Patterico's Pontifications

3/1/2015

John Kerry And Susan Rice: We Just Can’t Agree On This Netanyahu Character

Filed under: General — Dana @ 8:32 am

[guest post by Dana]

That pesky Netanyahu visit to the U.S. next week continues to confound officials. So much so, that they simply cannot decide whether his decision to speak before Congress is a welcome one or a destructive one.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice last week:

“What has happened over the last several weeks, by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the Speaker [John Boehner] and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu two weeks in advance of his election, is that on both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it’s destructive of the fabric of the relationship,” Rice told PBS’ Charlie Rose.

“It’s always been bipartisan,” Rice added. “We need to keep it that way. We want it that way. I think Israel wants it that way. The American people want it that way. When it becomes injected or infused with politics, that’s a problem.”

Secretary of State John Kerry this morning:

“Let’s move back then to Israel and Iran,” said the ABC host. “You’re headed over for further negotiations. While you’re gone, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be addressing Congress. Susan Rice said it was destrictive [sic] to U.S.-Israeli relations. Do you agree?”

“Well, look,” Kerry said, “the prime minister of Israel is welcome to speak in the United States, obviously, and we have a closer relationship with Israel right now in terms of security than at any time in history. I was reviewing the record the other day: we have intervened on Israel’s behalf in the last two years more than a couple of hundred times in over 75 different fora in order to protect israel. I talked to the prime minister regularly, including yesterday. We don’t want to see this turned into some great political football. Obviously, it was odd if not unique that we learned of it from the speaker of the House and that the administration was not included in the process. But the administration is not seeking to politicize this.”

–Dana

Comments (51)

51 Responses to “John Kerry And Susan Rice: We Just Can’t Agree On This Netanyahu Character”

Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 3/1/2015 @ 8:33 am
But the administration is not seeking to politicize this.”

LOL.

Yea, right.

You’re about as reliable and accurate as your Medal of Honor, not to mention your boss’s healthcare plan, IRS, etc, etc.
Mark (c160ec) — 3/1/2015 @ 8:53 am
This is nothing more than a wish to be (cover themselves)on both sides of the issue, which recalls the scene in Braveheart where “The Bruce” is talking to his father about Wallace’s popular movement.

The Bruce: What shall we do?

Father: I shall oppose him from our lands in the South, while you support him from our lands in the North. Come, sit down.
felipe (56556d) — 3/1/2015 @ 8:55 am
” it was odd if not unique that we learned of it from the speaker of the House and that the administration was not included in the process.”
So, Kerry lies.
jb (820a41) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:00 am
I agree with you, Felipe. Nice reference, too.
Dana (86e864) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:01 am
Democrats are for so much Free Speech that they’re willing to oppose people speaking wherever they can find them!

Not challenge what they say, mind you, but to keep them from speaking in the first place. They’ll shout them down on the beaches, at the universities, and even in the great halls of power.
Dejectedhead (75dfa4) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:04 am
re #3: ditto.
at least they got the role of Susan Rice correct.
seeRpea (3383a9) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:08 am
“we have a closer relationship with Israel right now in terms of security than at any time in history.” So sayeth John Kerry, who speaks French and “served” in Vietnam (or was it Cambodia?)

The reason being that we need to know when they plan to launch their attack.

Report: Obama Threatened to Shoot Down IAF Iran Strike
bobathome (f208b6) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:23 am
Democrats are for so much Free Speech that they’re willing to oppose people speaking

But even more ominously…

Theblaze.com, February 2014: The author of a German study that examined thousands of anti-Semitic hate messages told an Israeli newspaper that she was “very surprised” to discover that only 3 percent came from those described as members of the political “far-right.”

Monika Schwarz-Friesel, a linguistics professor at the Technical University of Berlin, and her team read 14,000 letters and emails addressed to the Israeli embassy in Berlin and to Germany’s Central.

The study concluded that a majority of the messages – 60 percent – were sent by educated Germans, including university professors and priests. That finding shattered the research team’s initial assumptions.

