Quick update on our campaign to send Benjamin Netanyahu to the Mandela Memorial. We came to you in Israel’s time of need and you delivered! So far we’ve raised just over $1,000 – enough to send Netanyahu a one-way ticket to almost anywhere in the world! People are taking notice — keep it coming.
Netanyahu wasn’t able to make Mandela’s memorial today, but perhaps it wasn’t necessary after all. The Jerusalem Post reports the memorial service master of ceremonies “accidentally announced the presence of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.” PR crisis averted! Don’t know how Netanyahu & Peres were able to work that miracle, but good job.
Meanwhile, some seem to think Netanyahu had the cash but wanted to avoid the memorial for political reasons. Others claim he wouldn’t even have been welcomed! Who are these Israel haters? Well, former Israeli ambassador to South Africa Alon Liel for one,
“Netanyahu is not a welcome guest in South Africa today. I think it was right of him not to go,” Liel told Ynet.
But he did not spare criticism from Netanyahu for his handling of the issue. Netanyahu initially issued a statement saying he would attend the memorial, only to retract it hours later. “It’s abominable conduct,” Liel said.
“Netanyahu did not realize how complicated this matter was diplomatically and how much resistance his attendance could spark among the South African public. He did the right thing to cancel (the trip) but to give the financial explanation is an insult. This was mistake over mistake.”
Wow, with ambassadors like these who needs the U.N.?!
So what excuse does Liel prefer?
Maybe he can say he had the flu the previous week, like Peres did?
Liel was not one to hold back talking about Israel’s misdeeds and miscalculations with the apartheid regime. In the 2006 Chris McGreal article in the Guardian, Liel is quoted 8 times talking about Israel’s intimate relations with South Africa supplying it with weapons including the nuclear bomb. If anyone would know how much an Israeli head of state is unwelcome at Mandela’s ceremony, that man would have to be Liel.
Article in which Liel opens up about Isreal and SA:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/07/southafrica.israel
Adam, that picture is priceless!!! you couldn’t have found a more perfect pic, just look at the sneering snark all over satanyahu’s face…sooooo apropos!! love it!
Tbh I would’ve preferred for Netanyahu to go, and see him get ripped to shreds by South Africans for even daring to show his face!