On Thursday, Haaretz published a political cartoon that caused a backlash the likes of which make the “chickenshit” story pale in comparison.
By RUTHIE BLUMPresident Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu look out a window before their lunch at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem(photo credit: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO / PETE SOUZA)
One tongue-in-cheek question that began circulating after Jeffery Goldberg of The Atlantic quoted an anonymous American official badmouthing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week is: “How do you say ‘chickenshit’ in Hebrew?” The Israeli media did not bother too much with the translation, mostly using the English phrase and providing a few parenthetical synonyms for cowardice.They did, however, devote endless discussion to the significance of such an expression of disdain toward Netanyahu emanating from the Obama administration.Meanwhile, Netanyahu responded by setting the record straight about his illustrious military history, and pro-Israel commentators at home and abroad juxtaposed this with President Barack Obama’s past as a dope-smoking radical.What neither Netanyahu nor his defenders emphasized though was the paradoxical nature of the slur. On the one hand, the Israeli leader is ostensibly a wimp because he will not take risks for peace. On the other, he is hesitant to go to war, and missed the opportunity to bomb Iran.Oh, and he cares about keeping his job – unlike, say, every politician who ever lived.In other words, nothing Netanyahu does is acceptable to the crew on Capitol Hill.Ironically, this latest display of hostility from Washington gave a boost to Netanyahu’s popularity. Even his opponents had to admit that calling the prime minister “chickenshit” was distasteful.Where the political divide lies is over the issue of whom to blame for the ever-souring relations between the US and Israel. The Left is faulting Netanyahu for “provocations” such as housing construction. The Right is reiterating its mantra that Netanyahu should ignore the admonitions of an anti-Israel White House and State Department and safeguard the interests of his own people.But “fowl-gate” was upstaged on Wednesday evening when Muatnaz Hijazi shot Rabbi Yehuda Glick three times at point-blank range.The assassination attempt occurred outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. Hijazi, a resident of the capital’s Abu Tor neighborhood (and an Islamic Jihad member who served a 12-year stint in an Israeli prison) was an employee of “Terasa,” a restaurant that leases space in the Begin Center.Glick, who was critically wounded in the attack, had just finished delivering a lecture at a conference on the Temple Mount at the Begin Center when he was gunned down by Hijazi.When the anti-terror squad of the Israel Police found Hijazi hiding at his home, he opened fire. Thankfully, they killed him on the spot. Otherwise, he would have served jail time and been released as part of a “peace process” prisoner exchange at some point, and would have struck again.You know, after being able to support his family financially by working for Jewish establishments that hire Arabs without discrimination – and indiscriminately, as indicated by this latest travesty.Israeli reportage of the terrorist attack, which spurred Hijazi’s neighbors, and Arabs throughout east Jerusalem, to go on a violent rampage, is worthy of note.All media outlets headlined the Jewish victim as “right-wing activist Yehuda Glick,” while only mentioning the Arab perpetrator’s Islamic Jihad credentials in the second sentence. Nor did they call him a terrorist.They did make sure to cover Netanyahu’s decision to close the Temple Mount to both Jews and Arabs until things settle down, however. (Subsequently, this decision was softened, to enable people above a certain age to enter.) They also reported on the response of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah Central Committee honcho Jibril Rajoub said outright that he does not condemn Hijazi. PA President Mahmoud Abbas likened the semi-closure of the Temple Mount to a “declaration of war.”One would think from his indignation that Abbas had not been inciting his public to kill Israelis. One might also expect the Israeli press to point that out.But some members of the media got what they deserved for their knee-jerk leftism and arrogance, after all.On Thursday, Haaretz published a political cartoon that caused a backlash the likes of which make the “chickenshit” story pale in comparison.The cartoon depicts Netanyahu flying a plane into the World Trade Center.Not only is it vile in and of itself, but the fact that it appeared while Glick remained in critical condition made it all the more repugnant.To add insult to injury, cartoonist Amos Biderman defended his drawing.“The message is that Bibi [Netanyahu] is arrogantly and wantonly destroying Israel’s ties with the US and leading us to a disaster on the scale of 9/11,” he said. “It was certainly not my intention to insult or upset anyone. I wasn’t sufficiently aware of the great sensitivity that 9/11 holds for Americans.”Really. I guess he was equally unaware of the “great sensitivity” that anti-Semitic imagery holds for Jews everywhere.Apparently, he and his Haaretz cohorts are so insulated by their bubble of chattering- class respectability that they do not notice when they have gone too far.How do you say “shitstorm” in Hebrew?The writer is the author of To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.’
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