The thing to keep in mind when reading this Jeffrey Goldberg piece about Netanyahu’s obnoxious tone when discussing President Obama is the reaction if Obama (or any other American politician) were to speak so dismissively of Netanyahu. We all know the reaction would be insane.
We’d finally witness what it is like when a million wingnuts simultaneously scream “slap in the face.”
Linda Featheringill
Bibi is a bitch, isn’t he?
Makes me think about extending “independence” and “self-determination” to Israel.
Laertes
And I “expect” my President to slam the white house door in your whiny face, Bibi.
I suppose we’ll both turn out to be disappointed, but I wonder who’ll be more so, in the long run.
cleek
Bibi ain’t dumb. he knows who controls this relationship.
Culture of Truth
Oh sure, NOW he stops bowing!
beltane
Netanyahu is quite the idiot’s idiot, isn’t he. How will his disrespectful treatment of the President of the US help him when history delivers the inevitable slap in the face in the form of a Palestinian state? Netanyahu put all his eggs in the evangelical, anti-Semitic basket of the American far-right, which will ultimately make him a tragic fool at the end of the day.
We all know the phrase “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Well, Netanyahu operates under a variation of this which is “The enemy of my friend is my friend.” Jackass.
fasteddie9318
So this big meeting they’ve got planned should be short…
OBAMA: Mr. Prime Minister, have a seat. Do you want anything? Do you like apples?
NETANYAHU: Thank you, Mr. President. Sure, I like apples.
OBAMA: Fuck our 2004 “commitments” to Israel. How do you like those apples?
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Wasn’t it somebody in the comments in another thread that said Netanyanhu is Hebrew for Gingrich?
Seems pretty spot on to me.
freelancer (itouch)
@fasteddie9318:
I was thinking it would go more like,
“I expect the President to…”
“I don’t remember asking you a Goddamn thing!”
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Something like this I suppose:
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if
millionshundreds of voices suddenly cried out interrorbutthurt and were suddenlysilencedamplified a thousandfold by a lazy and compliant news media seeking out the sensation of the week.JordanRules
Can we invite Bibi to a WH Correspondence Dinner-like event?
fasteddie9318
Either that, or it will follow the usual script for American-Israeli relations, with Netanyahu running his version of “Baby, you know daddy doesn’t want to hit you, but you got to stop running your mouth like that because then daddy’s got to keep you in line. You know what I’m saying?”
chopper
too bad bibi didn’t make a ‘commitment’ to stop being such a douchebag. then obama could hold him to that.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
I am frankly grateful that Bibi is being a dick, because the bigger, more obvious of a dick that he is, the more likely this Administration is to do something – anything – to shake up the dynamic.
I should stop organizing email campaigns calling on people to write/call Obama to support him (which you should totes do, at this juncture! http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact ) and start organizing people to write to Bibi to tell him to keep it up.
(Actually I’m fairly certain that campaign exists, so, really, contact the White House).
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Oh and PS, I suppose I should link to me again here, too.
You should so totally be reading my blog! The BBC did, and called me to be on a radio programme!
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/obama-netanyahu-the-middle-east-speech-what-might-have-happened-there/
Sad_Dem
Isn’t Bibi corrupt? Can you imagine that getting mentioned on a serious cable new program?
http://articles.sfgate.com/2000-03-29/news/17640842_1_sara-netanyahu-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-face-charges
Culture of Truth
“What do I look like?
“What?”
“What do I look like!?”
“What??”
“Say what again! I dare you – I double dare you!”
“Uh, you’re tall… you’re black…”
“Do I look like a Bush??”
“No!”
“Then why you try to fuck me like one, Bibi?”
tkogrumpy
It was Bibi who said he would not be bound by the decisions of his predecessor, I don’t think he can complain, especially since what Obama said was nearly verbatim what his secstate said in 2009.
Sad_Dem
@Culture of Truth: I snerked.