“At first, we thought that most of the letters would be sent by right-wing extremists,” Schwarz-Friesel said. “But I was very surprised to discover that they were actually sent by people from the social mainstream – professors, Ph.D.s, lawyers, priests, university and high-school students.”

Incidentally, Franklin Delano Roosevelt supported quotas against Jews and deemed them as partly responsible for the rise the Third Reich. Meanwhile, Adolph Hitler was a vegan who believed in animal rights (not to mention was a homosexual too). Examples of grotesque contradictions, similar to, well, the guy now in the White House.
Mark (c160ec) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:26 am
One reason that Kerry has a horse face is that he’s usually full of horse feces. Some things never change. Our aging gigolo for rich women rarely disappoints–he’s always as stupid as anticipated.
Skeptical Voter (12e67d) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:31 am
Mark (c160ec) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:26 am

Meanwhile, Adolph Hitler was a vegan who believed in animal rights

He didn’t believe in animal rights. He had some sentimentality toward dogs, or some dogs, and he used an animal rights excuse to outlaw kosher slaughter. He was a vegan or vegetarian or whatever because he was a health crank – as far as he himself was concerned.
Sammy Finkelman (a551ff) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:37 am
John Kerry seems to be dissenting from the general line of he Obama Administration.
Sammy Finkelman (a551ff) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:38 am
With Obama inviting radical Muslims into the White House for repeated meetings, is anyone surprised that he would hate the prime minister of Israel? I see this man as the Muslim Manchurian candidate. Under his leadership, ISIS type radicals now dominate country after country after country. Rudy Guliani summed up Obama about right.
Rolo (deb449) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:41 am
Shorter Susan Rice – These Jooooos just need to learn their place.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:42 am
re #9: who told you / where did you read
that A.H. was a vegan? He may have been a vegetarian during the war , there is really no proof of that and if he was it may have been for health reasons, but a vegan?
He and the Nazis were very pro animal rights. they took very good care of the pets whose owners they killed, not just in the Camps but also in the villages.
seeRpea (3383a9) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:53 am
Kerry is trying to deflect from the marching orders given by the Administration to the CBC and others not to attend Netanyahu’s speech. He neglects to mention that he just met with Netanyahu’s opponents in Germany or that former Obama campaign operatives are in Israel working with Netanyahu’s opposition. Minor oversights.

The issue is a speech in front of Congress has no ability to deter good faith negotiations. People know Iran wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I think most Americans and Israelis think it would be a bad idea for Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb. The only problem I see is that I don’t believe either the Iranians or the Administration are pursuing negotiations in good faith.

Below an excerpt from my Congresscritter’s shameful excuse for not attending Netanyahu’s speech. She has defending Israel in her DNA and it is not a political decision, or so she claims, which she goes on to politicize in explaining her boycot.

As a Jew, support for Israel is in my DNA. Throughout my nine terms in the U.S. House, I have advocated that Congress and the administration stand with Israel in a bipartisan way to protect Israel’s security and very right to exist. I strongly agree with both the prime minister of Israel and the president of the United States that Iran can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.

That is why I feel particularly anguished that the ill-advised invitation from Republican House Speaker John Boehner has managed to threaten, in my view, both the security of Israel and the historic bipartisan support in the Congress.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jan-schakowsky/an-israel-supporter-who-w_b_6760014.html
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:12 am
I think Kerry is backing away from the Obama hysteria about the speech. I suspect the polling is not looking good. Obama and Rice are too ideological to care. Kerry still thinks maybe he has a political future. What if Hillary stumbles ? He dreams on and is afraid the Democrats are losing on the speech.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:28 am
Democrats never accept responsibility for their own actions.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:30 am
#13: daleyrocks,

“I don’t believe either the Iranians or the Administration are pursuing negotiations in good faith.”

