Netanyahu row with Obama administration deepens

It's over Iran and the nuclear situation. LL

A row between the US and Benjamin Netanyahu has deepened, with the Israeli leader accusing America and others of "giving up" on trying to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
http://www.bbc.com/news/31626875

Iran nuclear talks: US accuses Israel of 'leaks'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31538531

Thanks, LL, this one is worth watching, IMO. Frankly, if I was one of Netenyahu's neighbours, I'd want nuclear weapons too - it's no secret that Israel has them, and he's crazy enough to use them.

Did you see this?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/23/leaked-spy-cables-netanyahu-iran-bomb-mossad

Leaked cables show Netanyahu’s Iran bomb claim contradicted by Mossad

Binyamin Netanyahu’s dramatic declaration to world leaders in 2012 that Iran was about a year away from making a nuclear bomb was contradicted by his own secret service, according to a top-secret Mossad document.

It is part of a cache of hundreds of dossiers, files and cables from the world’s major intelligence services – one of the biggest spy leaks in recent times.

Brandishing a cartoon of a bomb with a red line to illustrate his point, the Israeli prime minister warned the UN in New York that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons the following year and called for action to halt the process.

But in a secret report shared with South Africa a few weeks later, Israel’s intelligence agency concluded that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”. The report highlights the gulf between the public claims and rhetoric of top Israeli politicians and the assessments of Israel’s military and intelligence establishment.

He can join the shameful ranks of those who have LIED to the UN, as an excuse to kill other people.

Anyway, it will be approx another 10 years before Iran advances there.

The Knesset is due for re-election in March - Netanyahu is on the Likud campaign trail. And he may well lose, the Labor Party are gaining on Likud, I have been told. LL

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/24/what-the-israeli-security-establishment-really-thinks-of-iran.html

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/israel-elections-2015-netanyahu-campaign-palestine-peace.html#

I see he's now heading in your direction, Lily:

http://news.sky.com/story/1436604/netanyahu-heads-to-us-for-crucial-mission

Netanyahu Heads To US For 'Crucial Mission'
The Israeli prime minister's planned address to Congress is controversial because the White House was not originally consulted.

Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to the United States where he will argue against a potential international deal over Iran's nuclear programme.

Israel's prime minister is due to address Congress on Tuesday in a speech aimed at halting the possible agreement.

He said it was a "historic" quest to stop the deal - but the Washington address has caused an uproar, exposing tensions between Israel and its most important ally, America.

The speech was set up by congressional Republicans but the White House was said to be infuriated because it was not consulted in advance of the invite, violating typical protocol.

It left Democrats being forced to choose between showing support for Israel and backing their president.....more at link.

This could be, er, interesting....

I can't read the full story, LL, but it does look like he may be in trouble in the election:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/.premium-1.644711

Likud fears it may only win 18 seats in upcoming election
Source warns that party has picked up 10-30% fewer votes than predicted at start of all election campaigns since 1999.
By Jonathan Lis 11:20 01.03.15 1



Likud campaigners have expressed concerns that supporters who decide not to vote in the upcoming election could bring its representation in the next Knesset down to a mere 18 seats.

There's a poll down the side of that piece, but I don't actually know who is who....

I get the same thing as you Bonny as I don't subscribe.

And I know nothing about Israeli politics, but maybe LL will be able to cast some light on it tomorrow. I shudder to think what Netenyahu is going to do and say in the US.

We will have to wait and see, I think, Bonny?

I am not totally au fait with Israeli politics, so I am posting up some links that may help with the possible fallout over Netanyahu's visit to the USA and the upcoming elections in Israel.   In the third link it says 47% of Israelis think he should cancel his speech.   LL

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-josef-olmert/bibi-netanyahu-is-in-trou_b_6377678.html

http://truth-out.org/news/item/29035-what-was-netanyahu-thinking-criticism-swirls-over-pre-election-speech-to-us-congress-on-iran

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/netanyahu_speech_is_an_invitation_for_trouble_edit.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/world/middleeast/netanyahus-speech-opens-political-divisions-in-israel-too.html
In the NY Times link, also click on the section  'Netanyahu’s Visit Bringing Uninvited Problems for Jewish Democrats'.   Some more links:
http://www.carbonated.tv/news/american-jews-do-not-support-netanyahus-speech-to-congress-heres-why?utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Netanyahu%20Speech

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/01/netanyahu-visit-divides-american-jews/24091003/

Those are interesting, thanks, LL. We're so used to being presented with unthinking Washington support for ANYTHING Israel does, it's odd to me to see so much division.

