Political Correctness Rules at Obama-Bibi Presser
President Barack Obama has basically regarded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an instrumentality, and Tuesday’s joint press conference after their “make-up” meeting at the White House was no exception.
In general, Obama has treated Netanyahu as an instrumentality toward his own policy goal of creating a twenty-third Arab state and a second Palestinian state (in addition to Jordan), and Netanyahu — reversing lifelong opposition to Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza — has, since his key June 2009 speech, complied at least on the surface.
On Tuesday, though, Obama — whose rough treatment of Netanyahu got out of hand at their last meeting in March — needed Netanyahu for something else: refurbishing his “pro-Israel” credentials for the upcoming U.S. elections in November. Again, for Netanyahu, the junior partner, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
So not only Obama, but Netanyahu, too, ended up sounding the notes that could reassure Jewish supporters of the Democrats and disarm Republicans seeking to brand Obama as anti-Israel. The U.S.-Israeli bond is “unbreakable,” Obama said, and the meeting was “one more step in the extraordinary friendship between the U.S. and Israel, which has grown closer and closer as time goes on.”
Obama even added that “I’ve trusted Netanyahu since the first time I met him, before I was elected president. The press in Israel and the U.S. like to make up a story.”
Netanyahu chimed in by saying any rumors of troubled U.S.-Israeli relations were “dead wrong.”
Asked by a reporter about the imminent end of Netanyahu’s ten-month West Bank settlement freeze in September — seen as a likely point of friction — Obama skirted the issue, saying he hoped direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations would get started “well before” the freeze expires. Netanyahu — that is, the new, Obama-friendly Netanyahu, who often sounds little different than the dovish Israeli leaders he used to criticize — averred a similar desire, saying that “[Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas and I need to move to direct talks.”
Netanyahu, the Israeli public and Jews everywhere should be very, very cautious at taking Obama’s comments at face value. They should understand that after displaying his rancor toward Israel so obviously earlier in the year, and after watching his support from American Jews nosedive, he recognized a need for a bit of the old Obama magic rhetoric and political theater. That’s what his public statements were all about today. A quick review of all that Obama has done and said regarding Israel since taking office should serve to dispel the notion that he feels anything but antipathy toward Israel and intends to act upon those malign feelings.
But perhaps, now that NASA is no longer in the space business, now that’s it’s primary mission is building Muslim self-esteem, that agency can be used to bridge the gap between Israel and those nations surrounding it for whom a second Holocaust is not only desirable, but the sole reason for living.
The only question that need be asked is: can Obama be trusted? Any Israeli who doesn’t know the answer to that question is demonstrating their willingness to accept, and to actively contribute to, their own extinction.
Anyone, not just Jews, who trusts Obackstabber will get their peace of real estate under his bus.
Another interested audience are the Saudis. They’ve been buddying up to Israel of late, seeing them as deliverance fro a nuclear Iran. I’ll bet there was some behind the scenes pressure from the House of Saud on the US.
While Bibi may be the “junior” partner, I think him the smarter, wilier, and wiser of the two.
Bibi did what he had to do, but he didn’t look happy doing it. and speaking of not looking happy…I hope O’Reilly has the “body language” girl on to talk about Obama’s obvious affection for the Israeli PM. yeah.
I hope Bibi knows not to trust this president. Obama is not a friend of Israel’s and I can’t believe my American Jewish brothers and sisters don’t see that, regardless of this silly photo op.
michiganruth: I think the Israeli PM knows exactly what Obama is, but like Hornik pointed out, Israel has no choice in the matter. Obama is more enamored of the muslim world and will bend over backwards to placate Islam. Obama sees American Jews only as a voting bloc and seeks their favor by being politically correct to Israel. If push came to shove, Obama is on the muslim world’s side.
Ruth,
Where in Michigan are you? Maybe it’s the proximity to Dearborn, but I find that many Detroit Jews who are otherwise on the political left have no illusions about the Arab and Muslim agenda to destroy Israel. Sure, there are tools like that idiot in charge of the Jewish Community Council who krichs to the Goyim to show how concerned he is with “Islamophobia”, but I think that for the most part Detroit Jews understand the situation.
I don’t care, I believe every word Obama spoke. It just made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. In fact, I’m so happy with it that It convinced me not to change my votes in the coming election. You hear that fearless leader, I’m going to vote the same again! All because of you!
