This level of sordid behavior makes the hi-jinx going on during the Clinton-GWB transition look like harmless pranks. I'm so ashamed of my so-called government. I shudder to think a republican would do this. Obama needs to apologize for these outrageous and sophomoric remarks and fire the people responsible. But there will not even be an investigation, according to erudite State Department spokeswoman, Jenn Psaki. Here is her response when asked about same:"There are anonymous sources in all of your stories every single day. If we spent all of our time focused on that effort, we wouldn’t be working on diplomacy,”.
WTF?
Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has called on President Obama to "name, apologize for, and repudiate" the anonymous official quoted in an Atlantic Magazine article describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "chickenshit," The Algemeiner reports. In a telephone call with The Algemeiner from his Los Angeles office, an incensed Rabbi Hier declared: "It is rather ironic that a senior American official is prepared to curse his friends, yet when it comes to the mortal enemies of the United States -- as the Iranians discovered during the recent nuclear negotiation -- praise is heaped on them."
Link here.
I'm now convinced that Joe Biden would have been a better president. At least he wanted to send all the terrorists to hell.
Well now that Obama has heard about this in the media he can blame it on Bush.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bibi responded in a classy, dignified and stately manner. Just as one would expect from a true leader
ReplyDeleteBibi is pure class.
DeleteObama and has ilk have none. NONE.
(I love hearing Mr. Netanyahu speak Hebrew. That voice! *swoon*)
His reply was indeed pure class.
DeleteI had to LOL at your swooning at his Hebrew voice. We are so used to it that it always surprises me a bit when he switches to English.
I've also heard him speak in fluent French. Bet you didn't know he could do THAT! :)
Yes, he did, Fay.
ReplyDeleteThis story has me going from furious to horrified back to furious. I heard a talking head say that these comments were purposefully well-timed by the Obama administration to coincide with the return of the Israeli Defense Minister who was snubbed by Obama, Biden and their ace propagandist, Susan Rice to give maximum offense. I think he is correct.
Honestly? I never thought I'd live to see this kind of low-class, thin-skinned incompetent government. Heaven help us.
As an American, I'm mortally embarrassed by the 5th grade playground mentality of the grown men and women Obama has entrusted to conduct our foreign affairs. This regime is beyond incompetent. I despise them!
DeleteTo Mr. Netanyahu and the people of Israel: I am truly sorry that we Americans elected such an immature, know-nothing cockroach to lead our nation. The opinions of the insulated progressive elites in Washington are not shared by the American people. We revere Mr. Netanyahu, and will fight with Israel until our dying breath.
Hear, hear, lady red.
DeleteObama is inherently offensive. He does';t need to say anything.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't (just) a personal attack on Netanyahu.
ReplyDeleteI read Goldberg's whole article and it's a very carefully calibrated threat. The whole thing is meant for Israel's leadership and supporters to read.
The American President has a great deal of unilateral power with respect to the relationship with Israel, particularly in a crisis.
This particular American President will not hesitate to use that power to harm Israel in the next crisis.
The western elite in general are suffering a bout of helplessness and impotence. They can no longer influence events. Russia, China, ISIS, you name it. Out of control.
But there is one eternal scapegoat, the one power they have influence over, one people they can project their own deficiencies and inadequacies on. Yup. Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
Be careful, Israel. It's not the way it should be, but it is what it is.
I read the whole article too, lewy. I think this journalist is partially blinded by his own liberal ideology. For instance, he says:
ReplyDelete"To be sure, the Obama administration used the threat of an Israeli strike in a calculated way to convince its allies (and some of its adversaries) to line up behind what turned out to be an effective sanctions regime ".
Really? Effective sanctions regime? Even Obama's most ardent supporters have to admit the sanctions have been far from effective. And this:
"Much of the anger felt by Obama administration officials is rooted in the Netanyahu government’s periodic explosions of anti-American condescension. "
Are you kidding me? Whenever I hear him speak he has been humble and a loyal ally. Goldberg's got that backwards. He doesn't even address the public insults and childish behavior so I don't give his other conclusions much weight.
Just my 2 cents...
flo, regarding the Iran sanctions, it depends on what you mean by "effective".
