…by Jonas E. Alexis
Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certainly having a mid-life crisis. He probably has lots of different medications in his file cabinet.
Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic has reported that the Netanyahu administration contacted Arab ambassadors “to come to his boss’s speech, emailing them personally to plead for their attendance.” They all refused.[1]
Things moved from bad to worse. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who has defended the Israeli regime on numerous occasions, seemed to have been exhausted over the past two weeks. She seemed to have thrown in the towel by saying that Netanyahu’s speech to Congress will be extremely “destructive.”[2] Chris Matthews of MSNBC—of all people!—has declared that Netanyahu has created a “crapstorm.”
Then it was John Kerry’s turn to destroy Netanyahu’s speech. Kerry has recently made one of the smartest moves in his political career, and one must give him some credit here. Listen to the New York Times carefully here:
“Secretary of State John Kerry reminded Americans on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who is expected to denounce a potential nuclear deal with Iran during an address to Congress next week, also visited Washington in late 2002 to lobby for the invasion of Iraq.
“Apparently referring to testimony on the Middle East that Mr. Netanyahu delivered to Congress on Sept. 12, 2002, when he was a private citizen, Mr. Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
“‘The prime minister, as you will recall, was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq under George W. Bush, and we all know what happened with that decision.’
“Video of Mr. Netanyahu’s 2002 remarks — in which he said ‘I think the choice of Iraq is a good choice, it’s the right choice’ — reveals that he linked his strong support for a United States invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein with the possibility of inspiring the implosion of the ruling theocracy in neighboring Iran.”[3]
Yes, we all know what happened after the Iraq war was over. From 2003 to 2012, over two thousand doctors and nurses, and over four hundred academics, have been assassinated in Iraq. Others have emigrated due to violence in the region.
In 1990, there were about thirty thousand registered doctors in Iraq. By 2008, more than fifteen thousand had already left the country. Then there is the high unemployment that has been ravaging sections of the region, combining with the fact that educational institutions have been in decline.[4]
This is the freedom that Netanyahu and his brethren (the Neo-Bolsheviks) have brought to Iraq; this is the sort of heaven these intellectual and political geniuses have been seeking in the Middle East. And the ideological agenda of the neoconservative movement progressively attacks Christian families and decent Muslim neighborhoods in the Middle East.
The National Interest itself declared in 2010 that “the historic Christian community has been largely destroyed” in Iraq after the war, where hundreds of Christians have been killed and exiled to other countries such as Syria and Lebanon.[5]
The report continued to say that “many advocates claim Iraq is now a great success. But not for Iraq’s Christians.”[6] People like Benjamin Weinthal talked about “The Mideast’s Vanishing Christians.”[7]
We are witnessing the same thing in Syria, where the Christian minority has been targeted by the Syrian rebels.[8] And by October 2012, it was clear that by supporting the Syrian rebels, the U.S. ended up supporting “hardline Islamic Jihadis.”[9]
The rebels themselves have been known to support “senseless destruction, criminal behavior and the cold-blooded killing of prisoners.”[10] By the end of November 2012, the Syrian war had caused at least 40,000 people to leave their homeland, and
“1.2 million have been driven from their homes within the country, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Some 2.5 million people need humanitarian assistance, and the number keeps climbing.”
That particular month turned out to be a bad omen for the Syrians as well, as they faced “the onslaught of winter with inadequate shelter,” with many possessing “little more than a T-shirt and flip-flops.” With the temperature reaching zero degrees at night, 27-year old Mohamed Khair al-Oraiby lamented, “We already wake up early because it is so cold.”[11]
In October 2012, a bomb blasted a Beirut Christian community, and the New York Times was quick to jump to the conclusion that Al-Assad was behind it,[12] forgetting that Al-Assad has been friends with the Christian communities and that they too saw that if Al-Assad is overthrown, the Christian communities will have problems with the new regime.
According to the reasoning by the New York Times, Al-Assad was just dumb, killing his own allies for no reason. But only a week before the bombing, the Syrian rebels threatened to attack Beirut.[13]
None of that was put into consideration by the New York Times.