By the way I’m a conservative Republican.
Andy Gump:
Thanks. I guess it’s better to laugh than cry. But I’m afraid the end will be the same. We lose.
Bibi has played a precarious game in compromising his political stances to, seemingly, keep Obama friendly. Whether the latter is really possible is much in doubt. At first it was said that Bibi had to make such compromises to keep in sync with Obama on Iran, which is Israel’s cardinal issue. That too, looks hollow now, as Obama pursues futile sanctions. Bibi has to consider a divorce on the Iran issue at least, and also has to consider asserting Israeli priorities regarding the Palestinians, like ending the settlement freeze, which equals a concession in advance that the Pals. have done nothing to deserve.
It’s been said before, and often, that Obama’s promises all come with an expiration date. Netanyahu probably understands this, but needs the PR.
Personally, I hope Israel bombs the holy s**t out of Iran, and maybe Syria too, and the resulting PR fallour falls squarely on Obama’s head. It’s not like all the enemy states haven’t been spitting in his cereal anyway.
Once November rolls around and Obie loses his party majority in Congress, Netanyahu should turn around and slam Obama to his heart’s delight, giving the poseur in the White House a taste of his own medicine.
Unfortunate that Obama has been forced to give ground to the Greater Israel lobby. One of the things I like most about his is his independence on this issue.
I hope this is not a backwards step for the Palestinians. The PA in the West Bank have been sincere partners in peace since the death of Arafat – despite the usual ‘nuke the gooks’ flim flam you’ll find on this site.
Worst of all is the strong possibility that Israel will see this as a return to the Green Light of the past, when they could treat their neighbours with callous and brutal disregard – bombard them, shoot them, disrupt their societies – and be rewarded by the USA.
Probably nothing will amend the behaviour of the Israelis, except, God willing, a slow multi-generational shift in attitudes in that country, but it’s distasteful that even Obama, the great ambassador of the new American outlook on the world, is impotent in the face of the huge political and financial influence of America’s tiny Jewish minority.
I wish American Muslims were more politically active: well organised, they could probably make up in numbers for the power of the Jewish lobby in media control and sheer wealth.
As Tony Snow once said about another neo-Nazi:
Thanks for the Hamas, Hizbollah view Chris! (AKA Helen Thomas in drag)
As for me:
The more Jew hatred and Israel hatred I encounter the more I increase my PRO-Israel work…
@ChrisW
And your documented evidence for this is…?
Grantman, some ‘hard’ evidence:
1) Naming of stadiums and squares for famous terrorists of the past;
2) Holding week-long ‘marriage’ ceremonies for terrorists of the present, including the guy who slaughtered the yeshiva students in Jerusalem in March 2008;
3) Reasserting the ‘right of return’ so that millions of Arabs who claim descent from the 450,000 who fled Israel in 1947-49 might ‘return’ (while the millions of Israelis descended from Middle Eastern Jewish refugees stay put);
4) Abbas’ personal reaffirmation of his PhD thesis done in Moscow, in which he denied the Holocaust (Mahmoud now says that ‘some Jews’ may have died, and puts the number at six thousand).
You should really give Chris and his pals more credit. They’re well aware of these peaceful facts, and are simply waiting for us to catch up.
Larry, let’s not forget the recent eulogy for the man who planned the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Or the praise for the hero who made a 4 year old Israeli girl watch as he murdered her father, then used his rifle butt to murder the little girl by smashing her head. But like you say, Chris knows, he just doesn’t see it as a moral flaw. A Jew moving back to a building that his family owned for decades before Jordan confiscated it in 1948 — now THERE’s a moral outrage.
True, ahad. Now I need to go to my Alcalay to look up ‘ha’amoratsim’, which shortly I shall do.
I recently posted on another site about the kibbutznikim of Gush Etzion, those whose parents, males and females, were slaughtered by the oh-so-moderate Jordanian Legion after surrendering in 1948. The Jordanians of course destroyed the communities and expelled those they did not murder; some of their children returned after 1967. Currently they are ‘fanatics’ and ‘obstacles to peace’ slated for ethnic cleansing to enable ‘peace.’
