Ed Driscoll:
“The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic writes that a “senior Obama administration official” told him about Israeli Prime Minister and former IDF member Benjamin Netanyahu. As Goldberg writes, just in time for the midterms — and possibly the rest of Obama’s lame duck administration — “The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here:”
Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and “Aspergery.” (These are verbatim descriptions; I keep a running list.) But I had not previously heard Netanyahu described as a “chickenshit.” I thought I appreciated the implication of this description, but it turns out I didn’t have a full understanding. From time to time, current and former Administration officials have described Netanyahu as a national leader who acts as though he is mayor of Jerusalem, which is to say, a no-vision small-timer who worries mainly about pleasing the hardest core of his political constituency. (President Obama, in interviews with me, has alluded to Netanyahu’s lack of political courage.)
Gee, if you’re a world leader being insulted by an administration staffed by the radical chic likes of John Kerry and Obama himself, where Joe Biden almost seems like the grown-up of the bunch, you’ve got to be doing something right. More from Goldberg:
This comment is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other behind closed doors, and is yet another sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis. The relationship between these two administrations— dual guarantors of the putatively “unbreakable” bond between the U.S. and Israel—is now the worst it’s ever been, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program.
* * * * * * *
“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” the official said, expanding the definition of what a chickenshit Israeli prime minister looks like. “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not Rabin, he’s not Sharon, he’s certainly no (Menachem) Begin. He’s got no guts.”
Ahem:
After graduating from high school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the IDF. He trained as a combat soldier and became a team leader in an elite special forces unit of the IDF, Sayeret Matkal. He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the 1969–70 War of Attrition. He was involved in many other missions, including Operation Inferno (1968), and the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in May 1972 in which he was shot in the shoulder.
After his army service, Netanyahu returned to the United States in late 1972 to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to Israel in October 1973 to serve in the Yom Kippur War for a 40-day period. While there, he fought in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, as well as leading a commando team deep into Syrian territory.
Or to put the above into visual terms alongside America’s commander-in-chief:
https://twitter.com/zlando/status/526241369447075840
Incidentally, this could add quite an interesting dynamic to the presidential race to come. Or as John Podhoretz asks, “So who’s going to ask Hillary whether she agrees Bibi is chickenshit?”
For anyone of this administration (as all those liberal “journalists” certainly are) to call ANYONE else a chickenshit, much less someone that has actually faced danger, is nothing to be amazed at. None of these people even realize what leadership is actually like.
This entire administration and every soul that supports it is the epitome of chickenshit. In fact, they give chickenshit a bad name.
Obama is ready to sign an agreement with Iran to allow them to build a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile Obama is also dismantling our own nuclear arsenal.
Sounds like he’s the ”chickens**t.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-nightmare-scenario-article-1.1990648
@Nanny: No, he’s the dumb shit.
@Nanny:
Granting Iran carte blanche on their nuclear program, may have those folks overseas talking about America’s next eternal flame.
What I have trouble understanding is how the Jewish in the US support a Muslim Sympathizer like Obola!!
An affirmative action cokehead calls a fighter pilot a “chickensh*t.” About right.
I guess Netanyahu is a chickenshit because he lacks the courage to keep giving up territory and security to the Palestinians for nothing but terrorism in return. To these liberals, true courage is going on television and admitting to a lie that the entire world already knows was a lie they told. I guess true courage is awfully rare.
Which senior Obama administration official?
Jeffrey Goldberg’s claim is total bullshit. No senior Obama administration official would make such a comment to such a journalist. They’re all smart enough and politically savvy enough to know that it would wind up being repeated, if not actually in print.
You know Jeffrey Goldberg, correct? He’s this guy. Jeffrey Goldberg is also the author of such articles as “Peace-Seeking Muslims Should ‘Refudiate’ Sarah Palin,” “Why Sarah Palin Endangers American National Security (and Israel’s, as Well),” “Sarah Palin Endorses Hamas,” “The Specific Danger of Sarah Palin”, and “Sarah Palin: Fatal Cancer?” (meaning she was a cancer that would be fatal to the Republican Party). I’m pretty much astonished that anyone on the right would believe anything he says. Or that anyone on the left would, for that matter. Goldberg helped to sell the invasion of Iraq, claiming Hussein would soon have a nuclear bomb which he would use against the United States. He did his bit to promote an ill-advised $4 trillion war (the current low-end estimate) that cost 4,488 American lives and led to the current regional disaster-in-progress.
Goldberg’s most recent bid for attention was quickly exploited by Rick Perry, which likely won points with the Obama-haters in his base. Such exploitation gave the claim an illusion of greater credibility internationally. It served to embarrass Netanyahu, if not to actually damage U.S. Israeli relations. It was also found useful by Iran. They repeated the claim on PressTV. No doubt they appreciated the story. Most important of all, of course, it got Jeffrey Goldberg a bit of needed media attention. A one-liner got his name and face on national television. That’s priceless.
@Greg:
Greggie, it seems that the White House is only worried about certain leaks. You know. like the ones that make Obama look like the inept, clueless failure he is?
Nothing to see there, just MoveOn. Instead, Holder is worried about leaks in Ferguson. Playing the race card is more important to this Administration than our alliance with Israel, who Obama obviously hates.
And if you compare Netanyahu to Obama or John (Fraud) Kerry, it is pretty obvious that neither one of them can hold a candle to Netanyahu when it comes to a) defending their nation or b) fighting for their nation. Kerry was a joke who tried to parlay his few months in southeast Asia into a presidential bid.
Obama is much more comfortable “negotiating” with radical Islam in Iran than he is with the Jews in Israel.
@retire05, #9:
In other words, “We don’t have time to deal with all of your lies and bullshit. We’re busy trying to deal with reality.”
That’s also b.s., which has nothing whatsoever to do with the question of Goldberg’s truthfulness, or with the real damage that a person like Goldberg can do.
So, you believe Jeffrey Goldberg is both objective and truthful? Maybe you should look up and read some of those articles he wrote about Sarah Palin.
The guy is a journalistic bottom-feeder. He makes things up, if that’s what it takes to get him talked about. He plays both sides.
@Greg:
Greggie, typical left wing retort; kill the messenger.
Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Everyone laughed when the National Inquirer reported on John Edwards extra marital affair, trying to kill the messenger, until it was no longer funny and the Inquirer was proven to be right.
You’re not answering the question. Either Goldberg is a truthful, objective journalist, or he is not. Were his many observations about Sarah Palin truthful and objective?
The guy is a liar. And he’s the only source for what he claims was said about Netanyahu—something that no wary “senior Obama administration official” would say to a journalist like Goldberg to begin with. However stupid you might think they are, they’re not that stupid.
Odd, Greg, that the administration has not denied it was said as you have. They appear to feel the remark legitimate, yet don’t care to make the effort to find out who in the administration has a desire to wreck our relationships with out allies. Perhaps the field is too broad.