by Stephen Lendman
He’s undisciplined, unchecked, and unambiguous. He never knows when to leave well enough alone. He makes more enemies than friends. He’s a consummate loudmouth bully. He hurls unrestrained verbal assaults. More on that below.
He presides over Israel’s worst government. It’s belligerent, hardline, and neoliberal. It’s offensive to both Jews and Arabs. He menaces the entire region and beyond.His finger on Israel’s nuclear trigger should worry everyone. Maybe he’ll squeeze during one of his frequent tantrums.
Fiction for him is fact. It’s whatever he’s saying at the time. He claims he doesn’t lie but doesn’t tell the truth. Perhaps he can’t tell the difference between the two. He claims Armageddon is just around the corner. Who’s he afraid of in a region where only Israel threatens neighbors?
He presides over a government Gideon Levy calls “racis(t), untranationalis(t), arrogan(t), and messiani(c)” for good reason. Nonetheless, “this country is still not the worst,” he says.
He’s right. It’s the second worst. America is number one in every shameful thing mattering most.
On September 16, Netanyahu lied like he always does. He claimed Iran is six to seven months from having a nuclear bomb capability. Again he demanded Obama set a clear red line. For good reason, the president, other US officials, and most others are fed up with him.
He told NBC’s Meet the Press:
“You have to place that red line before them now, before it’s too late.” He conflated Iran’s government with “fanaticism….It’s the same fanaticism that you see storming your embassies today. Do you want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?”
Host David Gregory practically fawned over him. At issue is why was he invited on? He’s guilty of crimes of war and against humanity. He’s waging slow-motion genocide against 1.7 million Gazans.
He wages financial war on Jews and Arabs alike. He’s a monster buttoned down to look normal. His legitimacy should be questioned.
He should be impeached, charged, prosecuted, and imprisoned before he does more harm.
His arrogance makes him impossible to deal with. On Meet the Press, he showed no signs of backing down. He practically challenged viewers to dispute him. He told one lie after another about Iran. He’s done it many times before.
Iran is “different,” he says. It puts “zealotry above survival. They have suicide bombers all over the place. I wouldn’t rely on their rationality.”
Soviet Union-style “mutual assured destruction” (MAP) won’t contain them, he suggested. He gets national US air time to voice vitriol and anti-Iranian propaganda. Too bad anyone wastes time watching.
“Since the advent of nuclear weapons, you have countries that had access to nuclear weapons who always made a careful calculation of cost and benefit. But Iran is guided by a leadership with an unbelievable fanaticism.”
He falsely claims Iran nears nuclear weapons capability. No evidence whatever proves it. He denies what policy makers know but won’t say. No weapons program exists. None is planned. Saying otherwise spurns truth. Using a football analogy, he said “(t)they’re in a ‘red zone.’ ”
“They’re in the last 20 yards. And you can’t let them cross that goal line. Because that would have unbelievable consequences.”
Asked if Israel would go it alone, he added:
“We always reserve the right to act. But I think that if we are able to coordinate together a common position, we increase the chances that neither one of us will have to act.”
Make no mistake. Reserving the right and acting are worlds apart. On war and peace as well as other major geopolitical issues, Israel won’t act without Washington’s approval. Picking a public fight with your benefactor comes down to biting the hand that feeds you and much more.
Doing so also draws strong criticism at home. He repeatedly oversteps. He doesn’t know when to back off and stay quiet. Diplomacy for him is a four letter word.
His way or the highway is policy. His scowl and bullying make him impossible to deal with. Red lines, timelines and deadlines don’t wash.
He wrongly claims “once the Iranians understand that there’s a line that they can’t cross, they’re not likely to cross it.”
Tehran observes international law. It was one of the first countries to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It has no nuclear weapons program. It plans none.
For decades, Israel’s been nuclear armed and dangerous. It spurns NPT and won’t sign it. It won’t tolerate IAEA inspections. No nation is more closely monitored round the clock than Iran.
