Let’s hope for all our sakes that he and they are wrong.
Last week Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon was patently ignored during his visit to Washington, penciled in for a visit solely with his counterpart in the defense department and one other official. Top officials had “no time” for him – a direct smack in the face. They said, “enough.” Ya’alon has been sniping at Obama also — probably as payback for Obama’s disrespect to his boss, and to him.
The White House behavior is ill-advised when one considers the fact that Netanyahu served in the IDF’s crack Sayeret Matkal special ops unit, and Obama never served in the military at all. Good poker players also bluff. Sometimes they win by bluffing. Obama would be wise to rethink his position, rather than “throw Israel under the bus,” as Economy Minister Naftali Bennett seems to think he is about to do.
When the pot starts calling the kettle black, it gets a little annoying. And when the U.S. began ragging once again about Israel’s planned urban development in its own capital city – and the few basic upgrades to existing towns in Judea and Samaria – Netanyahu said, “enough.”
Yesterday in remarks to the opening of the winter session of the Knesset Israel’s prime minister bluntly rejected Obama administration claims that building in Jerusalem was behind the current escalation in Arab violence and reminded once more that Arab violence against Israel preceded 1967.
“If what was written is true, then the current administration intends to throw Israel under the bus,” Bennett said in a statement later the same night in response to the Goldberg article. “[But] Israel is stronger than any disparager,” he warned. “The prime minister is not some private individual. He is the leader of the Jewish State and the Jewish world as a whole. Vulgar marks directed against an Israeli prime minister are hurtful to the millions of citizens of Israel and Jews worldwide,” Bennett said.
“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and we have struggled throughout our 66 years for our existence. Israel is the vanguard of the free world against the Islamic terrorism of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.”
The prime minister’s office released a simple statement in response to the article: “Netanyahu will continue to uphold the security interests of the citizens of Israel and the historical rights of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. No pressure will change that.”
Instead of attacking Israel and forcing suicidal conditions on her, strengthen her,” Bennett urged.
Good advice. It might even save lives elsewhere around the world.
