Heads up, Benjamin Netanyahu will be on Meet the Press tomorrow. I expect David Gregory to be adversarial, reflecting the new conventional wisdom– that Netanyahu is messing in our election process and dragging us into war. He will quote Barbara Boxer-– “deep disappointment” — and Joe Klein (see below) and David Remnick.
But of course Obama doesn’t have time for Netanyahu. And my headline is likely to be a rallying cry during the UN meetings in late September when Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting. From the Zionist Organization of America:
U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed yesterday that President Obama would not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu during the latter’s U.S. visit. According to reports, the reason given for the non-meeting is that President Obama “will likely be on the campaign trail at that time.
However, on the same day, the White House also announced that the President will go to New York to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman” (‘Obama makes time for Letterman, but not Israeli PM Netanyahu,’ Washington Examiner, September 12, 2012). Surely it is more important that the U.S. President meet with the Israeli Prime Minister to discuss critical issues relating to Iran and the Middle East than to appear on the David Letterman show?
Joe Klein is very good on Netanyahu’s interference. He’s talking about the Israel lobby, of course, and utterly rejecting the dual loyalty charge by thumping about patriotic Americans.
The truth is, Iran is a political issue more than a national security challenge. It has achieved the prominence in the current debate that it was because Bibi Netanyahu and his neoconservative pals have made it an issue, because twisted American zillionaires like Sheldon Adelson have bought politicians to promote it, because Jewish organizations like AIPAC and the ADL and the AJC have conflated Israel’s national security with our own–and their perceptions of Israel’s long-term national security are, I believe, grievously flawed.
But think about it: What if David Cameron was pushing us to go to war with Argentina over the Falklands? What if India was interfering with the American presidential campaign in order to promote an attack on Pakistan? When was the last time a foreign leader tried to influence an American political campaign? ….
Netanyahu is doing two things that should be intolerable for any patriotic American: he is a foreigner trying to influence our presidential campaign and he is a foreigner trying to shove us into a war of choice in a region where far too many Americans have already died needlessly. The Romney campaign–as well as AIPAC, the AJC and every other American Jewish organization–should make it clear to Netanyahu that his interventions into our political process and policy-making are not welcome here.
heads up MJRosenberg has a most excellent article up discussing this
Netanyahu: Butt The Hell Out Of Our Election
http://mjayrosenberg.com/2012/09/14/bibi-butt-the-hell-out-of-our-election/
No way gregory is adversarial. Boxer was criticizing netanyahu for “exposing daylight” between the US and Israel.
Ya know Phil, the last few months MW has shifted from “what is happening” to “what (I) would like to see happen” and it hasn’t been a change for the better. I get the feeling sometimes- when I read posts like this- that you are documenting your views and feelings on these matters so that when the great catastrophe you envision for american jews finally occurs, you can point to MW and say, “I’m one of the good guys.” And that’s why the Klein’s, Remnicks and Beinarts get a free pass to “change” their minds; why an apology for advocating an aggressive attack on Iraq makes it ok and so on. You’re looking to build your stable of “righteous Jews” in the M&W usage.
I think you really mean it. But when the real opportunists start singing your tune, it’s time to realize the horse has already left the barn. When Joe Klein has to make a call in a national magazine for (American) Jewish Organizations to remember they’re American, the battle is over.
The vile Netanyahu already lost (my estimate) at least 50 million Americans as “friends” only a coupla days ago. These Americans are waiting for an apology from him. I don’t think his brand of macho-car-salesman shpiel would change their minds if he kept on dissing on Obama and loving on Romney. Their major complain is: BUTT OUTTA OUR ELECTIONS!”.
But the poor bot just can’t help himself, so yeah MJ’s right: Natanyahu will bust out with the usual unwatchable diatribes – and I think most sickening of them will be when he brings out the crocodile violins in the name of the 4 Americans killed in Libya by those crazy “Aghab teghorists”.
Let’s see, where did Bibi get his intimate knowledge of American politics and culture? Between 1956 and 1958, and again in 1963–67, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he attended and graduated from the Cheltenham High School and was active in a debate club. He returned to Israel to enlist in the IDF after graduating from high school in 1967. After his IDF service he returned to the USA, earned a BS degree in architecture from MIT in 1975, then an MS degree from MIT Sloan School of Management in 1977. This is the America he remembers, and his calculations are based on these memories, his calculations that “America is easily moved,” and that the American masses overwhelmingly support Israel–even when a chance POTUS, may not, deep in his heart.
After the way Netanyahu sandbagged Obama on the 48 lines when they met in Washington, he’s got some nerve asking for another meeting.