Brachiator
@cleek:
It ain’t Bibi. So if he’s not dumb, then this makes him delusional.
batgirl
The only American news cable channel I could get in Israel at family, friends, and hotels was FOX News. In other words, all they get is 24 hours of disrespecting the President of the United States.
Dennis SGMM
The Israelis were certainly intimidated by Obama’s speech:
As long as the policy of the US is, in the end, to unconditionally back Israel then no speech by a US President is going to change the realities on the ground for either the Israelis or the Palestinians.
balconesfault
Imagine for a moment that any world leader spoke that way about a Republican President.
Listening to Rush for a moment, he was lauding Netanyahu for putting Obama in his place.
Had it been any other world leader saying that to Reagan, or a Bush … the right wing would be calling for us to deploy nukes.
bkny
the comments at the wapo are overwhelmingly delighted that netanyahoooo remains a prick — esp to the mooslemkenyancommie interloper.
john b
@Dennis SGMM:
geez. another settlement announced just before an israeli visit.
if i were obama i’d shuffle my schedule a bit and have netanyahu meet with an asst. sec of state or something. that shit’s more than just disrespectful words. that’s downright destructive to any positive action taking place. and it’s really not worth obama’s time to talk with such a dick.
Ash Can
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
Yep. Sort of like the Scott Walker School of Union-Busting. No incrementalism, no stealth riders or provisions tucked into big, necessary, and unrelated legislation. Just a big siren on his head and a blinking neon sign around his neck reading, “I’m a douchebag.” No opportunity for reasonable people to be hoodwinked.
You go, girl! :D
bryanD
Bill Kristol is going around bragging that Obama is his butt boy.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/30/bill-kristol-declares-obama-a-born-again-neo-con-days-after-consulting-with-him-on-libya-policy/
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Somehow, that reminds me of this line from Franny and Zooey:
I don’t why I would associate Republicans with bowels, but there it is.
.
fasteddie9318
@john b:
He already effectively did that once, last March. I’d be down with him doing it again.
Comrade Dread
I think Goldberg is being over-optimistic when he says that a lot of people are upset over Netty’s comments. They’re not.
Most of them probably don’t even think of Obama as their president.
Also, the Israeli government can do no wrong. I’m pretty sure Netty could spit on Obama and at least 27% of the country would defend him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I just flipped through Dylan Ratigan. Some guy is calling the ’67 borders “the Auschwitz borders”. Why have an asshole like this on TV if you’re attempting to have a serious discusion?
batgirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Because our news media doesn’t give two shits about having a serious discussion.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Culture of Truth: Win.
Culture of Truth
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/israeli-settlers-reject-the-auschwitz-borders/
Zifnab
Call me crazy, but Netanyahu (yahoo, indeed) sounds less dismissive and more desperate.
This is the kind of statement a spoiled brat makes right before he gets thrown under the school bus.
You’ll notice Netanyahu is coming to the US. Obama isn’t visiting Israel. He’s demanding favors, not baring gifts. When the reaffirmation isn’t forthcoming, he’s going to… do what? Other than shit kittens? He’s got no hand.
So the right wing whaambulance will circle the block. That’ll fade with the next news cycle (fast approaching – given that we’re over the debt ceiling). Israel gets something like $3 billion a year from the US, and right now we’re looking for budgets to chop.
So I say please, please Mr. Netanyahu. Please commit a major verbal gaff on national TV while we are figuring out how to squeeze a few bucks out of the Congressional kitty. I beg you. Give us one reason why we should cut your aid spending, and Obama wins twice.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Is it wrong to wonder aloud if Netanyahu would speak the same way about a paler-skinned President?
danimal
Well, we do have a budget crisis, and foreign aid is unpopular, and Bibi is being a dick….Connect the dots.
Comrade Kevin
@Shoemaker-Levy 9: I am pretty sure he would.
