As if relations between Israel and the United States weren’t icy enough lately, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, has now publicly called President Barack Obama an anti-semite on an Army Radio program:
It’s not that Obama doesn’t like Bibi. He doesn’t like the nation of Israel…
When there is an anti-Semitic president in the United States, it is a test for us and we have to say: We will not concede. We are a nation dating back 4,000 years, and you in a year or two will be long forgotten. Who will remember you? But Jerusalem will dwell on forever.
The biggest immediate problem for Israel right now is that the American public is going to start to make the connection between the wingnuts at the Weekly Standard and the teabagging fools in the GOP and the hard-right government in Israel. If you listen to the interview, Rev. Wright makes an appearance. Right now, the usual suspects think they are really putting it to Obama, but I suspect he will just let them keep talking and talking.
On the upside, I don’t think he mentioned death panels or Obama’s birth certificate.
jeffreyw
Yah, here’s some more rope for ya. No..no, my pleasure dood.
Chad S
To be fair, I believe Bibi’s brother in law has a history of outrageous statements that embarrass him(bibi).
Comrade Jake
Did you catch this post one of The Atlantic bloggers had up the other day, where some of Obama’s people leaked that the President doesn’t think Bibi’s all that bright?
They appear to be determined to prove his instincts correct.
FlipYrWhig
I wish the Israeli left got _any_ airtime in the US media. Without that critical voice, it creates the impression that the whole country is uniformly wanktastic.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
This kind of shit is why I despise Netanyahoo. I can’t think of any other former Israeli Prime Minister that has purposefully and pro actively tried to undermine democratic leaders in the US/ Not even Sharon, who could be dismissive and headstrong about doing what he wanted, but didn’t involve himself with tit for tat petty pol warfare with American democrats/liberals.
Even so, so long as their isn’t a new outbreak of large scale violence, I don’t think non Jewish Americans will pay much attention to this bullshit. Though it will be curious to see how Jewish Americans react, as they are an important dem voting bloc.
edit – though Sharon was never PM during a democratic admin.
JGabriel
Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi:
No, it’s that Democrats don’t like Bibi. Netanyahu burned his all his bridges with Democratic negotiators with his relentless assholery during the Clinton years. And now George Mitchell, who wrote the Mitchell Report, is the lead negotiator, and Hillary Clinton is Secretary of State.
And Bibi pulled another, at this point typical, asshole move.
How’d that dick even get elected again, anyway?
.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
You’re right, you must not concede. Give back the $110 billion and the F-16s and we’re all square.
Alan
Let’s not forget Palin’s lapel pin. Bibi’s brother is aligning with the Bible thumpers. They’re the only ones, besides the theocrats in Israel, who think slowly annexing vestiges of the west banks is God’s plan.
I’m all for supporting a rational, secular Israel. The theocrats and bible thumpers can kiss my ass.
Kryptik
@FlipYrWhig:
Which is unfortunate, since Haaretz tends to publish Op-Eds much, much more critical of the Israeli gov’t than is ever, ever allowed in the states.
Fergus Wooster
Bibi was noted as calling Obama’s advisors self-hating Jews early on, so I don’t think he needs his brother-in-law to embarrass him.
Keep it up, guys, keep it up.
I saw Bibi lecture at my University once, and he was the slimiest motherfucker I’ve ever encountered up close. They had a reception where you could shake his hand and get a picture, but I couldn’t go anywhere near him. Creepy as hell, and he believes his own bullshit.
Mnemosyne
I think the Israeli government is being a bit too credulous when the Republicans tell them they’re going to sweep in with huge majorities in November. Bad idea to burn your bridges 8 months before the election that your allies totally swear they’re going to win even happens.
EvolutionaryDesign
Well, if he’s only up to Rev. Wright on the timeline, there’s still time to get to the more current lunacy.
Lev
Netanyahu himself isn’t a wingnut, but he is a Republican. He’s spoken for Republican candidates before (when he wasn’t in office, of course) and raised money. I remember reading about his efforts on behalf of Bob Smith against John Sununu for the New Hampshire Senate race in 2002, Sununu being the rare Republican whose sympathies were essentially Palestinian. Bibi’s issue positions on things not exclusive to foreign policy are closer to the Republican Party than to the Likud, in any event.
