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Marc Goldberg

Bibi’s stupid speech

Why? Why is this man going to preach to congress about Iran when everyone in the whole world knows that it is the biggest face palm moment of any Israeli Prime Minister ever.

Normally I wouldn’t care, the opposite, I’d be delighted to watch the man humiliate himself, but by insisting on making this truly stupid speech he is hurting my security and the security of the country he was elected to protect.

Not only is he going but he is also making these stupid sweeping statements like “I go as an emissary of the entire Jewish people.” Who is he kidding? He doesn’t even have the backing of the people in the country of which he is (for the time being) Prime Minister. He certainly doesn’t have the backing of predominantly Democratic Jews in the United States.

It beggars belief to think that this man actually thinks that he’s going to tell the United States congress something about Iran they don’t already know and that he thinks he has some kind of right to force the Americans to change their own foreign policy according to what he wants it to be.

The bottom line is simple if Iran is such a huge threat then Bibi should exhibit the same kind of leadership Begin showed and attack them. If not he needs to shut up. The subtext here is clear, Netanyahu wants the US to attack Iran. They’re not going to.

He isn’t helping Israel by alienating not just the Obama administration but also the American people. He is hurting Israel. Furthermore members of Israel’s security establishment simply don’t stand with Bibi on this. Even at home in Israel it is clear that his statements on Iran don’t have the backing of the people in the know. Just the other day the former head of Mossad Meir Dagan attacked Netanyahu for causing “heavy strategic damage on the Iranian issue.”

So let’s be clear, Netanyahu’s information on Iran comes from the intelligence community. The head of the most powerful Israeli foreign intelligence body, the man who up until very recently was providing Bibi with the information he needed in order to make his decisions is saying that the man is wrong.

Netanyahu can’t even bring his own security establishment on side, yet here he is about to attempt to convince those members of the US government who turn up to hear him that Iran is…what?

What does he think he is going to tell the most informed men and women in the world? Something they don’t already know?

Far from making Israeli concerns Netanyahu has ensured that Israeli concerns will be entirely ignored. He has overstepped and he has played politics with the US Israel relationship. And we, the Israeli people, have gained absolutely nothing as a result. Worse, we have lost the kind of support from the US that was once considered automatic.

As US lawmakers start pulling out of attending Netanyahu’s third address to congress one can only hang one’s head and hope that, despite his best intentions, he does more harm to himself than he does to Israel.

About the Author
Marc Goldberg is the author of Beyond the Green Line, a story his service in the IDF fighting through the al Aqsa Intifada https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Green-Line-volunteer-Intifada-ebook/dp/B075HBGS21/