Netanyahu lied saying if America set a red line before Saddam invaded Kuwait, “maybe that war could have been avoided.”
US ambassador April Glaspie OK’d his invasion. It followed months of failed negotiations to stop cross-drilling into Iraqi territory. Washington planned the provocation. It needed Saddam to react to wage war.
Kuwait was stealing Iraqi oil. Saddam wanted it stopped. With US approval, he took matters into his own hands. Doing so doomed him. As they say, the rest is history.
Weeks earlier, Netanyahu claimed Iran’s “moving very rapidly to completing the enrichment of the uranium that they need to produce a nuclear bomb. In six months or so they’ll be 90 percent of the way there.”
Saying so then and now inverts truth. Defense Secretary Ehud Barak mimics him. He claims Iran may be approaching a “zone of immunity.” He means Iranian fortifications may be too strong to penetrate.
On September 16, Netanyahu repeated the same anti-Iranian vitriol and propaganda on CNN’s State of the Nation. Host Candy Crowley was as obsequious as Gregory. Corporate TV truth and full disclosure are verboten. So is failing to challenge a serial liar head of state.
Western media sources suppress what readers and viewers most need to know. Israeli criticism isn’t tolerated. Nothing is said about its formidable nuclear arsenal. It’s common knowledge that it’s large and sophisticated. It’s able to strike targets anywhere in the region and beyond. Saying so publicly is verboten.
Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have virtual immunity. They lie and get away with it. They commit daily crimes against Palestinians. They persecute their own Arab citizens.
Racism is official policy. It’s institutionalized. Belligerence is a way of life. Imagine having a neighbor like this next door. Iran threatens no one. It has just cause to worry. Israel threatens naked aggression. Perhaps it’s coming jointly with America.
It’s widely believed Netanyahu favors Romney over Obama. He refused to say on air. He won’t be drawn publicly into America’s election, he said. Covertly he’s been doing it for months.
Israel may be behind the anti-Muslim hate film. It provided a spark that incited violence across the region and beyond. It reflects deep-seated anti-American animosity. Decades of wars, occupation and Islamophobia produced blowback. People take so much before exploding.
They’re like-minded about Israel. Throughout the region, both countries have rock bottom approval ratings. For good reason they’re despised. Netanyahu’s arrogance is reason enough for loathing and animosity. He’s a public relations nightmare.
He represents fascism Israeli-style. He’s a bully and at the same time cowardly. He prefers fights with easy targets. His style is attacking nonviolent Palestinian men, women and children. They’re defenseless to fight back.
They’re wrongly called terrorists. They only want to live free on their own land in peace. Lebanon’s been frequently targeted. So are other regional countries. It’s done overtly and covertly. No one’s safe with a regional neighbor like Israel.
Nor are Israelis with leaders like Netanyahu/Barak.
Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post he’s confident the world will come around to his view. He won’t stop pushing it.
“I started speaking about the Iranian threat 16 years ago. If I was not a lone voice then, I was one of the few, and then others joined. And then I started speaking about the need for economic sanctions against Iran. I wasn’t the only voice, but I was one of the few,” he said.
Now he’s alone talking about red lines, he added. He hopes others will also. Persuasion takes time, he added.
He’s dead wrong about an Iranian nuclear weapons program. He lies calling Tehran an existential threat. He won’t be quiet, he stresses. It’s well known he oversteps and can’t contain himself. He can’t be trusted.
He’s a serial liar. Each time his lips move prove it. He’s toxic and dangerous. No one’s safe anywhere with him in charge. Maybe Israelis will come to their senses and oust him. Doing so should be prioritized. Partial relief at least is just new leadership away.
Haaretz said “Israelis have the right to demand leaders who envision hope instead of beating the war drums” against nonexistent threats. They’re entitled to peace, not perpetual confrontations and conflicts.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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