Bibi is wrecking Israel's relations with the US

 
"The White House said on Wednesday that Israeli officials had mischaracterized U.S. negotiations on Iran's nuclear program and criticized what it called "a continued practice of cherry-picking" and leaking information out of context.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Obama administration is mindful of the need to keep the negotiations private and accused Israel of distorting the U.S. position.

"There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate," Earnest said at a news briefing. "There's no question about that."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, also accused Israel of "selective sharing of information" but declined to say what information had been cherry-picked.

"I think it is safe to say not everything you are hearing from the Israeli government is an accurate reflection of the details of the talks," Psaki said."  Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.643133

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"Unlike every other world leader, the bumptious Bibi has decided to take a side in America’s internal conflict by addressing a joint meeting of the Republican-controlled Congress (responding to an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner) without even informing President Obama that he was Washington-bound. One of Netanyahu’s goals is to undercut the administration’s efforts to negotiate a pact with Iran that will impede that nation’s nuclear program. His other goal is clearly to stick it to Obama and thus appear to the Israeli electorate — which will go to the polls on March 17 — as one tough dude. If Netanyahu’s talk, the idea for which was at least partly cooked up by Ron Dermer, a former GOP operative who moved to Israel and is now its ambassador to the United States, also has the effect of boosting the Republican Party at the expense of Obama and the Democrats, so much the better. "Washpost

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/netanyahus-curious-gop-connection/2015/02/18/1035c618-b7a7-11e4-aa05-1ce812b3fdd2_story.html

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It looks like Bibi has "screwed the pooch" on US/Israeli relations.  IMO there will be an inevitable popular reaction among the great majority of Americans to the spectacle of the leader of a client state so dependent on us defying and undermining our head of state before our federal legislature.

And then there is the simple truth that most Jewish Americans are on the left and Bibi aligns himself with today's GOP?  Madness.  pl 

Comments

[BabelFish]

It would appear that Bibi has evaluated the results of our last elections and doubled down on the Republicans winning in 2016 and remaining in the ascendant.

[anna-marina]

The publications like this, "Israel's Fifth Column: http://www.unz.com/article/israels-fifth-column," are going to educate the electorate and will hopefully produce some direct questions about the "foreign influence" for the pliable Congresspeople.

[AEL]

I rather suspect BiBi got ambushed.

He is so used to pissing on the administration and calling it rain that he didn't even think about the niceties.

The Whitehouse, however, was waiting for something like this to happen. Payback for all those settlement anouncements hours before an Administration official arrived, etc.

They have now locked Bibi into a lose-lose situation just weeks before the election. And best of all, he did it to himself. Hubris comes back at you.

[Cee]

All,

Shake them off!!

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/02/17/boehners-conspiracy-empower-netanyahu-start-americas-war-iran.html

[Cee]

Babel,

Well, we need to make sure that the next candidate for office isn't bought and paid for by AIPAC.

Jim Webb? Who?

Let me add this!!

Report: Netanyahu may have leaked US secrets to hurt Iran negotiations

They aren't allies!

http://www.vox.com/2015/2/16/8045747/netanyahu-us-iran

[Augustin L]

Some members of the congressional black caucus will boycott Netanyahu's speech...

[Jack]

Sir

Bibi is a partisan. He openly supported Romney in the last election. His experience is that he can screw the Dems with no consequence. He's convinced that the Republicans and enough Dems in Congress have his back. He's a core member of neocon central that will make a strong comeback with Jeb. But there's going to be a sufficient quorum also in a Hillary administration. I doubt if the majority of American voters will take a different path if they had alternative choices. So I suppose we have to live with the idea that nothing's gonna change. More rearranging of deck chairs.

[ToivoS]

This latest action by Dermer, Bibi and Boener has done something I have never seen before. It has activated grass root Democratic clubs to criticize the Government of Israel (in support of Obama, of course). This is unprecedented. Israel has always been a taboo subject since so much of the Democratic Party funding has come from Zionist sources. This taboo has been broken. By openly allying themselves with right wing Republicans this door was opened.

Ham fisted Netanyahu has done something that many progressive Democrats were unable to do for many years -- place support for Israel as a legitimate issue inside the Democratic Party. Republicans are ecstatic, of course, since they now see an opportunity to gather those Zionist funds. They might be correct. The last time such a political shift occurred, the Republicans managed to bring in the Southern racist vote when the Democrats shifted towards supporting civil rights for the Negroes.

