Natanyahu vs the Goyim

I am struck by the unrelenting hostility of the present Israeli government to Sweden and the UN.  Can the rest of us be far behind?  I would like someone to write on this.  Volunteers?  pl

Comments

[David Lentini]

Far behind? Have you seen the hatred towards Christians from the far right that is now tolerated by the government?

[Barish]

As regards Bibi and his cohorts, this one's interesting:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-israel-turkey-idUKKCN0V4219

"Islamic State 'enjoyed Turkish money for oil' - Israeli minister

Israel's defence minister said on Tuesday that Islamic State militants had been funded with 'Turkish money', an assertion that could hinder attempts to mend fences between the two countries after years of estrangement.

"It's up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation to fight terrorism. This is not the case so far," Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Athens.

"As you know, Daesh (Islamic State) enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time. I hope that it will be ended," Yaalon, a right-wing former armed forces chief, told reporters after meeting his Greek counterpart, Panos Kammenos. [...]"

Guess this is the Israelis' way of making Padişah squirm and squeal?

[Margaret Steinfels]

The rest of us are not behind at all:
"U.S. and European criticism of Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank have drawn a furious response from Israel this week, including a former official dismissing the U.S. ambassador to Tel Aviv as a “little Jew boy.”

"Although the concerns expressed by Israel’s closest allies were partly cloaked in diplomatic language they struck a nerve in Israel, which is anxious to counter what it sees as growing attempts to isolate it over its policies towards Palestinians.

"Ambassador Dan Shapiro’s supposed misstep was to observe in a speech to a security conference that Israel applies the law differently to Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank. “There seem to be two standards,” he said."

The story from the Forward.http://bit.ly/1lPSNkD

[MRW]

I want to see the Israeli Government crank it up a notch and go after us. Nothing would please me more than to see those parasites try to bite our hand...one more time. They got their country, but for 70 years seem incapable of acting like global citizens. They're obviously inept at being statesmen; Bialystock only taught their leaders gangster-style 'revolutionism'. Their fans and backers in the US have no problemo lecturing the US about morality and intolerance and pissing on our constitutional idea of citizenship--which the Evangelicals can't see through--but god forbid they apply that to their out-of-control mothership.

[cynic]

It's already happened. Here's an account of how much Netanyahu and many Israelis love Americans:

http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.nl/2016/01/what-israeli-pm-netenyahu-said-about-usa.html

'Then Netenyahu's voice got louder when he said, "Those stupid fucking Americans. No matter how many times we use false flags to attack them or how much money we steal from those damned fools or how many Americans we kill, they never wise up. In fact, it's just the opposite. They get on their knees with open mouth and beg for another shot of our hard, really HARD love." At that, my friend said Netenyahu started laughing uproariously as did his friends.My friend said that not only Netenyahu's table laughed, most of the diners at other tables also chuckled along with their PM's painfully true observation of that 'special USA-Israel relationship.''

Here's the vampire demanding more of your blood:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/01/23/the-netanyahu-gang-they-never-get-tired-of-rubbing-americas-nose-in-the-dirt/

'Last Thursday, in Davos, Switzerland, Benjamin Netanyahu issued what essentially amounted to a demand that America increase the amount of its annual assistance to the Jewish state, this in a statement he made at the World Economic Forum.
The Israeli prime minister said the increase is necessary because of the Iran deal.
“We’re talking about a bigger package”–necessary, he said, in order to “resist Iranian aggression in the region.” '

[Margaret Steinfels]

A NYTimes editorial (1/23/16) on Shapiro's remarks: http://nyti.ms/1nF1sId

[MRW]

Phil Giraldi did today: "Seeking Bibi's Favor—It's a waste of time..."
http://www.unz.com/article/seeking-bibis-favor/

[oofda]

Colonel,
I would think this has more to do with Swedish and UN actions (and potential actions) related to Palestine. The Israelis can brook no interference in Palestine, note the Swedish recognition of Palestine. The fact that the Swedes had the temerity to do that required the Israelis to push back hard- so others will be deterred from doing the same. If a country deigns to protest Israeli actions vs-vs the Palestinians, they will get the same treatment. The recent EU labeling law might also be part of the reason for Israeli ire.
The Swedish PM also caused a furor last month with the Israelis by criticizing judicial killings by the IDF and Israeli security forces. That almost resulted in a break in diplomatic relations between the two.

