If this story by Barak Ravid in Haaretz is to be believed, Bibi is flailing and subjects to bouts of paranoia. I especially like the bit about those “self-hating Jews” in the White House:
Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia. He is convinced that the media are after him, that his aides are leaking information against him and that the American administration wants him out of office. Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communication [sic] normally with the White House. To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama’s senior aides: as “self-hating Jews.”
“He thought that his speech at Bar-Ilan would become mandatory reading at schools in the United States, and when he realized that Obama gave no such order, he went back to being frustrated,” one of his associates said.
Imagine just because you’re the prime minister of Israel you believe that the chief of staff of the president of the United States has to hop to it or else he’s a “self-hating Jew.” Not to mention the matter of Bibi conflating being Jewish and being Zionist and assuming that because he is a Jew, Rahm must do Bibi’s bidding. That’s some deep chutzpah!
Dear Richard,
You may wish to do something with this 10 min clip. It is probably even more important – as well as reflective of Israel – than Blumenthal’s censored video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MraDY6jPqDY
It’s friggin’ weird & scary. These settlers are totally insane. It they killed Rabin they’d kill Obama in a heartbeat if they could.
I guess you and the Palestinians agree the Herzliya is occupied territory.
Ha ha. Didn’t you or some other right wing commenter here once point out that Tel Aviv University sits on the site of a former Palestinian village. As if to prove what point, I’m not sure. The real point is that an injustice has been done to the Palestinians and it must be made right. There are ways to make it right short of doing to Herzliya’s current residents what was done to Palestinian Israelis in 1948.
So if you want to engage in snark and point scoring that’s one thing & no one here will give you the time of day. But if you want to engage in a serious discussion about these issues, that’s another thing entirely. I’m waiting for something serious.
I was merely pointing out that Igal Amir was from Herzliya, not a settler. Settlers didn’t kill Rabin any more than Jews sunk the Titanic.
I don’t know whether Amir was living in Herzliya or a settlement when he murdered Rabin. But the key issue is the ideology which motivated his hate and that derives lock stock & smoking barrel from the nationalist extremist settler movement.
“what was done to Palestinian Israelis in 1948”. What was done? Have the Arabs (the “Palestinians” of 1948 were the
Jewish residents of Palestine) attacked the Jews, or have
the Jews declared war on the Arabs and sent troups to Egypt,
Transjordan and Syria ?
I think his paranoia is founded. He doesn’t have a loyal administration, and I think Obama does wish that he were out of office.
But, the expression of his paranoia is an amateurish disaster in the making.
Maybe not, maybe it will result in a no-confidence vote, and initiate new elections with a more hopeful end.
But, what would Hamas do? Would they then resume shelling Sderot, thereby returning likud to power, or risk having to moderate and actually submit to PA governance and negotiate with Israel?
Richard and Richard-
If these reports are true, then you and your fellow “progressive” Jerry Haber should be very pleased (he supported Netanyahu in the last election). Then Netanyahu would fall, Obama would issue orders to the people of Israel to elect Tzippi Livni and we well then have a repeat of the last “peace government” which brought us 2 wars within three years and the failure of the Annapolis negotiations and Gilad Shalit still being held hostage. A lot for you “progressives” to look forward to!
The settlement project brought you the wars.
You’ve never had a peace government.
You really believe that Hamas and Fatah are just interested
in removing the settlements ? They are talking not just about
“returning the refugees or restitution payments” but about
“returning the refugees AND restitution payments”. I really unable to find out, if you “progressives” are just stupid, or
stupid AND self-hating Jews.
What “peace government” are you talking about, bar kochba? You’re completely off the rails, a nutter if I ever saw one. If you think that any of the last several Israeli governments were a “peace government”, then beam me up, Scotty. I tell you what, if you could just remove us (the US of A) from you and Israel’s expansionist, warmongering calculations, that would be great. Maybe help prevent another 9/11, splendid. I just don’t want another dime of my American tax money and American military hardware going toward your siege of Gaza, just leave US out of your Eretz Israel, pretty please?? Is this really too much to ask of you Zio-nuts? Why don’t you go play some violent video games and get out your angst and hatred that way, hmm?
RE: “If this story by Barak Ravid in Haaretz is to be believed, Bibi is flailing and subject to bouts of paranoia.”
MY COMMENT: And he has nukes! And he is on a divine mission to save Israel from Iran’s nonexistent nukes. And VP Biden says Israel is a “sovereign nation” and if Netanyahu feels threatened by Iran’s nonexistent nukes then Netanyahu has the right to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
By saying that israel is a sovereign nation, Biden is saying also -or banking on the belief ( perhaps Biden’s own, perhaps Obama’s, perhaps consensus in the Obama administration)- that Netanyahu will act rationally.
“He thought that his speech at Bar-Ilan would become mandatory reading at schools in the United States, and when he realized that Obama gave no such order, he went back to being frustrated.” Is this for real or is it somebody’s attempt at sarcasm? Sounds made up to me.
Richard (S), considering his predecessor sometimes called the shots with the last US administration (an example here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/13/israelandthepalestinians-us-olmert-bush), is it any wonder Bibi’s frustrated with the current US administration?
The link I posted earlier should be: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/13/israelandthepalestinians-us-olmert-bush
“[T]he media are after him…”
Given my quaint belief that the purpose of the media is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable”, the above statement, if true, would mean that the media is doing its job, yes? If there’s anyone in the Israeli media reading this, guys, we’re counting on you to rake Bibi and his government over the coals every step of the way.
The settlers are a heterogeneous group of people. If you read the wikipedia entry on Igal Amir you would notice that even his Hesdaer Yeshiva was not in the territories. Personally I don’t consider any of Eretz Israel as “occupied territory” but the difference for me is that for a true peace settlement I’m willing to make a compromise.
I run a tech site in Australia and use my name John Pospisil to advertise my site techblorge. I am proud of my family name Pospisil because the name dates back to the first Jewish “settlements” of Australia. Australia pretends to be Jew friendly but in reality Australia is anti-semitic. I no longer practice the faith in which I was reared and am now an atheist. People often ask me if I am Jewish because I have very Jewish features. I simply say “yes” but I am not a practicing Jew.