Haaretz: Bibi Netanyahu Thinks Emanuel and Axelrod are “Self-Hating Jews”
I try not to put too much stock in foreign press reports, but this from Barak Ravid in Haaretz seems like something Bibi Netanyahu had better deny quickly:
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.”
I wonder what they make of other top executive branch Jews like Larry Summers and Peter Orszag.
34 Responses to “Haaretz: Bibi Netanyahu Thinks Emanuel and Axelrod are “Self-Hating Jews””
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July 9th, 2009 at 10:01 am
I try not to put too much stock in foreign press reports
What?
July 9th, 2009 at 10:03 am
“He thought that his speech at Bar-Ilan would become mandatory reading at schools in the United States, and when he realized that Obama gave no such order, he went back to being frustrated,” one of his associates said.
Uh, that’s kind of a scary level of wackiness…
July 9th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Maybe someone needs to explain to Bibi why a point guard facing a full court press should pass the ball.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Poor Bibi. Times have certainly changed since he last was in power.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:10 am
If Axelrod and Emmanuel are self-hating Jews, then so are you Matt, and so is anyone else Jewish who supports J Street, or opposes Netanyahu’s policies generally.
A sensible U.S. policy towards Israel can only happen if and when liberal American Jews understand that they have more in common with Axelrod and Emmanuel than they have loyalty to an Israeli state that actually despises them. I hope this Haaretz article is correct in it’s suggestion that Netanyahu’s government is so dysfunctional it is near collapse.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:10 am
That’s Bibi alright, a whiner and complainer with a spine constructed from noodles. Instead of nattering about Axelrod and Emmanuel, he should get on the phone to President Osama and tell his to go fuck himself.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
I hate it that there are only 2 kinds of Jews: blood-thirsty Jews and self-hating Jews.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:23 am
“Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communicate normally with the White House.”
Translation: “Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to dictate policy to the White House.”
July 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Matthew is now outsourcing his typos, I see. Smart move.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
God DAMN, Netanyahu is an idiot. Ariel Sharon ran circles around him back in the day. Completely immature, thiks he’s way smarter than he actually is, thin-skinned, unable to think more than a week ahead, and with the memory of a goldfish. He’s basically the Israeli George Bush only more panicky and flaky. It’s a very good bet that the Obama administration does in fact want him out of office; who wouldn’t?
July 9th, 2009 at 10:27 am
The notion that Obama could “give an order” that a speech by Netanyahu be mandatory reading, not just to think that he would… is simply nuts.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
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.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Patrick,
You’re right, the “mandatory reading at schools” quote is just disturbing. For someone who’s lived and studied in the US (he went to high school in Pennsylvania), Netanyahu is rather ignorant about the US political system. The president doesn’t have the authority to “order” local schools to do anything.
Even if he did, its a moot point. The Bar-Lian speech was in mid-June, American schools were out for summer break by then.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:44 am
he should get on the phone to President Osama and tell his to go fuck himself.
Generally a bad idea for the peasant to tell the king to go fuck himself.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:48 am
DTM wins the thread
July 9th, 2009 at 11:02 am
The best retort i have heard is” No I dont hate myself. I just hate you”
July 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am
This is hilarious, in light of all of the “Told you so” gloating the greeted President-Elect Obama’s selection of Emmanuel as White House Chief of Staff.
“I toldja he was just like Bush. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That’s not…hey, listen, this is really funny…that’s not CHANGE we can BELIEVE IN. Obama’s just another tool of the Israelis. Did you know that Rahm Emmanuel served in a civilian capacity for the Israeli military during the Gulf War? All you Obamabots who thought his foreign policy would be any different from Bush’s are just, like, sooo naive and partisan.”
July 9th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I think you’re taking that a little too literally. I think the quote is just a hyperbolic way of saying that Netanyahu thought he had made a speech of grand historical importance that would be remembered for years afterwards and fundamentally change the diplomatic game being played. When actually it was a small and insufficient speech that had no lasting impact.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:24 am
No, we just hate you, Bibi.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Matt doesn’t trust foreign press reports?
let me get this straight: Matt doesn’t trust a major Israeli newspaper’s reports about the Israeli prime minister because it’s a foreign press report.
I guess nothing is true unless it’s in the new york times…..
grow up.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am
The president doesn’t have the authority to “order” local schools to do anything.
Just wait until education reform gets passed in a year or two.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:37 am
personally, i think bibi is a fascist scum jew, but that’s just me.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am
By the weird, metaphysical standards underlying the “new antisemitism” he probably is a “self-hating” Jew.
Remember this simple axiom:
Rule #1: If you have a problem with Zionism or Israel, you are an antisemite.
Rule #2: If you have a problem with Zionism or Israel, but are not an antisemite; see rule #1.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
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.”
That’s always been the problem with Rahm Emanuel: his crippling lack of self-esteem.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Maybe not “self-hating”. That’s the hateful labeling so typical of righties.
But President Obama does like to have a couple of house Jews around so that he can tell his supporters that some of his best friends are Jews.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
…President Obama does like to have a couple of house Jews around so that he can tell his supporters that some of his best friends are Jews.
Yes, Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod are just submissive, shrinking violet-types, so typical of Chicago pols. Get a brain, moran.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Peter Orszag likes country music and Larry Summers is Larry Summers, so they’re much more likely candidates for the label than Rahmbo and Axelrod.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
“House Jews”? Isn’t that a term for Jewish landlords?
July 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Nicely done. I actually laughed so hard it hurt.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
“The notion that Obama could “give an order” that a speech by Netanyahu be mandatory reading, not just to think that he would… is simply nuts.”
Cultural difference. Israeli communication is big on exaggerations. Naturally, this leads to a lot of juicy quotes repeated over and over in the Arab media, but honestly it means nothing except the raw sentiment. It’s like I say “I told you a thousand times.”
July 9th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Israeli communication is big on exaggerations
Also, Israeli journalism is low on attributed quotes. So while it’s probably true that Bibi is an idiot, his paranoia — regarding leaks from aides that try to make him look bad in the media — is perfectly justified.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
So basically, Bibi is saying that if American Jews put American interests first, they are not honoring the requirement to favor Jews over Gentiles in any dispute.
Not smart to say that in public.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Zionism is a disgrace.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
And all this merely at the suggestion that additional colonisation in the West Bank and Jerusalem should be ‘frozen’. If there’s to be any real effort at all to get those 400,000 colonists out and to equalise life-chances for arabs and jews in Palestine, you can bet that a whole lot more than name-calling is going to go on.