DeleteNo, Iran hasn't given up its bomb making program - but they haven't made one, either (and by now they've had time).
The sanctions regime against Iran has inflicted a great deal of pain on the Iranian economy. Ahmadinejad lost his mandate and became unpopular. Yeah there is no such thing as a "moderate" in the Iranian government but at least the change in tone demonstrated that the sanctions have some bite.
Pity Obama's likely to abandon them.
[Side note: when you can spell "Ahmadinejad" correctly without looking it up you know your life has taken a bad path.]
As for the "anti-American condescension", it's not Bibi, it was some of his cabinet - I forget who. They really slammed Kerry. The fact that their comments were right on and that Kerry had it coming does not excuse them; calling out the American Secretary of State as delusional and messianic is a professional no-no for a member of the Israeli cabinet. Again, this is just the way it is. I think those comments were ill advised. Not wrong, just ill advised. We here at the Table have the luxury of saying what we think. Not everyone has that luxury.
I appreciate hearing your take on it, lewy. I did overlook that the author was talking about his cabinet rather than BN himself; however, they made the statements openly unlike the true chickenshits, who made their comments anonymously. Also, Bibi's people didn't stoop to false, childish, name-calling. The pencil-pushers in the WH couldn't pack Bibi's lunch.
DeleteIt was Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon who made the comments about Kerry's "messianic obssession" with Israel, and that's why the Administration is snubbing him - even 6 months later.
DeleteI agree that it was undiplomatic. BUT Yaalon was talking in a private conversation, off the record, and some "well-wisher" (yeah, right) leaked it to the press.
As opposed to Obama's "official" who made damn sure his comments were made to the press.
Also, Yaalon is right whereas Obama/Kerry are wrong. Minor detail..
Also, Yaalon apologized for the comment under pressure from Netanyahu himself.
DeleteAlso, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Army Radio that he agreed with the contents of Yaalon's interview, but added that, despite disagreements, there was no need to resort to personal insults.
So although the White House condemned the chicken insult yesterday, or perhaps it was the "asperger" insult, they have not apologized it or called for the person who said it to apologize.
I think they apologised for the asperger insult only under pressure from disabled advocates' groups. I mean, how childish can you get?? Calling someone basically retarded. We did that when we were 5 years old. And got punished for it.
Obama/Kerry are simply two-faced hypocrites who have no clue how to run a bar-brawl let alone a huge country.
Well, I got that wrong too, I thought Yaalon had made his comments publicly. Thanks for the clarification, annie.
DeleteI would like to hear what annie has to say. I'll go take a look, maybe she has addressed this on her blog.
ReplyDeleteI too would be very interested to hear what she has to say.
DeleteFlorrie, Lewy, I wrote about "chickengate" yesterday, amongst other items.
DeleteThe general feeling in Israel is one of outrage, amusement at the juvenility of the Administration, lots of finger-pointing at the administration's thin-skinned petulance (which I've also written about plenty of times before), and a competition to find the best Hebrew translation for "chickensh!t".
There is also much head-scratching at the Administration's two-facedness and confusion: Obama and Kerry more or less warned Israel not to DARE attack Iran, or else. They went as far as to leak Israel's attack plans to the media.
So Israel did not attack Iran.
So Obama and friends attack Bibi for being a coward.
Wait a minute - they WANTED Bibi to ignore them? Can anyone explain what they are thinking?
Assuming they are thinking at all...
I'm just watching Red Eye and Prof. Alan Dershowitz (who I love) just said the exact thing, annie. Are they calling him that for basically agreeing with the administration about not bombing Iran? It's just weird and awful.
DeleteI agree with all you said on your blog, I was going to leave a comment but I'm not too artful. Anyhoo, thanks for weighing in here, annie.
BTW, off topic but I've been thinking of AM42 lately, haven't heard from him in a couple years. I shot him an email but it came back so I apparently have an old email address. Has anyone heard from him lately? Hope all is well with them...
DeleteIf you want an excellent analysis of the whole story - the insults, the classlessness, and the effect of a waning American influence on the world, read J.E. Dyer at Liberty Unyielding.
ReplyDeleteI really love her way of writing and her analyses are always excellent and spot on.