On another thread appeared a sad character called Gould’s Ghost, I think, lamenting how the Jewish immigrants to Israel from Europe had simply transferred their pogrom mentality onto the innocent Arabs. Such a sad way to be, and so much effort to kick up dirt in the face of the light, and the upbuilding, and the rehabilitation of a sundered people. Such a waste of time…
@ 8. Chris W
“…the power of the Jewish lobby in media control and sheer wealth.”
Is your copy of ‘The Protocols’ an original, autographed edition?
Or maybe one of the numerous printings from the government of Egypt?
You are an arabophile/islamophile, yes? You like mohammedans, yes?
Maybe you are one, yes? You can state any of this on PJM and
the moderator won’t block or delete you. You have the right of association
and freedom of speech, and the moderator of PJM IS moderate!
Compare this with Veterans Today, who are scurrilously scathing
of the US/Israel/capitalism and actively block and censor
almost all contrary opinions, even questions of balance and justice.
They do, however, publish fiery, vitriolic attacks (and ‘truthings’) against their
perceived enemies; and they both encourage and publish every hateful comment.
If you would like to sing to the choir, and have a strong stomach, try them.
@ 8. Chris W
“…the power of the Jewish lobby in media control and sheer wealth.”
Is your copy of ‘The Protocols’ an original, autographed edition?
Or maybe one of the numerous printings from the government of Egypt?
You are an arabophile/islamophile, yes? You like mohammedans, yes?
Maybe you are one, yes? You can state any of this on PJM and
the moderator won’t block or delete you. You have the right of association
and freedom of speech, and the moderator of PJM IS moderate!
Compare this with Veterans Today, who are scurrilously scathing
of the US/Israel/capitalism and actively block and censor
almost all contrary opinions, even questions of balance and justice.
They do, however, publish fiery, vitriolic attacks (and ‘truthings’) against their
perceived enemies; and they both encourage and publish every hateful comment.
If you would like to sing to the choir, and have a strong stomach, try them.
Yes, I do love Arabs. I know many of them; I love and admire them. Why would I hate them? Why should I hate them?
Why do you hate them? The Muslims are out there fighting terrorism, putting their lives on the line. It was Muslims who helped bring down the Butcher of Baghdad. The Muslims are, and always have been, great and faithful friends and allies of ours in our shared civilisation.
But what would any of you know of civilisation? The Pajamas Media crowd are insane savages. You’re the Huns in 1914 – lusting to smash innocent populations with your military power. You’re drunken, mindless brutes.
Hey Chris,
Things are looking up. Soon Iran will have a nuclear bomb, and then they can give one to some terrorist group to provide plausible deniability when the Iranian ‘advisers’ bomb Tel Aviv. And as a bonus, Iran will threaten to do the same thing to NYC so we will be forced to make our country judenrein under threat of nuclear jihad.
And then the Jooos will stop having so much power in our politics. Good times.
One hopes the Jooos don’t realize their fate until after the mushroom cloud. By then, voting for the Dems won’t save them from the Dems prejudgice even if the Jooos think it will. I mean, they could stop it all right now by attacking Tehran, and by helping the Republicans crush the Democrats to great plaudits, and to allies from people who genuinely support them.
Good thing they don’t realize this.
Oh drat, I forgot about the Joooo mind-sucking satellites which drain the minds out of people and sift them for useful ideas. I’m afraid its already too late. I’d find a basement and some tinfoil far out in the woods so that the Joooobots don’t get you. They can’t find you if you hide deep, well, at least I hope not. I’m going dark and off the grid now. I suggest you do the same.
Sure, sure… “nuke the gooks, nuke the towel-heads”
Heard it all before.
“Anyone who doesn’t want to nuke the gooks and the towel-heads is a Socialist and an anti-Semite.”
I’ve heard it ALL BEFORE….
If it’s true you can tell a lot about a person by their enemies, then I’m proud to have inhumane and anti-humanistic people like you as enemies.
I’ve heard it ALL BEFORE….
That you keep hearing it over and over is a pretty good indicator that it doesn’t take long for most people to see you for what you are.
If it’s true you can tell a lot about a person by their enemies,…
Taking note of your enemies reveals nothing that couldn’t be understood simply by watching your defense of barbarians.
The Arabs are not barbarians.
*You* are the barbarians. *You’re* the ones who enjoy killing, bombing and destruction for its own sake. You’re the ones who don’t recognise non-combatant status among Muslims. You’re the ones who see a solution in the ‘punishment’ of whole populations.
You’re savages. Parasites.