[BabelFish]

While it would be refreshing to see an individual candidate not beholden to AIPAC, I would far rather see an electorate that finally understands the concept of national interests and rejects jingoistic appeals to faux patriotism.

Concur that the Izzzies are not allies. I am amazed by how long and effective their PR has been over all these decades. Perhaps they have finally gone too far?

[Fred]

Augustin L,

And how many Jewish votes will that cost them?

[HankP]

All -

I detest Netanyahu, but I wouldn't underestimate him. He's been PM 9 out of the last 20 years, so he obviously knows something about Israeli politics. My guess is that he gets re-elected in March, as bad as that will be for Israel and everyone else with any exposure in the mideast. He knows how to play coalition politics better than anyone else in Israel.

[confusedponderer]

HankP,
you may be right. Netanyahoo is certainly one of Israel's more survivable politicians.

An interesting question is what Netanyahoo is in terms of US politics.

MJ Rosenberg has called Netanyahoo essentially a right wing Republican, and with some reason - Netanyahoo did campaign for Romney against Obama. That was by itself outrageous. Such partisanship can certainly be attested to Dermer as an official former GOP operative.

So perhaps The Boner, Netanyahoo and Dermer are just playing the normal R vs. D game just as if the two Israelis were US politicians. Because judging by their conduct, they must feel like they are.

It should by now be abundandly clear that Netanyahoo does not at all respect Obama, or the office of the president.

The latter part is what should IMO concern Americans. How much foreign power meddling in your domestic politics do you want? The US would never allow such privileged misconduct to anybody else. Why with the Netanyahoo?

With Bibi you get unashamed open meddling. Do the Israel firsters care? After all, the Netanyahoo is a **foreign** leader.

On 22. Februar George Washington has his birthday. In his farewell address he warned of "passionate attachment" of one Nation to another as a recipe that produces "a variety of evils" at the hands of "ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens".

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Washington%27s_Farewell_Address#1

Withpout any inclination to glorify the founders on my part, that is prescient.

[jr786]

"IMO there will be an inevitable popular reaction among the great majority of Americans to the spectacle of the leader of a client state so dependent on us defying and undermining our head of state before our federal legislature."

I certainly hope so but any long term effect would depend on Obama et al. making use of that reaction, which is highly unlikely, imo. Consciousness raising in Boobus Americanus is usually short lived unless the media get behind it, which is even more improbable.

[The Beaver]

@ Fred

None except that they won't benefit from those yearly free junkets to Israel every summer !!!

[Matthew]

jr786: Or President Obama can reach a nuclear deal with the Iranians, roll it out in a ceremony attended by the all the Establishment heavyweights (former State, Defense, CIA, etc), and basically dare Israel to wreck it.

[Swami Bhut Jolokia]

AEL, I think he's actually positioned himself in a win-win situation. Let's game this out:
- Speech goes well, he wins re-election. Apologize, toss Dermer under the bus, fall on sword etc. afterwards, AIPAC lobbies support, situation back to normal (WIN)
- Speech goes poorly but he wins any way. Same as above. (WIN)
- Speech or no speech, he loses the election. Who cares, not his problem any more (WIN)

The assumption is that the speech is going to damage US-Israel relations. Perhaps. If he wins, he only has to ride out this Administration for a couple of years and the next President (R or D) will be easier to manipulate than Obama. And if he loses, I don't think he's too concerned about the health of the relationship with the US.

[Augustin L]

You should ask that question to Cynthia McKinney who lost her comfortable Georgia seat precisely because she refused to pledge her alliegance to a foreign lobbying power. In the post citizen united world money and nothing else decides elections. Money is free speech right ? So goes the self-reinforcing feedback loop of the iron triangle... https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/3143-cynthia-mckinney-former-us-presidential-candidate-blames-the-pro-israel-lobby-for-ruining-her-political-career

[HankP]

CP -

He seems to have figured out that there's no downside to him attaching himself to one of our political parties. It hasn't seemed to hurt him as far as his re-election prospects are concerned, and US politics is so degenerate now that I doubt it will make any difference in our elections either. And "Israel firsters", by definition, only really care about one thing.

[Cee]

Jack,

I hear that Jen hired all of the neocons as advisors. We need to remind people how badly that turned out with his baby brother.
Oh...Wolfowitz came from under his rock is getting ready to appear on CNN in a few minutes.

[Cee]

Matthew, I hope that happens and when they do try to wreck out, ruin them for it.