This is what a leader looks like. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu pulled off quite a speech before a joint session of Congress today, striking a theme that Israel is what’s right about the Middle East, not what is wrong with it. Citing Israel’s strength (“You don’t need to send American troops to Israel, we defend ourselves.”) and Israel’s tolerant democracy (“Of the 300 million Arabs, less than one half of one percent are free and they are all citizens of Israel.”) Netanyahu laid out the case that while Israel makes concessions for peace, the Palestinians make deals and make war. Netanyahu declared that he will accept a Palestinian state (as other Israeli leaders have declared in the past) but said it is time for Palestinian leaders to say “I will accept a Jewish state.” Those six words, said Benjamin Netanyahu, would change the world.
Netanyahu also spent a few minutes discussing the “Arab Spring,” reminding the world of a previous Persian Spring that broke out in 1979 but ended in tyranny in Iran. That tyranny spread to Lebanon and crushed its Cedar Rebellion years later. Netanyahu thus undercut the unrealistic enthusiasm that has permeated reporting on the Arab Spring, and undercut President Obama’s engagement policy with Iran — even while flattering the president himself. This was masterful diplomacy.
The Israeli PM reiterated what he told President Obama directly in Washington last week, and that he said before AIPAC Monday: That Israel will not return to the 1967 borders. He declared that the Palestinian “right of return” means Palestinians have the right to immigrate to a Palestinian state, and that Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel (returning to the 1967 borders would divide the city). Netanyahu also drew attention to the Hamas charter, which still calls for Israel’s destruction, calling into question the very idea of negotiating with “the Palestinian version of al Qaeda.” Netanyahu called for Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to tear up his agreement with Hamas and negotiate for peace with Israel. If they did so, Israel would be among the first nations to welcome a Palestinian state to the international community and the UN. In this, Netanyahu echoed President Reagan’s famous and prophetic “Tear down this wall” speech.
At the end of the day, Netanyahu’s was a very impressive speech. Not a word of it will have to be “clarified” or walked back in a day or two. It will not be “misunderstood,” as President Obama claims his speech of last week has been. Netanyahu was as clear and forthright as he could be on the basis of war and conflict and the path to peace. This, as I opened the post, is what a leader looks like.
A masterful presentation. Powerful, clear, and a full throated rejection of Obama’s Islamophilic treachery. I think Netanyahu just went a long was towards realigning US policy away from Obama’s putrid vision towards one in concert with traditional American vision and goals, and of course Israel’s.
I believe Pajamas Media clearly stated in guideline #3 that posters should feel free to “Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.” Rhetorically, an attack ad hominem is an attack “against the man,” or an argument that belittles the arguer, not the argument. Therefore, I respectfully request that Morton Doodslag’s post containing two ad hominem attacks on Pres. Obama be removed, or at least censured by the Pajamas Media community.
Jesse Lee? Is that you?
The Troll Czar takes up his cudgel.
Okay. Substitute, “Islamophilic treachery of Obama’s policies” and the “putrid vision of Obama’s policies”. Fixed.
Adjectives, sir. Simply adjectives.
Quite true. But, don’t confuse poor CB.
Putting aside all his political philosophy, Netanyahu is the precise mold of character (that inner fabric) that the GOP lacks anywhere in its closet full of candidates. He brought the ‘house down’ in the chamber…across all party lines and ideologies. He has always stood, unwavering upon his core values and vision for Israel through one adversity to another and several loses. The GOP of today, post-Reagan, can only dream for someone of his extraordinary qualities.
Citadel Blue:
Wouldn’t it be nice if the President were bound by PJ rules too? Alas, he steps it up a notch by assaulting his opponents when they can’t respond. He made his modus operandi clear in his very first primetime presidential address, when he casually remarked that conservatives just “want to blow up the public school system.” A lot of folks seem to think it doesn’t count if you attack people collectively, instead of individually, and apparently, it’s never occurred to Obama that every time he misrepresents Republicans, he’s insulting half the country.
That said, I would also suggest that personal character is a legitimate issue when we’re discussing the President and leader of the free world — especially one whose campaign theme song will reportedly be, “Trust me.”
Netanyahu 2012.
for Palestinian leaders to say “I will accept a Jewish state.”
is not that good a statement as the leader who says it will be removed and replaced with a revisionist. An analogy is the removal of Mubarak for possibly Amr Moussa who will tear up the Camp David accords.
He should have placed emphasis on the Arab League which controls the Palestinians to go back on their “Three Noes of Khartoum” declaration, no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and their 1959 Resolution 1457, which states as follows: “The Arab countries will not grant citizenship to applicants of Palestinian origin in order to prevent their assimilation into the host countries.”
Palestinian leaders negotiating is just a subterfuge.