Then they dropped to average again until the Iraq war when strangely the soared. Then they tanked to below average right after his first term all the way to historic lows where they remained. Obama’s have been pretty darn stable at average. I voted for the guy but I don’t care for the job he has done nor will I vote for him again. For the most part Americans are not unhappy with the job he claims to have been doing. He hasn’t had a 9/11 or an Iraq war thankfully, that’s a good thing.
My point here is that Bush was detested by the American public for his entire second term and it would have happened earlier were it not for those events.
I used to teach training classes for my company’s product and we had our international subsidiaries learning it for a month. Over some drinks, somebody brought up Bush and pretty much all of them said Bush was a laughing stock in all of Europe. I believed it.
Netanyahu is the same thing. A laughing stock for rational Americans, most Europeans, and in Israel itself. Of course Obama hates him. The thing with Sarkozy comes to mind. Sarkozy is Jewish even. Netanyahu is more hated than Ariel Sharon. Menachem Begin. Any labor party leader actually. He’s irrational. He’s a pathological liar. He lies on an international stage. He’s a manipulative con-man. Anybody can see through this. No nation can ever take themselves seriously by electing such a con-man to such a position of leadership. In a way, I’m glad he is the Israel PM because as long as he remains in that position, the closer this whole thing comes to finally being resolved. In his attempt to extend the status quo, he is killing it. I am okay with this.
What about Yahoo’s condescending, arrogant, patronising, bullying treatment of Obama, and all of America? That goes way beyond ‘shabby’ into outright hostile, mobster-like attempts at intimidation and protection racket huckstering. There are plenty people in Israel who find the demagogue, the little tyrant, offensive, destructive and totally lacking in leadership. His legacy will be to have alienated the US and brought into the open for once the dependent aggressiveness of Israel towards the US, their sheer effrontery in always demanding, never giving, their constant attempts to run Congress and undermine American government decisions and their hysterical fear and war mongering to achieve ends which destabilise all attempts at peaceful co-existence. Their demonisation of anyone who crosses them, their constant lying and fake versions of history and politics, with scant respect for history or truth, will have finally brought Yahoo’s chickens home to roost – an unliked, hostile, friendless little troublemaking country whose greatest ‘friend’ wants cut loose from.
RE: “It is completely ad hominem: a reading-in that implies Obama’s resentment toward a “strong” Jewish leader–borne out by none of the facts.” ~ Weiss
SEE: The Dilemmas of Israeli Power, by Roger Cohen, New York Times Op-Ed, 2/13/12
ENTIRE OP-ED – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/cohen-the-dilemmas-of-jewish-power.html
* P.S. Bibi Netanyahu is a racist!
Bibi Netanyahu’s father is a racist!
Bibi Netanyahu’s son is a racist!
SEE: Netanyahu Family’s Racist History: Like Father, Like Son, by Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 7/12/11
LINK – http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/07/12/netanyahu-familys-racist-history-like-father-like-son/
RE: “‘New Republic’ says Obama ‘detests’ Netanyahu and treats him shabbily” ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: Obama could slather Netanyahu with wet kisses from head to toe leaving ‘passion marks’ on top of ‘passion marks’; and the ‘New Republic’ would still say that Obama treats Netanyahu shabbily!