Netanyahu appoints controversial adviser who trashed Obama and Biden
Aaron Klein, former Breitbart journalist, hired by Netanyahu as strategic consultant; Said Biden should be concerned about Russian collusion
By GIL HOFFMANAaron Klein, Netanyahu's new strategic adviser(photo credit: Courtesy)
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden should be concerned about colluding with Russia and former President Barack Obama treated Israel "like it was a shithole" are some of the controversial comments made by a new strategic adviser Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hired last week. Aaron Klein, a former journalist for Breitbart, was hired by Netanyahu as a strategic and communications consultant for the Likud Party.“Klein left a full-time successful career as a reporter to help Israel, as it finds itself facing unprecedented challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, amid the international debate on the issue of applying sovereignty and other pressing matters,” a Likud source said.The Jerusalem-based Klein worked on strategy during the Likud’s campaign in the last election and his role was praised by the campaign chairman and current Finance Minister Israel Katz. During that time, he became especially close to Netanyahu.“Working with Prime Minister Netanyahu is what I’d imagine it would be like to work with Winston Churchill,” Klein told The Jerusalem Post. “There is no one else like him and there never will be. Netanyahu already saved the country during the initial health and economic crisis of this pandemic. Israel is lucky that he is leading the Jewish state, especially during this period where the country finds itself at such a critical strategic juncture.” Klein, 41, most recently served as Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter for Breitbart News, reporting last month on Biden’s involvement in what he termed the Russia collusion hoax.“If the very origins of this investigation are proven to be criminal, then Joe Biden has a lot to be concerned about,” he said in a radio interview with SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday.He has interviewed Yasser Arafat, politicians and terrorists for Hamas and other terror groups. He is the author of three New York Times best-sellers, most notably Schmoozing with Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans.He also wrote a critical book about Obama in 2010 entitled The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists. In 2018, Klein said on his radio show – broadcast in New York and Philadelphia – that Obama treated Israel “like it was a s***hole” when he was president.“Now think about that for a few minutes,” Klein said at the time. “For eight years Barack Obama treated Israel like it was some s***hole. Meanwhile, for some strange reason he coddled some of the most despotic regimes in the world.”The context of Klein’s comment was that Trump had been quoted as referring to Haiti and African countries as “s***hole countries.” During the ensuing backlash, conservative commentators like Klein used that phrase to refer to countries they believed were mistreated by Obama as president.Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon credited Klein in a SiriusXM radio interview with the “genius” who hatched the idea of inviting sexual assault accusers of former US president Bill Clinton for media interviews ahead of an October 2016 presidential debate and interviewing five of them himself.The debate followed the airing of a tape in which Trump boasted of sexually assaulting women which harmed his campaign, and the interviews with the Clinton accusers were credited with stopping the damage and turning his campaign around.Raised in Philadelphia, Klein attended Yeshiva University and edited its student newspaper, The Commentator.Democrats Abroad Israel head Heather Stone criticized the appointment.“Trump and Netanyahu are cut from the same cloth, authoritarian aspirants who traffic in lies, divisiveness and relentless threats to democracy,” Stone said. “Both hire Breitbart fabulists to fuel the fires. We are living in unprecedented times, when these threats are coming at us from all sides.”
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