Valdivia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
it’s actually a pretty old formulation supposedly coined by Abba Eban, but that was back in the 60s early 70s so whoever is using it is stuck in a time warp.
ETA not defending it btw, just saying it was widely used back then.
fasteddie9318
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Because Ratigan is, himself, an asshole?
KXB
Israel has a poor track record in reading the tea leaves. Because it is impossible to criticize Israel on Capitol Hill, successive Israeli PMs believe that they can ignore the White House.
1973 – After a massive intelligence failure, Israel finds its very existence at risk during the Yom Kippur War. It was only the airlifting of American supplies that Israel was able to push the Arab armies back. The cost of this American aid was a forced peace with Egypt, and some land transfers, particularly returning the Sinai.
1982 – After breaking their word to the U.S. that their incursion into Lebanon would be limited to the border region (to kick out the PLO), Israel found itself bogged down in a guerrilla war with the newly formed Hezbollah it was not trained for. After the Marine barracks bombing, Reagan decided to pull out American forces, leaving the Israelis to fend for themselves. After 18 years of fruitless effort, Israel was forced to withdraw by Hezbollah, the first time in Israel’s history its military was forced out by an Arab military force.
2006 – Israel and Hezbollah go at it again. Hezbollah is bloodied, but so is Israel. When a heavyweight (Israel) gets into the ring with a lightweight (Hezbollah), and the lightweight is still standing, the lightweight won. That was the opinion in Israel and the U.S. So, when Israel approached the Bush White House for requests for Iraq fly-over rights and bunker-busting bombs to use in an attempt to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, Bush turned them down.
The U.S. gives a lot of leeway to Israel. But, when Israeli interests and American interests conflict, no American president will put Israeli interests above the U.S.
El Cid
I don’t think Obama’s mention of 1967 borders represents necessarily an actual change in policy, but, really, the US has generally avoided any warning suggesting that the 1949/67 borders as they were drawn is a strong starting point, US Presidents have continually dismissed such a notion (Reagan called it “crazy”, Clinton’s parameters stated nothing about begging points for negotiation, Oslo accords said nothing but that borders would be handled in final status negotiations, and the Bush document cited earlier mentioned as reference but as usual emphasized that only needed agreed-upon borders.
But since it was a direct public statement by a US President which really sounded like a vindication of Pal/Arab stance on 1967 borders as really tight starting point with small exchange departures, it was a huge change in rhetoric which I immediately recognized would blow up the Israeli political establishment (i.e., though some would be loudest, among both Likud and the shards of other parties etc) and the pro-militarist loyalists here.
Don’t take my word obviously, plenty of Googleable doc’s. Sorry, I typed a bunch earlier w/quotes in “islands” threat but it got eated, currently at work and can only check in due to momentary excruciating boredom and blog checking neurosis.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@Ash Can: Thanks! :)
And yep. I like my assholes out, loud and proud about it. (And Scott Walker is an excellent example of just that approach to assholery!)
EconWatcher
@KXB:
This was astonishingly thoughtful and informative for a thread comment. Don’t you know you’re just supposed to fling profanity and talk about your pets? Are you on the wrong blog?
trollhattan
@balconesfault:
I seem to remember after Chavez gave his bizarre “I smell sulfur” speech to the UN that several prominent Democrats jumped to Bush’s defense, telling Chavez to frack off. Will be watching for the Republican equivalent, here. [cue: crickets]
Sad_Dem
Thanks, KXB, for articulating that.
Svensker
@Zifnab:
You are completely delusional if you think the US Congress would touch a hair on darling Israel’s head.
Montysano
@balconesfault:
Will no one rid me of this uppity Negro?
WaterGirl
BIbi thinks he can go over Barack’s head by going to Congress.
