In other news, Netanyahu is slobbering all over Trump’s new outburst (I can’t in all honesty call it a position) on Iran. Anything that makes Netanyahu this happy has to be exceptionally bad. I mean, I knew it was bad but I only realized to which extent when I saw Bibi’s joy over it.
21 responses to “On Iran”
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You read so much about how Putin is the only leader that Trump never criticizes. They always neglect to mention Netanyahu, though.
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Israel is a US military base. Nobody criticizes their own general. At least, not to outsiders.
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Israeli defense experts warn against dropping Iran nuke deal
With US President Trump considering decertification of the Iranian nuclear deal, several Israeli security experts are of the opinion keeping it, albeit with some necessary changes and tougher enforcement mechanisms, is the much better option for not only the US but also Israel.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5027824,00.html
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Of course, it is. That deal is so important. Scrapping it is beyond dumb. But hey, it’s Trump. He’ll always go for the dumbest option available.
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I have been wondering: what is your main problem with Netanyahu? You seem to almost personally hate him, why? Do you really think he is as bad as Putin?
Regarding Netanyahu-hatred, I know he is the kind of politician who will say many things because of (often personal) interests of the moment. I know he and his wife have been investigated because of suspected corruption. I know he gives Haredi and Right-wingers much of what they want, and am often opposed to his domestic policies.
However, I also believe Netanyahu is a patriot of Israel in a way that Putin, Trump or EU officials aren’t patriots of their respective states / union. I searched a little and found quite a few interesting things about Netanyahu.
His father was “an Israeli historian” who “served as Professor of History at Cornell University. A scholar of Judaic history, he was also an activist in the Revisionist Zionism movement, who lobbied in the United States to support the creation of the Jewish state. His field of expertise was the history of the Jews in Spain.”
I suppose you haven’t heard his name, Clarissa, since you don’t concentrate on Jews that much?
His brother Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu was an IDF officer “who commanded the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal during Operation Entebbe, an operation to rescue hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976. The mission was successful, with 102 of the 106 hostages rescued, but Netanyahu was killed in action—the only IDF fatality during the operation.”
Netanyahu himself was “a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit” who “fought on the front lines in the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War in 1973” and was wounded previously in 1972 in another operation.
I simply cannot believe that a man who risked his life for Israel would sell the country out, doing damage knowingly and purposefully. What he says in public is done for domestic PR and to butter up Trump, but I don’t think it’s all that important. You have yourself criticized people being played by Trump’s tweets; I view many of N’s statements in the same way – done for PR, unimportant.
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I detested Netanyahu long before Trump ran for anything. I do believe that he is actively and consciously harming Israel for personal gain and for power.
Spain’s dictator Franco was a fearless warrior, a career military who spent his whole life putting himself at risk in war. And he became the scourge of his country who terrorized Spaniards for decades. My point is that military valor is not a sign of absolutely anything at all.
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Also, most people in Israel, except a few Leftists, vote for N, Haredi parties or much Righter parties than N’s party Likud. I honestly think that in today’s political reality – with politics being the art of the possible – N is the best choice and the least Right choice.
Still remember how neighbors tried to persuade us at the voting booth not to vote for N because of his corruption of … allegedly having some relatively costy, very comfortable plane for flights to America and etc. With our wonderful neighbors, a plane is so not at the top of my concerns. Israel is not a corrupted country, unlike Russia, and I trust police to deal with problems when they arise.
Propaganda regarding a special plane or an investigation into N’s family ice-cream choices (*) won’t make me vote for a party I would trust less to lead the entire country. The ice cream issue is especially funny if you imagine Putin’s reality or remember Yanukovych’s golden toilets.
(*) Following an Israeli newspaper’s scoop, the country’s prime minister has “frozen” his annual ice cream budget. Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Sunday said once he was made aware of the state-financed contract issued to purchase ice cream from his favorite Jerusalem parlor, he ordered it stopped immediately. Netanyahu called the contract “excessive and unacceptable.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-freezes-ice-cream-budget/
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“politics being the art of the possible – N is the best choice and the least Right choice.”
Even if you believe that you have to realizeat some level that he sucks donkey dicks and is a terrible, awful, excrable excuse for ahuman being.
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What especially horrible has N done for you to see him as ” a terrible, awful, excrable excuse for a human being”?
I am not talking about words now but deeds.
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“N done for you”
Only sociopaths think in these terms. ‘If it doesn’t affect me personally it doesn’t matter’. Jesus.
Also, ‘Netanyahu is the least worst option’ is not an argument on your side. This means your society is truly rotten to its core. Perhaps you could do something to change that?
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\ “N done for you”
Only sociopaths think in these terms. ‘If it doesn’t affect me personally it doesn’t matter’. Jesus.I meant “for you TO THINK THAT” meaning “what has he done that made you think that.” Isn’t it grammatically “done TO you” (“affect me personally”) vs. “for you to think that”?
SB, you love Israeli Jews so much that no matter what I say it’s interpreted in the worst possible way (and stupidest this time – as if I would’ve said what you expressed me saying) .
\ This means your society is truly rotten to its core.
Says somebody living in Trump-America, coming from India with its 1001 problems. One can easily find articles like “Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh likens caste system to apartheid regime”.
Perhaps you could do something to change that?
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Except I don’t do hasbara for my country like you, or cheerlead every act of oppression committed by my country’s government against its minorities, like you do.
Other than that, great point!
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I suppose “hasbara” sounds much more sinister than ” propaganda” or “Public diplomacy.” Must be because of Hebrew.
Also, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank aren’t Israel’s minorities since they aren’t Israeli citizens or even residents. They are enemy civilians at best.
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Last but not the least, I don’t come to this blog (or to any other blog) to disseminate propaganda. I am not paid to do that and, even if I were, respect and like people here too much to attempt to do such to them. I do express my opinions.
And it is truly very jarring to me to read “hasbara” in a non-Hebrew text. It is Othering – normal people, including Americans, have propaganda, while Israeli Jews are so evil that they have the sinister sounding to foreigners “hasbara.”
Btw, “lehasbir” means “to explain” in Hebrew, like a teacher explaining (“masbir”) something to students. So “hasbara” literally means “providing explanations.”
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“I am not paid to do that”
I believe you. One has to be somewhat competent in order to get paid.
‘My leader served in the military so he must have the country’s best interest in his heart’ is the argument of a moron. We’re talking weapons-grade stupidity here.
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Netanyahu isn’t simply kissing up to Trump — he’s always opposed the Iranian nuclear deal. He objected strongly to it when Obama signed the agreement back in 2015, long before Trump came on the scene.
That’s because Netanyahu believes that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a serious existential threat to Israel’s survival, and that the current deal will allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
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My immediate takeaway is…. I share an office with (among others) an Iranian (extraordinarily nice person) and this is liable to make office hours awkward (like when I shared a Iraqi who was also a very nice person) just as the US was invading.
Why can’t US foreign policy suck less? Why does it always have to be as goddamn awful as possible? 121% of the time?
Iraq was a grand gesture by the hated (by me) neocons and I suppose they have their filthy claws in Trump as well….
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I know! This country totally deserves a better foreign policy already. I have no idea why it’s so bad so much of the time.
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“Netanyahu himself was “a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit”
You imbecile. Do you realize how many countries have had dictators with a military background? Brandishing his military service to prove a point about his patriotism, lol.
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The majority of dictators historically come from the military. And even those who never served, like Stalin, wear military uniform for the sake of symbolism.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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