Bandow did not tell us who those advocates were, nor did Weinthal describe the forces behind the vanishing Christians in the Middle East. Weinthal ended up putting the blame only on Hamas, at least in the Gaza Strip, and then on Egypt’s newly elected president Mohamed Morsi.[14] Bandow and Weinthal could not mention the forces behind those destructive movements because they probably would be out of jobs if they do.
Historian Aaron B. O’Connell of the United States Navy for example talks about “the permanent militarization of America,”[15] but dares not say that the people behind this are none other than the neoconservatives.
The neoconservative movement (or shall we say the Neo-Bolshevik movement), as I demonstrated elsewhere, is a Jewish intellectual and political movement which precipitated the war in Iraq and created political entropy in the country. Iraq was not a threat to America by any stretch of the imagination,[16] but the neoconservatives unleashed a plethora of hoaxes and sophisticated fabrications which eventually convinced the American people that Iraq was an imminent threat.
Bush was simply a puppet in the process. Richard Perle for example bragged about how Bush knew very little about foreign policy and that he and other neoconservatives had to coach him.[17]
“[Bush] did not make decisions,” Perle triumphantly declared, “in part because the machinery of government that he nominally ran was actually running him. The National Security Council was not serving [Bush] properly.”[18]
Now it is Iran that is an existential threat, despite the fact that for almost three thousand years, Jewish artifacts of all kinds have played a vital role in Iran among the Jewish community, where they largely enjoyed the ambiance.[19]
If there is an existential threat in the Middle East, it is Israel. The 1982 massacre is a classic example, where Israeli military allowed Lebanese militia to attack Palestinian refugees; they
“raped, killed and dismembered at least 800 civilians, while Israeli flares illuminated the camps’ narrow and darkened alleyways.”[20]
One year later, an Israeli investigation commission found Israel “indirectly responsible” for the massacre, and Ariel Sharon an accomplice.[21] How did the Israeli officials get the U.S. involved?
According to declassified documents found in the Israel State Archives, they convinced U.S. officials that Beirut had terrorist cells, and in the end allowed the slaughter of Palestinian civilians whom the U.S. had previously vowed to protect.[22] Ariel Sharon said that Beirut had from 2,000 to 3,000 terrorists.
The American envoy in the Middle East, Morris Draper, basically said that Sharon was lying. Lawrence S. Eagleburger, then Secretary of State, declared that “we appear to some to be the victim of deliberate deception by Israel.”[23]
During his conversation with Sharon, Draper knew that the United States was not standing behind Sharon’s evil pursuit, but Sharon ended an agreement on his own terms. It was reported that Draper told Sharon,
“You should be ashamed. The situation is absolutely appalling. They’re killing children! You have the field completely under your control and are therefore responsible for that area.”[24]
After the massacre, Ronald Reagan, himself a Zionist, was outraged. Secretary of State George P. Shultz declared that the United States was also an accomplice in allowing Israel to manipulate them in order to massacre civilians. But no sanctions were pronounced on Israel. Nothing was done.
Why?
Nicholas A. Veliotes, then the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, gave us an indirect answer: “Vintage Sharon. It is his way or the highway.”[25] Scholar Seth Anziska declares, “The Sabra and Shatila massacre severely undercut America’s influence in the Middle East, and its moral authority plummeted.”[26]
In short, perpetual wars in the Middle East are great for people like Netanyahu, but this time Kerry and the current administration are trying to tell him to slow down a bit. Netanyahu, of course, does not like that. He wants to be in charge all the time. He doesn’t get to be told what to do.
But the Obama administration, unlike the Bush or Reagan administration, has made explicitly clear that Netanyahu is a “chickenshit.” Moreover, the administration is trying to stop the mad man in Tel Aviv and tell him to take it easy.
For example, Bush would never have said in public that Netanyahu “may have a judgment that just may not be correct,” as Kerry has said publicly.[27] In fact, when Condoleezza Rice was trying to talk to Jewish mogul Sheldon Adelson about the two-state solutions, things did not go well. Adelson, who “is fiercely opposed to the two-state solutions,” was angry at Rice.