My own view is that Netanyahu has done irreparable damage to Israel, branding anyone that doesn't support his aggression, his apartheid policies and his theft of Palestinian land as 'anti-semitic'. It's utterly shameful.

He likens himself to Churchill, a great war leader, I would suggest Hitler is a more likely role-model.   The Palestinians being slaughtered is merely a rerun of Jews being gassed, killing is killing whoever the instigator is.   Oh, and maybe he should remember what happened to Churchill after WW2, he got voted out. LL

I don't even see him as a Hitler, LL, he's actually more like one of these petty dictators that pop up in Asia from time to time. After all, if Israel had to stand on its own two feet, and wasn't getting billions in support from the US every year, it would just be another developing, rather poor, nation.

It's only got this facade of prosperity because it keeps playing the Holocaust card and making the rest of the world feel guilty, IMO. BUT - because of Netenyahu, a fair chunk of the world has stopped feeling guilty now?

To be utterly brutally truthful, the anti-semitism that culminated in the Final Solution existed long before the Nazis practiced their own version of it.    In most of Europe the Jews were persecuted, there were frequent progroms, one can point at the one in York in 1290 when Jews were expelled from the country.   There were crackdowns on Jews in all of Europe, the Cossacks in Russia slaughtered thousands.   Jews were said to be child murderers, deicides (Jesus), they kidnapped babies and used their blood for making matzos etc - Hitler merely refined the stereotypes.   The reason why so many banks were started by Jews was because the Church prohibited usury and the charging of interest on loaned money.   Remember Shylock?   The reason why Antonio borrowed from him was because no Christian would lend money.   The Merchant of Venice is anti-semitic while the 'conversion' of Shylock to Christianity at the end is a blatant example of how Jews were often forced to become Christians.   They would be burned or garrotted if they refused to change religions.   In 'Oliver Twist' the usurer and moneylender Fagin is another example of the anti-Jewish feeling of the time.  As long as Christians were told Jews killed Jesus they were in extreme danger of discrimination.   And the behavior of Israel to other peoples merely enforces the dislike, even fear, of them, while those Jews outside Israel are on the receiving end of the hatred engended by such scum as Netanyahu and his actions.    LL

Excellent post, LL!

Go back a few years - just about everyone in the West supported Israel, and admired their achievements, and the way they had fought off overwhelming odds. Since then, however, their behaviour has been disgusting - the incessant bombing of Gaza, the theft of land from the indigenous Palestinians - and now they're drilling for oil on the Golan Heights on land they stole from Syria!

Let us not forget that Israel doesn't seem to be in the slightest bit scared of ISIS, indeed, has bombed the Syrian forces fighting ISIS, and there are persistent rumours about ISIS casualties being treated in Israeli hospitals....

Long story short, Israel has turned itself into the Bad Guy; but anyone that says so, and criticises Israel as they would any other rogue state, is called 'anti-semitic'. And as you say, it's not Israelis that pay the price of Israeli behaviour - they're safe behind their walls, and fences, and Iron Dome.

No, it's ordinary Jews in the rest of the world, who get tarred with the same brush, even though they detest the current Tel Aviv government.

I am sure the reason why Netanyahu is so eager to invite 'persecuted' Jews from Denmark and France to relocate to Israel is because many Jews, fed up with the authoritarian rule, the shortages, the mandatory rule that all Jews, male and female, must do national service in the forces and the ratcheting up of the rhetoric against neighboring countries, let alone the slaughter of civilians, especially children, in the occupied areas, are leaving in droves. He needs fresh blood to 'legitimize' stealing Palestinian land for the settlements he is still building, despite demands from the USA and other countries to stop this practice. LL

Those ghastly 'settlements' should be torn down and returned to orchards and farmland on the grounds of taste, if nothing else, LL. They're absolute eyesores.



