I’m working to finish a miserable paper, so apologies for not posting. However, a few recent reports on Netanyahu caught my eye that suggests he’s really crossed the Rubicon into all-out neocon craziness.
Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia. He is convinced that the media are after him, that his aides are leaking information against him and that the American administration wants him out of office. Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communication normally with the White House. To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama’s senior aides: as “self-hating Jews.”
Yes. Rahm Israel Emanuel is a real self-loather. How many weeks before Obama’s Jewish advisors get declared part of a new Judenrat by the Liknudiks and the settler movement?
I only mention Nazi terminology because it seems as if Netanyahu is already deploying it to defend the continued occupation of Palestinian lands.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the Nazi term ‘Judenrein’ in a recent meeting with the German foreign minister to condemn the Palestinian demand that West Bank settlements be removed, a confidant of the premier has said.
“Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein,” the confidant quoted the prime minister as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier this week.
Asked how Germany’s top diplomat responded to hearing the term used by the Nazis to refer to areas “cleansed of Jews”, the confidant said, “What could he do? He basically just nodded.”
There’s really not much to say once rhetoric like this is employed by the political leadership on a daily basis, except to say that I’m skeptical how long this current Israeli coalition is going to last if Obama sticks to his position on settlements.
Lastly, just to continue on the theme of media critique on this blog. You would think it would be newsworthy for American foreign correspondents to follow-up on these recent Israeli government statements (or allegations about personal views of the Prime Minister). However, I haven’t seen anything on the NYTimes website discussing any of this. Its as if only one side gets picked up for the racism, hate-speech, and actions of its leaders, while the vile statements or actions on the other side of the secuirty wall built upon Palestinian farm land friendship fence gets blocked by American media outlets.