Chris,
Of course our allies are barbarians. We on the Left are allying with the Muslim expansionists who use terrorists and oil as weapons. Now these folk drop people into paper shredders, and rape woman, and hang gays from cranes, and send retarded people out to blow themselves up. Of course, they’re barbs.
Now this does not apply to the fifty percent of the people who LIKE the pig-dogs of America since they don’t have any power, and thus they’re opinion does not matter, rather like the folk in America’s heartland, impotent and buffalloed and hiding.
This ‘barb statement’ I made above is about the People Who Matter. People like you and me, Chris. Except if we’re clear-eyed and unsentimental, we don’t have to be barbs. We can take the long view which is after all what ‘barbarian’ is really talking about–people who don’t think ahead.
Once we use the terrorists to weaken the ‘parasites’ as you so cleverly call them, then we can stop this idealistic and gentle handed approach began by Bushitler of trying to convert tigers to kitty cats, of making dictators into democrats, and just nuke the ever living daylights out of our erstwhile allies, the Arabs.
Bang! We’re in charge of the most powerful nation in the world, all our enemies are dead or petrified (we’ll just TELL the Chicoms we default on our debt, and dare them to do anything) and we can start on the good work being done in Congress and Hollywood about making our positions hereditary. Its time to reboot the nobility.
And like traditional European nobles we will have the Joooos to kick around.
This article is a first rate realistic analysis of the Netanyahu- Obama meeting. But I would add qualify by mentioning, what I believe is one positive note. The meeting does show that however Obama is personally detached from Israel, he is limited in his actions to pressure it. It shows the de-legitimizers that they have a long way to go before they can break the bond between the U.S. and Israel. It probably is even a small reminder to Turkey who is ‘the stronger horse’ when it comes to the U.S.
Well,you have to remember that this was the same Barokeydoke Obozo who deluded himself into thinking he could order Jews in Jerusalem they couldn’t construct buildings where they had done so for 3000 yrs….so it’s not surprising that he’s having to semi-walk back his open hostility….so the tie goes to the runner on this one..cousin Bibi…and Barokeydoke comes off looking ineffective at best and incompetent at worst…what’s not to like?
What would Israel gain and what would Israel lose by publicly admitting the truth that relationships between the American President and the people of Israel have seldom been this bad? What would be the plus and minus of openly asking Obama to explain to the American people what America gains by unconditionally subsidizing the Palestinians?
For that matter what would be the pros and cons of publicly asking Obama what America gains from the friendship with Israel? Would Obama have the balls to admit he hasn’t thought it through?
On the last trip,Obama’s treatment of Netanyahu was appalling! He showed nothing but contempt for him and Israel. The reason he is being decent now is because his handlers reminded him that he is still only a president, not a king, and he better do something to impress the Jewish voters and for that matter, the Evangelicals who support Israel. Hopefully, Netanyahu and the Israelis know Obama cannot be trusted and will act accordingly. We, the American voters, are well aware of Obama’s poor relationship with truth as well as his great sympathy for the Muslims. So, caveat emptor!
Obama is grovelling because he has been weakened, not because Israel has gotten stronger or because Obama has decided to cozy up to either the Jewish State or Netanyahu.
But this is not a bad state of affairs for Israel, and if Netanyahu is gracious enough, he could parlay Obama’s weakness into serious sanctions on Iran and a reduction in the American pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Arabs.
If past is prologue, Obama will keep these promises just the way he has kept his campaign promises.
Exactly!
The ball retriever who handles BO~S foreign policy juggling act has applied for a helper.Perfect!With 8 hands and the ability to blind,it is the Octopus.Even that may not be enough.What next?A robot BO programed from his teleprompter?
Bibi heads a weak and fractured govt.His party only commands around 28 out of 120 seats. He is not loved in israel, only tolorated. His party has no intention of allowing any kind of land comprimise with the Palestinians. As muhc as I loath Palestinian leadership,the current Israeli govt is not so nice to look at either.
@ 17 David
For once a reasoned comment. Keep it up.
You neither have to preach to the choir,
nor sound like al-Jazeera in an echo chamber.
I think that if the US had had to face the entire world (as communists, say)
bent on their destruction and subsequent annihilation, for the last 60 years
(see Hamas Charter exhortation on killing Jews) you might be unhappy with the
engendered government. Who knows? A strong government, rather than coalitions
might have led to a peaceful prosperous country, or much greater evil.