Those look like 1930s council houses stuck in the middle of Palestine. And the ones that go vertical to cram more people in are even worse:



What do they all do for a living? Wait for the cheque from the US to arrive?

A very large number of Israelis are in fact from Russia and Europe. Most of the US ones have returned home, but many never left America in the first place. Many British Jews have also returned to the UK, very disillusioned with the situation. European Jews don't want to see soldiers with heavy duty rifles on every corner, they don't want to see drones and military aircraft filling the skies 24/7, they don't want to hear bombs falling on civilians, they have been there and seen that done over the last 70 years. The Israeli utopia vanished a long time ago. LL

A large number are indeed Russians, LL.  Americans like to visit and return here.  They typically bring back the stories of their tour guides pointing out why they cannot give the land back.....have heard it many times.

I, however, feel it is wrong to grab the land as I believe it makes matters much worse.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/02/tensions-flare-as-netanyahu-prepares-to-make-his-case-again-iran-deal/

"Iran envelops the entire world with its tentacles of terror," he said, displaying a map showing various connections between Iran and terror groups. He warned Iran could pursue Israel's destruction if it obtained a nuclear weapon.

Anyone here feeling enveloped by Iran's tentacles? No, me neither. I should think his tentacle-chart bears as much resemblance to reality as his bomb chart.



Which is NONE.

More here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2976026/Palestinians-file-ICC-case-against-Israel-April.html

Palestinians to file ICC case against Israel in April
By AFP

PUBLISHED: 16:47, 2 March 2015 | UPDATED: 16:47, 2 March 2015


The Palestinians are to lodge their first complaint against Israel for alleged war crimes at the International Criminal Court on April 1, a senior official told AFP on Monday.

"One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the (2014) Gaza war and settlement activity," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

On January 2, the Palestinians moved to formally join the Hague-based court in a process which is due to take effect on April 1, setting the scene for potential legal action against Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.

Israel reacted furiously, and quickly moved to cut off millions of dollars in monthly tax payments it collects on behalf of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, exacerbating an already severe financial crisis.

There was no immediate response from Israel, with foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon refusing to react to a declaration which he described as "speculative and hypothetical".

On January 16, the ICC announced "a preliminary examination" into Israel's actions over a period beginning in June which included last year's war in Gaza in which about 2,200 Palestinians were killed.

UN figures indicate most of the victims were civilians.

The Palestinians are also planning to sue Israel over its policy of settlement building on land they want for a future state.

Under international law, all Israeli construction on land seized during the 1967 Six-Day War is viewed as illegal and a major stumbling block to efforts to end the decades-long conflict.

That's not going to go down well in certain quarters.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-07/anti-netanyahu-protest-fills-streets-tel-aviv-ex-mossad-chief-calls-his-congress-spe

Interesting piece about anti-Netanyahu demos in Israel.




Liv @Jazairya_
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40.000 israéliens descendus dans la rue aujourd'hui à Tel Aviv pour protester contre le PM Netanyahu ! #Israel

That reaction is where it matters most. The people of Israel and they can rightly vote him out.

He is a really good speaker, as I saw a few days ago. He received a rapturous response.
I totally agree with his statement that Iran must not get atomic weapons after that, we differ.

Look how many crazy extremists there are in the Middle East. If anyone thinks the N. Korean dictator is bad then think of that lot?

We must also remember that Iran's Muslim population is Shia. The Saudis et al Sunni.

Think of how we would all be drawn into something beyond our worst fears.

The whole thing is, IMO, a complete mess, Lily. The Sunnis are the worst, the legal system of KSA isn't much better than ISIS, but they are our allies. The Shias are generally less barking, though Iran's legal system leaves a lot to be desired, and they are fighting ISIS, but aren't our allies.

There are so many rival factions within rival factions, double-crossers, double agents, religious lunatics and political fanatics in the mix, the potential for disaster is enormous.

Meanwhile, ordinary Israelis, Arabs and Palestinians just want to get on with their lives without getting blown up in a market, crucified for smoking, droned, bombed, or anything else.