“Then, as Adelson later told an acquaintance, Bush put one arm around his shoulder and another around that of his wife, Miriam, who was born in Israel, and said to her, ‘You tell your Prime Minister that I need to know what’s right for your people—because at the end of the day it’s going to be my policy, not Condi’s.’”[28]
Yes, the Obama administration (with the help of Jewish Neocon Victoria Nuland) is largely responsible for agitating wars in places like Ukraine and elsewhere. Even at this present moment, the U.S. is “mulling lethal aid to Ukraine.” But there is a little progress in the Middle East because Netanyahu is not having a good time.
The administration could do more, but so long that they are not letting Netanyahu have his cake and eat it too in the Middle East, we should at least be somewhat grateful for the moment.
Perhaps if every decent citizen sends the administration a letter saying that we are supporting them if they are opposing Netanyahu’s wicked plan, the administration would probably be encouraged to do more.
[1] Jeffrey Goldberg, “Netanyahu Invites Arab Diplomats to His Big Speech—and Gets Rejected,” Atlantic, February 25, 2015.
[2] Nick Gass, “Susan Rice: Benjamin Netanyahu Trip ‘Destructive,’” Politico, February 25, 2015.
[3] Robert Mackey, “Kerry Reminds Congress Netanyahu Advised U.S. to Invade Iraq,” NY Times, February 25, 2015; see also Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Obama Administration Goes on Offensive Against Netanyahu,” Politico, February 25, 2015.
[4] See Irena L. Sargsyan, “Iraq’s Endless Humanitarian Crisis,” National Interest, October 9, 2012.
[5] Doug Bandow, “The Plight of Christians in Iraq,” National Interest, Nov. 2, 2010.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Benjamin Weinthal, “The Mideast Vanishing Christians,” National Interest, August 21, 2012.
[8] See Angela Shanahan, “Christians a Target for Syrian Rebels We Back,” The Australian, October 13, 2012; Alexandra Sandels and Patrick J. McDonnell, “Syria Christian Refugees in Lebanon Fear Islamist Rebels,” LA Times, August 22, 2012; Mark Field, “How Rent-a-Mob Jihadis are Tormenting a Benighted Christian Minority in Bashar al-Assad’s Syria,” Independent, October 14, 2012.
[9] David E. Sanger, “Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria,” NY Times, October 15, 2012.
[10] Anne Barnard, “Missteps by Rebels Erode their Support among Syrians,” NY Times, November 8, 2012.
[11] Neil MacFarquhar, “Cold Ravages Syria Refugees as Aid Falters,” NY Times, November 24, 2012.
[12] Anne Barnard, “”Bomb Blast Kills at Least 8 Including Top Security Official,” NY Times, October 19, 2012.
[13] Jason Ditz, “Syria Rebels Threaten Attacks in Lebanese Capital,” Antiwar.com, October 9, 2012
[14] Barnard, “”Bomb Blast Kills at Least 8,” NY Times.
[15] Aaron B. O’Connell, “The Permanent Militarization of America,” NY Times, November 4, 2012.
[16] See Paul R. Pillar, Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011); John J. Mearsheimer, Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in International Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
[17] I have pursued this issue in Christianity & Rabbinic Judaism, Vol. I.
[18] David Rose, “Neo Culpa,” Vanity Fair, November 3, 2006.
[19] Naomi Pfefferman, “An Exhibition of Iranian Jews,” JewishJournal.com, October 10, 2012
[20] Seth Anziska, “A Preventable Massacre,” NY Times, September 16, 2012.
[21] Ibid.
[22] See “Declassified Documents Shed Light on a 1982 Massacre,” NY Times, September 16, 2012.
[23] Anziska, “A Preventable Massacre,” NY Times, September 16, 2012.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Quoted in Michael Wilner, “Kerry Questions Netanyahu’s Judgment Over Iran Deal,” Jerusalem Post, February 25, 2015.
[28] Connie Bruck, “The Brass Ring: A Multibillionaire’s Relentless Quest for Global Influence,” New Yorker, June 30, 2008.
Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the new book Zionism vs. the West: How Talmudic Ideology is Undermining Western Culture. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.
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