It basically is partisanship.
Joseph Nobles
Definitely go to the linked Obama interview from the campaign. I’m quoting the end:
Jack
Avidgor Lieberman.
That is all.
freelancer
SMBC is trolling for page hits with this one, but it’s still funny.
How Obama can win the wingnuts…
FlipYrWhig
@Kryptik: I know! There’s this weirdly widespread view that American Jews support “Israel,” and that Israel is right-wing and tough-actin’. So clearly the way to curry favor with American Jews is to reinforce the Israeli right, and, by, like, syllo-jew-sm, if you antagonize the Israeli right, you’ll lose favor with American Jews. The existence of the Israeli left complicates the whole set of connections. Which is probably why we never hear about it.
ETA: I get to say “syllo-jew-sm” because I’m matrilineally Jewish, of the secular and completely non-observant variety.
Kryptik
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
It honestly makes me wonder what would’ve happened if Rabin wasn’t assassinated.
Kryptik
@FlipYrWhig:
Unfortunately, it seems that where Israel is concerned in the U.S., (and only that subject, for whatever reason), Judaism has the same problem as Christianity: the sane don’t get the microphones, the insane do, and thus they become the face of the religion as a whole. Most American Jews I know and knew are way way to the left on this issue than nearly every single pol in Washington are. Of course, you only get to hear from Marty Peretz and the like.
HumboldtBlue
@Kryptik:
This.
I find it similar to the war on drugs. It’s not a war that can be won by any stretch of the imagination, but just keep up the fear-mongering and we’ll pay billions to fight it because the people who profit also make the decisions.
Similar with Israel and the likes of Bibi, they don’t want a solution to the violence, the violence is an end to a means and that means is wealth and power.
Mike Kay
Isn’t Axelrod and Rahm and Rahm’s pe-nus jewish enough?
Jack
@Alan:
Rational, secular Israel is a myth. A fat, stinking lie.
The IDF has religious indoctrination rabbis who teach a very overt manifest destiny theology to conscripted soldiers who are then sent into hostile territory (often called “Injun Country”) to kill the very people they were just taught represented ancient Torah enemies.
John S.
Israelis thought he was the kind of guy they could have a beer with.
Mike Kay
This is great news for the Israelis
BombIranForChrist
Yeah, I think the pro-Israeli-Wingnut coalition is in for a very ugly surprise when they learn … soon I think … that the American people don’t support them as much as they think.
Sure, many Americans support Israel generally, as in “oh yeah, they were in the bible”, but this is only superficial support. Americans, fundamentally, don’t give two shits about other countries. They want their trucks, their churches, and their porn. If the Wingnut side of the Israelis think that the American public is going to rise up in support of them, they are stark raving mad.
FlipYrWhig
@John S.: What world leader _would_ you like to have a beer with? Obama seems like he’d be pretty cool. Who else? Evo Morales might be fun. I guess on the right there’s Sarkozy, but I can’t think of other rightie drinking bros.
FlipYrWhig
@BombIranForChrist:
But Israel always has the “first line of defense against the Ayrabs” line they can trot out. They’re the tough-on-terror nation. At least that was the way they were talked about in the 1980s, when I was in high school in a town with a very high Jewish population.
Jack
@BombIranForChrist:
It’s not really about the American public, though. It’s about the American political class.
And the use and abuse of the Shoah as a way to scare political whipping boys.
BombIranForChrist
@FlipYrWhig:
I heard the same thing, but I honestly don’t think it flies, especially considering we have our own troops parked in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Still, the American people voted for Bush, Jr. Twice. So usually when they prove me wrong, it’s towards the dumber end of the spectrum.
Kryptik
@BombIranForChrist:
Does it matter when nearly every single politician still treats Israel as a sacred cow, immune from any political consequence? I’m shocked that Obama and Biden have stood as firm as they have (but not the fact that they were quickly tarred as Anti-Semitic).
