You may have thought at
first that these words were uttered by someone on the White House staff in response to
Netanyahu’s rude (to be kind), and irresponsible (to be accurate) acceptance of
an invitation to speak to our U.S. Congress on March 3.
You would be wrong. This excerpt came from Netanyahu’s former hand-picked
ambassador to the US, Michael Oren as reported on the Israel website YNET. Here is the full statement:
“The behavior over the
last few days created the impression of a cynical political move and it could
hurt our attempts to act against Iran. It’s advisable to cancel the speech to
Congress so as not to cause a rift with the American government. Much
responsibility and reasoned political behavior are needed to guard interests in
the White House.”
Granted, Mr. Oren recently
announced he is running for the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, as part of the Kulanu Party led by Moshe
Kahlon, a centrist in Israeli politics;
however, he is not alone in his criticism of Netanyahu’s brash and braggadocio
behavior on the world stage:
There are many prominent
Israeli journalists and politicians who abhor the brazenness of his move, along with Israeli supporters here in
the U.S., who were “sick to their stomachs. . .” when they heard the news – a
sentiment shared with Israeli columnist, Chemi Shalev. One of those staunch
supporters here in the U. S. was FOX News’ Chris Wallace:
“I’m shocked,” he
said. “For Netanyahu to do something
that is going to be seen as a deliberate and really pretty egregious snub of
Obama when Obama is going to be in power for the next year and three quarters
would seem to be a very risky political strategy.”
There are others too numerous to quote here. Suffice it to say that Netanyahu is a sly and successful politician, with a history of blatant publicity ploys used to his advantage; in this instance, however, he may have gone too far, considering the backlash over the last week.
Of course, complicit in this entire fiasco is our own John Boehner.
Speaker John Boehner should, without further ado, withdraw his invitation to Netanyahu until after the Israeli election and the new Prime Minister, whoever she/he is, has a legitimate mandate from the Israeli people -- untainted by the shameful ploys of unworthy politicians. There are many in the race who qualify.
As to our own illustrious Speaker of the House -- you embarrass me, John Boehner.
It is interesting that the obama WH and the State Dept both came out initially saying there was no breech in protocol with this invitation. Then, seeing an opportunity to make Bibi look bad, they jumped up and down with glee and began this current campaign. This is not something precedent setting. Other Israeli and U.S. leaders have met just before elections, Clinton was one who did it. The sources the writer quoted are notorious for Israel bashing. The news in Israel is just as bad as the news in the U.S. Only the Jewish Press, the Times of Israel and Arutz Sheva can be counted on to tell the truth in Israel and Fox News is the only one in the U.S. Wallace is known as a self-hating Jew and was really in his element at CNN. This is the first time he has said something like this since moving over to Fox. Congress is near debating and voting on additional sanctions against Iran since they know that Obama is giving away the store in the current negotiations and want to have all the facts before they do that. The best way to get the facts is by talking to Netanyahu. It is also interesting that most demos were in favor of having Netanyahu come before them until obama got to them and now they are joining the obama bandwagon against it. Obama never misses a chance to show his hatred for Bibi. Bibi is strong, smart and a very savvy politician and always makes obama look bad. There is very bad blood between them because Bibi won't bow before the "messiah".
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