KXB
From that great American writer, George Washington:
“So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
pattonbt
Nah, the right wing will now back anyone over Obama, it doesn’t even have to be a traditional ally like Bibi anymore. They’d take Hitler over Obama. IOKIFYAR as always.
debbie
Bummer. Something from Goldberg I finally want read and the page is down.
debbie
@ KXB:
And also: Israel feels justified in spying on the United States and has the chutzpah to ask for Pollard’s sentence to be commuted. So ugly.
chopper
@debbie:
“yeah, so i know we were caught spying on you, but that would be a real solid. and i also just need to know when that 3 billion dollar check is coming.”
pablo
BiBi is a Bozo.
Kevin Moore
Not excusing Netanyahu — he’s a prick — but I find Goldberg’s other examples strange. Hugo Chavez shouldn’t mock the president most likely behind a coup that nearly killed him? It may lack some dignity, but it’s understandable. And why shouldn’t Karzai or the Pakistanis get upset when US weapons kill their citizens? “They harbored Osama!” That’s childish and petulant and utterly besides the point when dead civilians are on the ground.
rf80412
Don’t read too much into this. Whatever progress is made on I/P will happen in spite of Obama and the US, not because of them. No matter what happens, Israel has nowhere else to turn except to Washington. Instead, it’s the Republicans that Obama has reason to worry about, as well as their fundangelical and Zionist backers. Whatever Obama says or does or not will have the goal of staying on their side, not Tel Aviv’s.
fasteddie9318
@balconesfault:
There’s a solution to a whole mess of problems here, involving the granting of Israeli citizenship to Rush followed by a solemn burning of his American passport.
Kyle
The prime minister’s associates said that he “desperately wants” Obama to use the diplomatic muscle of the US to protect Israel from the coming unilateral statehood bid the Palestinians plan for September; not only by vetoing in the Security Council, but also by leaning hard on Washington’s European allies to get them to reject it as well.
Shorter Netanyahu:
After I call you a dick and you give me my $3b welfare check, I have a list of other stuff you need to do for me”.
Ija
@Comrade Dread:
Yup. People are being wayyy too optimistic here. I predict a resolution in the House condemning Obama for throwing Israel under the bus and disrespecting Bibi. And that all Republicans and at least 2/3 of Democrats will vote for it. Obama has opened himself to a world of trouble here. That’s the reality of our relationship with Israel and Palestine.
Ija
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
Nah, it would be the same. Israeli Prime Ministers are used to dicking around American Presidents of all skin types and colors. In this case, I really think race has nothing to do with it at all.
Porlock Junior
Mr Goldberg has the right ideas, but he falls down at the end: “And yet he seems to go out of his way to alienate the President. Why does he do this? It’s a mystery to me.”
Hasn’t been listening much, I take it. Israeli policy for the past year or two has been to prove it has the Biggest Swinging Dick in the world by taking any opportunity to directly insult countries that are much bigger and have been friendly to it. (A class with, I guess, 2 members.)
Turkey, the one Islamic country that could ever stand Israel, had not conformed to its wishes lately, so the Foreign Minister (iirc) called the ambassador in and did the “make him wait around and then admit him and put him in the too-low chair so you can look down at him while expressing your contempt” bit; and then gloated to the press in case anybody hadn’t noticed. After which, of course, things actually started to get bad.
The really big country that has befriended Israel from day one sent its Vice President over there last year, and was greeted by the announcement that they were building yet another batch of illegal settlements. Nice diplomacy there. If you admire Stalin. Or, better, CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED
This is just a continuation of his demonstration that he is in charge here.
Hey, they haven’t attacked an American ship for years and years. Ain’t that nice of them? — Gee, I hope I haven’t jinxed it.
[A couple of typos corrected.]
maus
@Ija: The religious background of his father doesn’t help any.
If my mother’s harping today is any indication (no way in hell I’d verify without transcripts), Glenn Beck has decided that Obama’s presidency is the “most antisemitic in history”.
bob h
Netanyahu is knowingly providing red meat for Republican primitives in an election year. I’d tell him not to come back.