Who’s Haman?

Strange Bedfellows update, March 5th,  following Netanyahu’s speech to Congress regarding Iran:

The Israeli Prime Minister got a vote of confidence from an odd source following his recent address to the US Congress. While Nancy Pelosi found herself near tears, “saddened by [Netanyahu’s] insult to the intelligence of the United States, “Al-Arabiya‘s English edition editor-in-chief Faisal J. Abbas wrote a surprising op-ed on Tuesday, calling on US President Barack Obama to listen to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.”

“What is absurd, however, is that despite this being perhaps the only thing that brings together Arabs and Israelis (as it threatens them all), the only stakeholder that seems not to realize the danger of the situation is President Obama, who is now infamous for being the latest pen-pal of the Supreme Leader of the World’s biggest terrorist regime: Ayottallah Ali Khamenei,” Abbas wrote.

Good grief, even Israel’s sworn enemies see the foolishness and shortsightedness of this deal. (Al-Aribiya editor demands Obama listen to Netanyahu)

---

 

Original Post:

March has arrived, a critical election looms in Israel and here in Jerusalem it seems that Chicago, not spring, is in the air. The New York Times reports...

Jeremy Bird, the architect of the grass-roots and online organizing efforts that powered President Obama’s presidential campaigns from Chicago, is advising a similar operation in Tel Aviv. But this time it is focused on ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

The Times goes on to suggest that the White House’s apparent intrusion into the upcoming Israeli elections is nothing special, arguing on the administration’s behalf, “American strategists have for decades signed on to work in Israeli political campaigns,” but, given the negativity  Mr. Bird has ushered into the contest while directing the sudden political phenomenon, V15, and considering the disturbing sources of V15’s funds (see below), this effort fails to pass the smell test when compared to the past involvements of other American election advisers in Israel.

Of V15, the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, wrote on January 26…

“…with the help of American money and a former campaign adviser to President Barack Obama, V15 is trying to replace Israel’s government. The money and organization comes from V15’s partnership with OneVoice…an international grassroots movement that amplifies the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians, empowering them to propel their elected representatives toward the two-state solution.”

(While unapologetically left-wing Haaretz represents the failed two-state solution as a “mainstream” Israeli sentiment, that characterization is patently out of touch, post-Gaza.) Regarding the propriety of Bird’s current efforts in Israel to undermine the Netanyahu government, the Times adds…

Administration allies scoff at the accusation that Mr. Bird’s involvement is inappropriate, saying it is particularly galling given Mr. Netanyahu’s move to work with the House speaker, John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, to arrange a speech without telling the White House. Many Democrats see the speech as a move that would undercut Mr. Obama’s efforts to forge a nuclear deal with Iran.

Netanyahu is on his way to America to address Congress. The Obama administration has already issued a preemptive statement to rebut whatever the leader of America’s only ally in the Middle East might say. Meanwhile John Kerry has urged the world to give the Ayatollah and the world’s foremost exporter of terrorism the “benefit of the doubt.”

What’s wrong in this picture?

Others in Israel have made this point: is it not fascinating (and prophetic) that, as we approach the  commemoration of the festival of Purim we find modern Persia’s nuclear ambitions pushing the Jewish people to the edge of another cliff?

In the absence of actual diplomacy the Obama administration has postured, scoffed and meddled the world to the brink of introducing a malicious new member into the international nuclear club. Are these efforts enough to set Americans, especially American Jews, at ease with their leadership while in addition Syria burns, immigration is in a shambles, the Islamic State threatens every non-Muslim and provides timely videos of beheadings?

Even the Saudis find themselves cringing alongside Israel at the growing threat from Iran.

Yes, Iran, the Islamic fundamentalist nation that consistently refers to the United States as the Great Satan; Iran, that has only recently hung Obama in effigy in Tehran and yet has somehow convinced America’s Noble Prize winning president that they are honorable enough to negotiate with.

It seems that People Israel are in need of yet another miracle. As Purim approaches and this latest existential Jewish crisis heightens, some see Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the drama as a contemporary Mordecai. Who, then, shall we cast as the villain, Haman, given so many apt and willing candidates?

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. Psalm 68

---

---

Of interest, produced by Jerusalem University: “Crossing the Line 2” The new face of antisemitism on campus.