Jack
@FlipYrWhig:
What’s funny is that the same evangelicals and Cap-Dems who can now be counted on to keep political pressure on pols who deviate from the script are the very people who wear blinders when it comes to the solid fact that Israel (the actual state) is a socialist construct where abortions are state provisioned and the government has its tendrils in business affairs to a degree only really rivaled by the PRC.
That’s changing, and rapidly, given the rise of the settler Beits and their growing religious parties.
But the irony is still amusing.
J. Michael Neal
@FlipYrWhig:
Sarkozy’s wife, except that I don’t think that that’s called a “beer”.
Annie
Netanyahoo and his brother are really over playing their hand and underestimating the administration. At this point in time, Americans don’t care about Israel. They care about domestic concerns, primarily the economy. Even the Pentagon is unhappy with Israel’s posturing.
Netanyahoo, with his best friends including Lieberman and McCain and the religious right, are adopting a “herding” mentality — believing they can back Obama into a corner, and then get what they want. They will be surprised. When backed into a corner, Obama does come out fighting. And, they are misreading the American public.
If Israel continues its present policies and actively seeks a fight with the administration, anti-Israel sentiment will rise. As a Jew, Netanyahoo’s posturing has only served to increase my commitment to organizations like J Street, which advocate for responsible and fair solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This week, I have given to J Street, the first time ever. And, my support will continue.
Jack
@Kryptik:
It’s a false firmness, really. The money still flows and the settlement pace is increasing.
ksmiami
As a Dem with a lot of indie Jewish friends, and as someone who has been in complete support of Israel and felt that the Arab nations use the Palestinians etc. etc. even I think that Netanyahoo (love that) is being a total asswipe and our interests as US citizens may be different than those of Israel at this point in time and we have to act in our own interests. Not to mention that Biden is absolutely correct that Israel is undermining our military and that is where my loyalty (and the loyalty of most American Jews) to Israel ends sorry Joe L. I guess what I am saying is that if people like me are waking up and saying um no, you can’t haz a new settlement, then there are many others. And most American jewish people are aware that the Christian right really does not have Israel’s best interests at heart… they prefer life to the rapture doctrine.
Jack
@Annie:
Perhaps it’s only because Netanyahu wants to speed up the timeline on Iran and Obama/Biden want to keep to their Clintonian pacing?
maus
I can’t wait for Israel and WND to be “Obama is a MUSLIM” buddies.
Karen
As a Jewish person Israel’s “either we’re always right, Arabs are always wrong or you hate us” attitude sickens me. So does Abraham Foxman.
They should be very careful though. Throw around the antisemitism bomb around enough and pretty soon, it won’t mean a thing.
Kryptik
@Jack:
However false it is, it’s still more spine than anyone’s shown to Israel in forever.
maus
@Jack:
Simple, they only give a shit about Israel as much as they believe Israel will lead to the rapture. They admire its existence, its place in Christian scripture, the claims that “liberals are the true racists because they do not support Israel!” and how much their unwavering support of it angers muslim nations. The Israeli day-to-day operations (gays in the military, etc.) are ignored.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Jack: It may not be firmness in dollars and cents, but perception in politics and especially foreign affairs is not an unimportant thing. No one, and not Obama will threaten Israels American allowance, but any show of defiance will make the Likudites at least think and be drawn into doing defensive and stupid things like what this thread is about. It is how Obama operates, not 11 dimensional chess, but more like well chosen bait.
Karen
@ksmiami
As I tell some members of my family who marvel at how the Christian right supports Israel, yes they LOVE Israel. Not Jews. Unless we’re sacrificed to bring on the rapture that is.
kay
Stupid, childish taunts, after a reckless political stunt that actually puts people’s lives at risk.
How am I or anyone else supposed to take this seriously?
I thought this issue was “life or death”? Not so crucial that they’re running a political campaign that looks a lot like Sarah Palin’s flailing mess, up to and including the bizarre obsession with the Chicago preacher.
If we’re going to be subject to a replay of the 2008 McCain campaign, would someone tell this guy it’s disrespectful and rude to refer to the President as “Obama”? Even Sarah managed to choke out “Senator”.
Bibi and his campaign aides should grow the hell up.
Nellcote
@FlipYrWhig:
Queen Elizabeth. I’m intrigued that she was so friendly to the Obamas.