The Swedes also remember Count Bernadotte, a Swedish nobleman, who saved many Jews during WWII. He was assassinated in Israel by the Stern gang in the drive for independence- he 'just got in the way'. While Israel belatedly honored Count Bernadotte for his actions, Bibi has soured that by attending ceremonies honoring the Stern gang and the Irgun. That reminds us of the adage, 'one man's freedom-fighter is another's terrorist.'

[CaliHalibut]

Netanyahu has the power to destroy any Western politician he chooses via the power that has been granted to him by all the various lobbies, interest groups, and media powerhouses operating in the West. This unchecked power has elevated him to the status of the Emperor of the West. No one person has had this level of influence in the West since Charlemagne ruled over Europe in early Middle Ages.

This is not going to end well.

[johnf]

I thought most of the ISIS oil was taken through Turkey by (road) tankers, was loaded into (sea) tankers and, after a certain amount of legerdemain, ended up in Israel.

[johnf]

I think Israeli influence in The West is failing.

They failed to get us bombing Assad in 2013 after the "gas attacks." Putin outmanoeuvred them.

As revenge, they used Nuland & Co to try and push us into humiliating Putin in Ukraine and failed. Overwelmed by ME immigrants, Europe, led by France, are calling for an end to sanctions on Russia and an alliance in fighting the jihadis.

They failed miserably over the Iran Nuclear Deal. By coming to the US and making a spectacle of himself in Congress, Bibi jumped the shark. He deeply pissed off the US's president and made the electorate wary of him.

Russian intervention has changed the whole balance of power in the ME. Israel's plans to become the hegemon in a wrecked and chaotic area has not worked out. For the first time ever they now have an unfriendly nuclear-armed superpower parked right in their backyard and a series of unfriendly, reasonably coherent local powers -Hezbollah, Syria, Jordan - spread around them. They're trying a series of diplomatic alliances with KSA and Turkey, but they keep falling out with each other.

Above all they're failing in controlling the US political system and its media narratives. The two probable main contenders for the presidency, whatever else they are, are not the usual assembly line neo-conservative, neo-liberal automatons. Because firstly no one believes their media's narratives any longer and secondly everyone's getting a lot poorer.

Israel and its lobby are not as powerful as they once were.

[johnf]

Apologies. Should have added that I think that Israel's open and increasing rudeness to its onetime "allies" is not a sign of their strength but their increasing weakness. Flailing around. Panic, even. Those whom the gods would destroy they first send mad.

[Castellio]

Richard Silverstein has an article entitled: "Former Education Ministry Official Praises Bernadotte Assassination, Hints Swedish Foreign Minister Deserves Similar Fate"

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2016/01/23/former-education-ministry-official-praises-bernadotte-assassination-says-swedish-foreign-minister-wallstrom-will-share-same-fate/

[Laguerre]

Yaalon was speaking in Athens. We can expect some anti-Turkish remarks there.

[Barish]

No discounting that, sure.

Even so, as MoD and former chief of staff in Israel, a long-time military man, I think he does know very well what he wants to drive at by these remarks. Pandering to Greek sensibilities may be an objective here, I would not rule out taunting Erdoğan as to his choice of who he let operate through his territory, however.
And of course, there is also shifting attention away from the wider business connections this "Turkish money" facilitated, as johnf points out. Just in case ISIL's oil business should get attention again in the news cycle.

