Why does Goldberg inject Holocaust into Netanyahu’s calculations? (To play us)

Jeffrey Goldberg “guesses” the reason for Netanyahu’s latest attack on the Obama administration. He says Netanyahu is “boiling with frustration” over the U.S. refusing to put clear red lines before Iran, and is at “wit’s end.”  Goldberg suggests Netanyahu is “venting” due to his inability to control his “sheer frustration” at what he sees as Obama’s “obtuseness.”

Then Goldberg speculates:  

It’s not impossible that he would make the Holocaust calculus, which is to say, he believes that stopping a second Holocaust is worth the risk of alienating the U.S., but I think he also knows that we’re far from the moment when a second Holocaust might be possible to contemplate.

Let’s review.  It is “not impossible” that Netanyahu, faced with the great responsibility that history has burdened him with, stopping a second holocaust, is forced to possibly jeopardize the Israeli/U.S. relationship which he holds so dear. Though, Goldberg continues, in his opinion Netanyahu knows that not only aren’t we close to a second holocaust but we are far from the moment when it might even be possible to contemplate.

What is Goldberg up to here with this self contradictory rambling?

I think Goldberg feels a little self conscious warning of a 2nd  holocaust all the time, and he’s not too comfortable placing those irrational thoughts in Netanyahu’s head either. Oh, but how difficult it is to resist the urge! Leaving out the “holocaust” threat would make Israel no different from India when it feared a Pakistani bomb or Japan and South Korea being wary of North Korea going nuclear. That would make Israel’s strategic concerns slightly less apocalyptic. Israel’s fears can never be seen as mundane as other countries. Obviously those analogies have to be avoided at all costs. So the result: total incoherence by Goldberg.

Another thing to note in Goldberg’s piece is the purity of Netanyahu’s motivation. No mention is made of the presidential campaign going on in the U.S. and how Netanyahu’s statements will likely be used by the Republicans. Why couldn’t Netanyahu wait 8 weeks until after his election to “vent?” What one comes away with after reading Goldberg is that political considerations are the furthest thing from Netanyahu’s mind.  He is after all too focused on saving the Jewish people. But see the front page story of the NY Times  today, where in the first paragraph talks about Netanyau “inserting” himself in presidential campaign.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike.

No room in Goldberg’s analysis for that!

I challenge the reader to find Goldberg writing about anyone other than a right wing Israeli politician (or someone who shares those views) with the same lack of journalistic cynicism. No wonder Goldberg has been called “Netanyahu’s stenographer.”