Feel free to speculate. Nothing will come of it.
@ 17 David
For once a reasoned comment. Keep it up.
You neither have to preach to the choir,
nor sound like al-Jazeera in an echo chamber.
I think that if the US had had to face the entire world (as communists, say)
bent on their destruction and subsequent annihilation, for the last 60 years
(see Hamas Charter exhortation on killing Jews) you might be unhappy with the
engendered government. Who knows? A strong government, rather than coalitions
might have led to a peaceful prosperous country, or much greater evil.
Feel free to speculate. Nothing will come of it.
It is a win-win for everyone:
Obama appears as a friend of Jewish security. When all is said and done, most of the American Jews who support Israel want to keep Israel going partly as a safety valve for themselves. At the same time, many of these are Permanent Liberals, and need a nudge to vote for Barry and his boys in November. This and an Obama trip to Israel in Sept./Oct should help with that.
Bibi wins. He gets to look to the Israeli right wing as if he and Israel have weathered the American Hurricane. The Left won’t scream at him as loudly since he can be seen to caving in, which they insist on, given that most of the (diminished but noisy) Left WANT America to pressure Israel out of Judea and Samaria.
If Obama is worried about a Hillary Clinton challenge in ’12 in which she poses as the friend of Israel in the primaries, he has begun a campaign to cut her legs out from under her.
The HuffPo group and related Israel-bashers may be somewhat unhappy, which they will be anyhow unless an Obama dictatorship is officially established. Yet there is little doubt that the Malleys and Powers are reassuring them behind the scenes that the hammer drops on Bibi after November.
It’s a win-win-win-win-win.
Can anyone splain to me how much of anything in the big picture has really changed since Camp David with Carter, Sadat, and Arafat? Things are continually screwed up; American political parties posture left or right to mollify one constituency or another, but what has really changed?
All I can see changing is that three or four more “solutions” have been tried that have not worked….and we have avoided major slaughter and large scale wars.
Israely public opinion comprehended Obama’s radical anti Israely ideology from the very begining and since then his low popularity is going down and down.
The media and oposition tried to defend him but general disapprove was so deep that left no choice for them but associate to reality.
This situation made possible for Netaniau to be polite to Obama, since this behavior was not considered Israel real attitude but Netaniau strategic choice.
I belive Israely dissatisfaction is shown not less effectively through those other channels, which allow Netaniau to use it whithout dirtying his own hands.
Why don’t the “palestinians” quit occupying judea and samaria and build settlements in their homeland, Jordan?
Hey, we seem to be very interested in the safety of the Prime Minister…we made especially sure to safeguard the luggage of even his secret service and we made those very dangerous weapons stay as far away from them as possible…they sent them to LA and even took one of the Glock’s out to make sure that it was firing safely. We appear to still be checking it.
On his last visit, he got to eat in peace, by himself, while our dear leader went to tuck the kids into bed.
This time, we gave his secret service a very thorough experience with our “lost luggage” claims departments…even going to the trouble of removing some of their items…for safekeeping.
How can Israel not feel the warmth, depth and breadth of our unity with them? It’s a very “special” relationship…and all American and Israeli brethren should just move along…nothing to look at here.
Agreed, accidents happen. Who knows what the reaction will be the next time a US diplomatic car tries to run over an Israeli border guard in the ‘West Bank’? (It happened already in December of last year.) Maybe he’ll lose his ride and have to walk home?
Barry O’s eatin’ crow on Israeli nukes, fer t’day anyways, no tellin’ whut’s up t’morry.
Hamas is sittin’ purty tho, lotsa money t’ burn from ol’ Uncle Obie, who’s lookin’ t’ laugh last.
What’s-his-name’s a big liar, as y’know, so watch out, Bibi, okay?
Don’t let ‘im go pokin’ you with his finger no more, either . . .
My president is a liar. Believe NOTHING that comes from his mouth. Ever.
Notice that the ambassator from the UAE was begging someone to hit Iran and remove its nuclear weapons program. My comment at #2 should be expanded to include not only the Saudis but the other Gulf states.
As to Obama treating Bibi rudely, remember Putin’s treatment of Obama where none of the Russian party would shake Obama’s hand?
Bibi will be more subtle than Putin, should the opportunity arise.