[pantaraxia]

On another diplomatic front, the “chosen’s” belligerence at the notion that it play by the rules of diplomacy.

Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/28/israel-warns-brazil-faces-diplomatic-downgrade-unless-it-accepts-settler-as-ambassador

some excerpts:

- The appointment four months ago of Dani Dayan, a former head of the Jewish settlement movement, did not go down well with Brazil’s left-leaning government, which has supported Palestinian statehood in recent years.

- She ( Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely ) said Israel would lobby Brasilia through the Brazilian Jewish community, confidants of President Dilma Rousseff ….

- Tensions rose last year when an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman called Brazil a “diplomatic dwarf” after Brasilia recalled its ambassador from Israel to protest a military offensive in Gaza.

- Brazil’s government was also angered by the announcement of Dayan’s appointment by Netanyahu in a Twitter message on 5 August before Brasilia had been informed, let alone agreed to the new envoy as is the diplomatic norm.

One can only wish the rest of the world was subject to this ‘punishment’.

[Matthew]

Barish: Yes, but were the Turks treating Al-Nusra fighters in Israeli hospitals? Talk about the Israeli pot calling the Turkish kettle black.

[Matthew]

johnf: The Israel Lobby was/is the master of small stakes. The amount we give to Israel is miniscule when you consider the overall size of the USG's budget. And Israel had no opposition in Congress. (Has any American politician ever lost a race for being anti-Palestinian?) So we have a committed minority of Jewish and Christian Americans who "care" about Israel and.....what? Arab Americans who are divided and give little money to political campaigns? No wonder Israel was able to push on that open door. It was a one-sided fight over small stakes.

Today, the stakes are different. Israel asks us to do dangerous and expensive things--like go to war with Iran. The Israel Lobby raised the stakes too high for the Indifferent Majority to just mindlessly go along. It's one thing to bum a dollar off a friend. But try borrowing $10,000....

[Matthew]

pantaraxia: Will Israel "sanction" Brazil? Laughable. I suspect the Chinese would be happy to sell Brazil military equipment.

[steve]

Of course Israel becomes increasingly more strident and irrational as its influence wanes.

Several years ago I had thought that the powers that be in Israel would attempt to regain respectability by pushing someone into power more polished than the antagonizing Bibi, someone who would carry out the same policies but with a smile and less irritating rhetoric.

It turns out though that the only real opposition to Bibi in Israel is even more strudent and antagonistic. When Bibi is the moderate, you know things have gone down the rabbit hole.

[oofda]

And on top of all this, the Israelis want the United States to fight their battles for them. Read this from today's Post- Israel doesn't want to take on ISIS, but wants us to do it for them. And these people are allies?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-the-middle-east-a-serious-game-of-war/2016/01/26/30c3cfac-c466-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[LeaNder]

Margaret: History and it's power?

"Self-hating" Jews, in the early 20th century, now, and earlier? Precursors before the 20th century? Baruch de Spinoza?

Religion? Ethnicity?

Jewish critics of Israel, being slandered with slightly more benign term as long as they are Jewish as non-Jewish critics?

"little Jewish boy", keeps it all in the family.

[LeaNder]

MRW, if you are the same MRW, I met quite early on Phil Weiss' blog, and strictly MRW triggers a series of memories. Weren't there experiences in England? And yes, you felt moderate, considering more ardent propagandists.

I don't like it, if someone connects Bialystock with "gangster-style revolutionism". There is a reason why. Many reasons, really. ...

[LeaNder]

May i respond with associatively another article? Without even reading it?

I dropped a larger response to oofda which sets up the central axis points in Swedish "exceptionalism" inside the larger European union. It started with an excursus on goyim and it's usage of the ages, or my questions around it. But then it got too lenghty.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/03/jewish-immigration-israel-jumps-this-year-ukrainians-russians-europe-paris-attacks

[LeaNder]

thanks for setting the historical axis.

Here is another one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_neutrality#Today