Jack
@maus:
To quote a better man, “Jesus’ Landing Strip.”
ksmiami
Karen (since you obviously get it) I mean I read both the Intifada books, studied history, believe that Israel needs to exist, but Israel needs to remember that by making the US look weak, by not taking a responsible role in the peace process, Israel actually is only hurting itself. Israel needs a strong America to survive, not a weakened one. And the US needs to be seen as a reasonable and fair player in the region, or decide that the price of oil (the real price-Dead Americans and many more dead arabs) is not worth paying anymore and go green, cut off the Middle East and walk away which is actually in my mind the right choice for the US.
FlipYrWhig
@Karen:
Or maybe they still hate Jews, they just hate Arabs and Muslims more.
joes527
@FlipYrWhig:
Elizabeth Kucinich of course. I hear Dennis is going to be at the office this weekend, so that would work for me.
Jack
@Kryptik:
I guess it just looks like Kabuki to me. Political and security theater, since the dollars are still going to flow and Iran is still going to be sanctioned/bombed to the benefit of American “defense” corporations and Israeli religious parties, the NYT and the WaPo are still going to shill for their sons and cousins in the IDF and we’re all still going to be lectured about how terrible the latest New and Worst Hitler Since Hitler is and how he must be stopped.
It’s like the security theater currently running at American airports: lots of show about keeping the airways safe from/for American Grandmothers, whilst 95 some percent of shipping containers arrive un-inspected.
So too with “Obama’s Spine” versus Eretz Yisroel.
I’m not a religous Jew by any stretch, but I agree with some of my Orthodox brethren: Zionism is bad for Jews. And it’s bad for the sorry goyim who get caught up in it.
Annie
@Jack:
I take your point, but I am not sure that Netanyahoo’s concern is speeding up the timeline regarding Iran, or speeding up his timeline to remove as many Arabs from East Jerusalem as possible as quickly as possible. Having Iran as a looming enemy only helps his plans for East Jerusalem. Iran is the best gift he can get — besides US aid of course. Netanyahoo can only succeed if the threat against Israel remains firmly in the public arena. Take any threats away, and his policies become more exposed for what they truly are…a form of ethnic cleansing — without the killing, only with the removal.
FlipYrWhig
@joes527: Vote yes, Yes, YES!!
Jack
@Annie:
You make a salient point, one well worth considering, but I wonder if it is perhaps also important to note that Bibi’s not the only player. Avigdor’s bloc is growing, and the IDF is rife with religious factionalism.
Take the new loyalty and nationalism laws, add the crackdown on Israeli dissenters, refuseniks and leftists and the political shift towards expulsion of the IAs, and it’s not so hard to see the “new enemy” repackaged in the form of “overbreeding Arabs at the heart of Israel proper.”
Iran isn’t the only bogeyman. And a whumping of Tehran (and let’s be clear, all Persian posturing aside, Iran will get it’s ass kicked with hell from the skies) doesn’t hurt the hardliners consolidating power in the Knesset.
Anyway, this all just really outsider guesswork. Interesting to speculate, an’ all that, but I don’t hold a post in the Israeli security apparatus, or a window into Obama Admin. stategerifying.
Karen
@ksmiami
Sometimes I really wonder if the leaders of the extreme right wing of the Jews and Arabs are actually in bed together because both benefit with each group hating the other. It’s not in their best interest otherwise.
Jack
@Karen:
Sharon made Hamas possible:
http://www.counterpunch.org/hanania01182003.html
Annie
@Jack:
I agree that a “thumping of Iran” may win some wingnut support, but inside of Iran, it will kill the emerging opposition to the right wing government.
I love the “overbreeding Arabs at the heart of Israel proper,”
part. This is the ultimate irony for the right. One argument against being pro-choice, particularly with respect to contraception, is that we are not breeding enough.
