The leader of the Democratic congressional campaign committee, Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island, has published a journal of his visit to Israel August 3-9. You’d think the congressman has more important things to do than write up his breathless meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu amid “a cauldron of pressure,” but the congressman is a major fundraiser for his party. So the journal-keeping is time well-spent.
Note that he throws the Obama administration under the bus, hugs AIPAC, wants the New York Mets to get Iron Dome, and says if “there’s a Gandhi left on earth, it’s Shimon Peres.”
Here are some excerpts. First, the news, an August 7 breakfast with Major General Amos Yadlin, former head of the Israeli army intelligence service.
Yadlin finishes with a troubling timetable: Israel will reach a junction within a year: a nuclear capable Iran or a military response to prevent that capability. In other words: “bomb or bombing.”
So Yadlin is implying that Israel could accept a nuclear-capable Iran?
Here’s the meeting with Netanyahu on August 6, with the bogus epiphany that Steve Israel will now commit himself to fighting for Israel at the U.N.:
Even in a cauldron of pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spends nearly an hour with us. Our meeting finally ends when an aide slips him a piece of paper. The Prime Minister reads it
and says: “John Kerry is calling.”Netanyahu begins the meeting by noting that had Hamas accepted the first cease fire proposal in the opening days of conflict, total casualties would have been around 200.
For most of the hour Netanyahu shares his concern about various United Nations attempts to single out unfairly and incorrectly Israel.
His concerns are well founded. These efforts would deny Israel’s right to legitimate self-defense against ruthless enemies that fire weapons from among citizens. They would deprive Israel of the
right to defend itself and therefore deprive Israel of its right to exist. And, ultimately they would be applied against our efforts to defend our citizens from terrorists. I
decide to commit myself to work against such efforts.
Running to see Jake Tapper, and the usual exaltation of Israeli innovation:
I race to a CNN studio for an interview with Jake Tapper. Then to a dinner with four Israeli entrepreneurs on the topic of innovation. Israeli salads clutter the table as we watch PowerPoints
on new technologies (PowerPoint slides and jet lag don’t usually mix well). Suddenly, a panelist stops and asks – “Was that an air-raid?” Another panelist answers that it is just the wind.
Immediately I think back to when my two daughters were young, and I put them to bed. If they heard something that frightened them, I would comfort them by saying, “it’s just the wind.”
The baseball analogy for the Iron Dome:
An engineer involved in the program explains the technology in basic terms I can appreciate: baseball: A batter hits a long fly ball to right field. Even as the ball comes off the bat, the right
fielder starts to position himself. He is calculating angle, speed, and arc. He meets the ball. Takes it out of play.
I’m thinking my beloved Mets should trade its entire outfield for a few Iron Dome batteries.
Breakfast with the US ambassador to Israel, at which a leader of the rightwing Israel lobby, AIPAC, Bob Cohen shows up too. And Rep. Israel distances himself from Obama:
I have had well-stated differences with key elements of the Administration’s approach towards the Middle East (just as I did with the Bush Administration).
Shimon Peres:
If there is a Gandhi left on earth, he is Shimon Peres.
The piece ends with bald racism:
I reflect on my meeting with Shimon Peres, who spoke so eloquently about education. I believe peace will only come when schools in Gaza and elsewhere begin teaching children how to put things together rather than blow things up. True peace, lasting peace, starts not at negotiating tables, but in Arab classrooms. It may be a generation away.
But Israel got pushback to his views throughout his trip, and is keenly defensive about it, as we have noted. The Epilogue to his journal expresses that thin-skinned attitude:
The deepest lessons I learned during my visit were the shocking disconnect and the viral bias that much of the world and the media has against Israel. I saw it first-hand. Literally, in my hand as I read a flood of angry responses to every tweet I sent during the visit. Calling me a traitor. Demanding that I run for a seat in the Knesset. Accusing me of having “the blood of children on your hands.”
Yes there is that disconnect. Thank heavens Israel is aware of it. But is the rest of the world wrong? To be continued.
Thanks to Scott Roth.
In American law, you never know what the law is (“what the courts will do”) even after the Supreme Court has spoken. In I/P you never know if EU or Brazil or Turkey or UN will do something helpful (or if “the people” will do so) until it happens. The pro-Isael forces are awfully strong. But, then, the opera ain’t over until some-one sings.
What was the impact of the French revolution on western civilization – too early to tell.” (Chou En Lai). How will I/P resolve itself? Too early to tell.
Is Israel authorized to conduct FP?
Does anybody care about the Logan Act?
“and says if “there’s a Gandhi left on earth, it’s Shimon Peres.” – ” Steve Israel.
That has to be the most audacious attempt to change the laws of physics in the history of mankind.
Is Israel his real sir name.
Well Steve Israel has been nothing but a lackey for Israel during the war, showing unwavering support, and justifying all of Israel’s brutality with the usual hasbara garbage.
It seems Iran is willing to work with the US when it comes to dealing with ISIS, which will annoy bad boy Bibi, and he may throw yet another tantrum.
Time for a cartoon Beebs. You are looking more and more like the warmonger refusing to work with others.
“Iran, perceiving a serious threat from Islamic State in northern Iraq, has determined to cooperate with the U.S. against the group, the BBC reported on Friday.
According to the report, which quoted sources in Teheran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has cleared his top military commander to cooperate with U.S., Iraqi and Kurdish forces.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.614318
I think we are entering a very dangerous period vis a vis Israel. After the carnage in Gaza they know for certain that they can get away with anything. Their enablers in the elite media and politics do not care about human rights only projection of “western” power. So long as the people suffering are not white, Christian or Jewish they have no problem with it.