Both these stories have been around for days, and most of you know about them, but I wanted to make a record of them, and stick them together: Israel reportedly eavesdropped on John Kerry telephone calls during the late-lamented peace process negotiations. Nearly half of Israelis in an online poll wanted to give Obama the Ebola virus for his birthday Aug. 4.
Ebola. Haggai Matar at +972:
Readers of the prominent Israeli news site Mako have overwhelmingly voted in favor of sending President Barack Obama an envelope containing the Ebola virus for his birthday.
The site, which belongs to the Channel 2 company “Keshet” (the most widely watch broadcasting network in Israel) began the survey at noon on Sunday, asking readers what they would like to give the president for his 53rd birthday. The options were as follows (scores in brackets, screenshot below):
A) Peace in the Middle East (22%)
B) Golf clubs (11%)
C) A box set of Israeli television series Prisoners of War (9%)
D) A remix by Noi Alush (local video artist) of Netanyahu’s now-famous “Don’t ever second guess me again” line (10%)
E) An envelope with the Ebola virus (48%)
Bugging. From Spiegel online, August 3:
SPIEGEL has learned from reliable sources that Israeli intelligence eavesdropped on US Secretary of State John Kerry during Middle East peace negotiations. In addition to the Israelis, at least one other intelligence service also listened in as Kerry mediated last year between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, several intelligence service sources told SPIEGEL. Revelations of the eavesdropping could further damage already tense relations between the US government and Israel.
Here’s what Jen Psaki said at the State Department on Monday:
Well, I’m not going to comment on intelligence reports…. a German magazine report on an intelligence report. Just so you are all aware, and I think many of you are, but the Secretary and his senior staff and everyone in the U.S. Government is aware of the threat posed by potential intercepts of publicly available and unencrypted communications. We have at our disposal tools such as secure phones and computers for highly classified communications, but there are also times we communicate less sensitive information via open lines to world leaders and others. We’re fully aware of the possible risks. We will continue to utilize open communications channels when appropriate and secure communications channels when necessary.
The Ebola story is a reminder of the fact that Leon Wieseltier now finds himself queasy about Israeli society and that Max Blumenthal documented fascistic trends in that society. The NYT lately wrote the extremist trend off as just a few bad apples, and Wolf Blitzer on CNN then assured viewers from a conversation with Shimon Peres that Israel “is dealing” with the extremism problem. I don’t think we should believe the Times or Blitzer here.(Neither does Billmon: “If Dr. Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he’d be deputy speaker of the Knesset by now–at least.”)
“Nearly half of Israelis wanted to give Obama the Ebola virus for his birthday Aug. 4.”
That’s not actually a fair conclusion, unless they did a scientific poll. If it’s just a voluntary online thing, then you are likely to attract a disproportionate number of idiots and of course it also doesn’t mean they would all really do it. It does show that 48 percent of the respondents are idiots.
Though it wouldn’t surprise me if a random sample of the Israeli population with this range of options would give similar results. But it shows what we already knew,that the vast majority of Israelis supported the Gaza war and resented Kerry for even suggesting that maybe the blockade should be lifted. The overwhelming support for the Gaza War, the election of rightwing fascists, and stupid comments like those of “peace advocate” Amos Oz are the disturbing thing to me.
“The Ebola story is a reminder of the fact that Leon Wieseltier now finds himself queasy about Israeli society and that Max Blumenthal documented fascistic trends in that society. ”
And this post is a reminder of the orientalism you engage in when you analyze Israeli discourse.
The most importnat take home message is this that the site ( “Readers of the prominent Israeli news site Mako “) chose to inlcude an option of this nature .
Waht does it say about the elite or those who shape opinion in Isreal ?
Think of this data coming out of West Bank or Gaza about say Bush 2 after 911?
Every Americnas will have this information and each host on FOX will quote this .
“Revelations of the eavesdropping could further damage already tense relations between the US government and Israel.”
This is pure PR. First the “green light” for the Gaza massacre, then the unanimous Senate endorsement of the Gaza massacre, then the additional aid to facilitate the Gaza massacre. “Already tense relations?” You have got to be kidding me. The US and Israel are thick as thieves, political theater notwithstanding. One empire, right or wrong!