It seems that to the right — breeding is good if you are white and Christian. Breeding is not good if you are a person of color — unless you are Christian — or an Arab, or a Muslim…Then, it becomes a concern!
ksmiami
I think Obama is going to have to push back and threaten to cut off aid unless the settlements are immediately halted or at least opened to a few qualified non violent palestinian families. I am rather uncomfortable with the apartheid that is being done in our name
ksmiami
p.p.s Do not underestimate Persia… just saying
HumboldtBlue
Actually, considering the hate this nation grows like a carefully tended field of corn, it may come back in the form of a bomb, thrown through the windows of the local synagogue or the Wiesenthal Center. We already had one Beckian asshole go a-shootin’ at the Holocaust museum.
New Yorker
Does it make me a Jew-hater to point out that, um, no, you don’t go back 4,000 years, because while you were busy creating stupid laws about when to stone your children or your brother, your backwards asses were being conquered by more advanced civilizations like Egypt, Babylonia, Rome, etc?
And whether we’re talking the US or Obama, I don’t think either will be forgotten in a year or two. Also, given the apocalyptic nonsense spewed by several major religions over the city of Jerusalem, I’m willing to wager that, Fargo, ND, among many other places, is more likely to “dwell on forever” than Jerusalem, because nobody will ever incinerate Fargo for the glory of god.
PeakVT
Bibi’s father is a liability, too.
ericblair
@New Yorker: I’m willing to wager that, Fargo, ND, among many other places, is more likely to “dwell on forever” than Jerusalem, because nobody will ever incinerate Fargo for the glory of god.
So am I. I figure it will be a screwup and major holy sites will get blown up, or some group decides that since Jerusalem’s holy sites are such a problem, they’ll take care of it themselves. It’s a bit harder to justify fighting over a smoking hole in the ground, but I’m sure the loonies will manage. They always have.
Carol
I think what you are seeing is a sort of panic. The World War II Generation that could be guilted into unconditional support of Israel is going away, replaced by more skeptical generations who are bound to ask “what’s in it for me?” The moderate Middle Eastern dictators who kept the explosive street down and practiced a certain real-politick are getting old and will be replaced by more radical or more democratic successors who will be less deferential to America. America itself is starting to fray around the edges, and will start wondering if Israel is a luxury it can’t afford in the face of near economic default.
So like a panicked spouse who senses the other is about to leave, Israel lashes out at any perceived signs of disaffection or distancing. The irony of such lashing out is that it creates further distance and an even more reassessment of the relationship.
Gus
@Karen: I’ve often thought the same thing. How would Nazis have come to power without the threat of the Communists and vice versa? Extremists need the other extreme.
Cacti
Imagine if the President came out for withdrawing financial support of Israel…
In the name of deficit reduction and fiscal austerity.
That would put the wingnuts in quite a bind.
But this will never happen of course.
Carol
It won’t happen with a speech, of course. Just omission-the payments get later and later or smaller and smaller until sooner or later it gets “missed”.
J. A. Baker
Now where have I heard rhetoric like that before? Oh yeah…
Nick
@FlipYrWhig:
Angela Merkel.
Gian
what is omitted from the US teaching of the history of modern Israel, is the fact the founders engaged in terrorism by doing things like bombing the king david hotel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing
for a state which broke away from the Brits via terrorism, to pretend to be the great hope against terrorism is a bitter pill for anyone living near Israel to swallow.
as an ethnic nation state, they maybe have 45 years at best before they get drowned by the others birth rate. I say we offer to relocate either Israel or Palastine to 2500 square miles of west texas, and subsidize them for 500 million a year, no subsidy for the nation that stays. free travel, and 2 billion in infrasctructure to start. water – roads, power
th
@ Karen
Absolutely they benefit from mutual animosity. Why would anyone accept their leadership without the hated enemy?
th
Yes, west Texas, yes that can be either one of their homelands.
Waynski
@Gian — Actually, I’ve always believed we should have offered the Zionists Long Island in 1948. It’s about the same size, it has nice beaches, problem solved. Snark aside, I’m in favor of supporting Israel, but this poking the President in the eye stuff I think is definitely overplaying their hand as someone else mentioned upthread. I think the Republicans are overplaying their hand as well. All this talk about a Republican landslide is BS to me at this point. A week is a lifetime in politics and seven months is an eternity. Obama’s not God, but seeing what he was able to rally in Kucinich’s district this week… well, if I was a Repub, I wouldn’t get too cocky.