Homer Simpson is not a man of many words. Not even many letters. When he realizes that something totally obvious is right in front of his eyes, he resonds by saying “Doh”.
The lead story in today’s New York Times is:
Rebukes From White House Risk Buoying Netanyahu
As Ties Fray, Israelis Start to Fault Obama and Sympathize With Premier
Here is a key segment from the body of the article
…Israelis have been astonished by the unrelenting White House criticism that has helped sink relations between Washington and Jerusalem to a nadir not seen for more than 25 years. Even some who mainly blame Mr. Netanyahu for antagonizing President Obama over the last six years now see the scales flipped.
“Everybody understands this is part of the political campaign,” Mr. Eiland said of Mr. Netanyahu’s pre-election comments promising that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch. “To try and say: ‘I caught you; I heard you say something. Since that’s what you said, I’m going to make a reassessment,’ it sounds like, ‘Well, I have been waiting until you make such a mistake, and now I’m going to exploit it.'”
Mr. Obama showed no signs on Tuesday of softening his stance on Mr. Netanyahu’s momentary disavowal of the two-state solution that has long been the cornerstone of American policy.
“What we can’t do is pretend that there’s the possibility of something that’s not there,” he said at a news conference. “This can’t be reduced to a matter of somehow, ‘Let’s all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.'”
Israeli analysts are now suggesting that Mr. Obama and his aides might be overplaying their hand, inviting a backlash of sympathy for Mr. Netanyahu, and that they may not have clearly defined what they expected to gain diplomatically by continuing to pressure the Israeli leader.
The president’s harsh words have been deemed by some to be patronizing and disrespectful not only to Mr. Netanyahu but also to the voters who rewarded his uncompromising stances with a resounding mandate for a fourth term.
Several Israeli analysts said the administration’s criticism of Mr. Netanyahu seemed like a pretext for a longstanding plan to change the United States’ policy of protecting Israel in international forums, which the administration has said it will reassess. Others suspect a ploy to undermine Israel’s lobbying efforts against the American negotiations for a nuclear accord with Iran.
That, folks, is the longhand version of “Doh”.
Can it possibly be a revelation to the New York Times, or to the article’s author – Times Israel Bureau Chief/reliably anti-Israel propagandist, Judi Rodoren – that Israeli citizens, who just re-elected Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister with vote totals far exceeding what was predicted even a week before, would have a problem with Barack Obama’s blatantly Netanyahu-hating, Israel-disdaining position?
DOH.
Incidentally, congratulations to Ms. Rudoren (FYI, that name is a concocted combination of her birth name and her husband’s) for again claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu said a palestinian state would not be established on his watch.
As I have pointed out several times in this blog, Netanyahu said no such thing. Netanyahu said that he would not do so TODAY – i.e. under the current circumstances.
With apologies to regular readers, who have seen this before, here is the exact quote (bold print is mine):
“Anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territories today is simply giving a base for attacks to radical Islam against Israel. This is the true reality that was created here in the last few years. They who do not understand that stick their heads in the sand. The left are doing it, sticking their head in the stand, time and time again.”
Got that, Judi? Got that Times? At no time did he say he would never consider a two-state solution. He said he would not consider one TODAY – i.e. UNDER THE CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES.
That loud enough? Do you hear me now?
Sadly, the fact that this is a blatant lie will not deter the Times (and countless other media venues) from continuing to claim that Netanyahu unequivocally said he would not allow a palestinian state. Why waste a good lie when it can be used to dump on Israel?
Think of it as the Middle East version of “Hands up, don’t shoot”.