I’d say they are maintaining a very close and supportive relationship to each other. The Administration’s duplicity is aimed solely at the American people and our security interests. The only thing that mars their collaboration is a somewhat unrestrained Iranian press and priesthood. The Iranian opposition has recently identified secret enrichment facilities to the NE of Tehran, and a number of the mullah’s can’t help but express their enthusiasm for using their new weapons on Israel and the U. S. I’m sure Obola would prefer them to stay quiet until the deal is done.

Is fomenting a world war, including unrestrained nuclear exchanges, an impeachable action?
bobathome (f208b6) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:32 am
As a Jew, support for Israel is in my DNA.

Jan Schakowsky, your leftism is far more a part of your DNA than anything else.
Mark (c160ec) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:43 am
“I’d say they are maintaining a very close and supportive relationship to each other.”

bobathome – If you mean their goals are fairly closely aligned, I agree. Those goals, however, are not in accord with representations made to the American people, which is why the Administration has talked about presenting any deal as a fait accompli rather than submitting it to the Senate for ratification.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:50 am
But the administration is not seeking to politicize this

No. Never. If anything the administration is a towering paragon of bipartisan accommodation and transparency. Just ask Lois Lerner or Eric Holder.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/1/2015 @ 10:56 am
Israel’s just gotta hang in there til America elects a president that doesn’t hate jews

then we can move forward
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:13 am
but damn if George Soros isn’t wringing every damn penny out of his food stamp investment

when he buys a president he goes all in
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:16 am
Why does Valerie get a pass on all this? She can maneuver and manipulate and and doesn’t have to answer to anybody. It’s as if, to the media, she does not even exist, let alone be in a position to influence the president’s thinking.
elissa (6ba77d) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:24 am
at the end of the day after failmerica helps Iran get its nukes on, it’ll be Obama’s genocide not Valerie’s
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:37 am
bobathome (f208b6) — 3/1/2015 @ 9:23 am

I was speaking with a friend (former USAF) a few weeks before Barrack was reelected POTUS, about the likelihood of an Israeli attack on Iranian centrifuges. It was my position that if B.O. was reelected that Israel would have no other choice but to carry out a unilateral action against Iranian nuclear enrichment assets. I cannot wait to show your link to my friend as an explanation for my failed prediction.
felipe (56556d) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:56 am
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/bibi_selassie_dotted_points_of_light.html
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:58 am
another related account:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/01/terrorists-using-ebay-and-reddit-to-send-coded-messages-mossad/
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/1/2015 @ 12:44 pm
since that thread is dormant:

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/mohammed-emwazi-and-al-qaeda-in-somalia/
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/1/2015 @ 1:10 pm
hey hey barack hussein how many jews you wanna kill today
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 1:48 pm
RIP Minnie Minoso. Wow. Ernie and Minnie both gone in just a little over a month.
elissa (6ba77d) — 3/1/2015 @ 2:53 pm
felipe, it must take a strong stomach, limited olfactory function, and unbounded ambition to serve in a high capacity in Obola’s military. Not too many Navy or AF pilots would welcome such orders.

Especially if six months after shredding the Israeli air force a container ship pulls into New York and delivers a very special message to America, COD POTUS.
bobathome (cb0d92) — 3/1/2015 @ 3:36 pm
Feinstein is now going to be attending the speech – but she wants you to know she won’t be jumping up and down.

And surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times editorial board urges Congress to hear the speech:

Netanyahu deserves a respectful hearing even if the auspices of his appearance are exasperating. Like other nations in the region, Israel has understandable concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran. It is not only worried about a doomsday scenario in which Iran — whose anti-Zionist rhetoric is legendary — launches an attack on Tel Aviv; it also worries that an Iranian nuclear weapon would encourage countries such as Saudi Arabia to follow suit. (Unsurprisingly, Israel prefers the status quo, in which it has a monopoly on nuclear weapons in the region.)

But hearing out Netanyahu doesn’t mean taking everything he says at face value or abdicating to Israel this country’s decision about whether it’s possible to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran without making a fateful decision to use military force.

Dana (86e864) — 3/1/2015 @ 6:44 pm
if America were interested in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran

there’s be some evidence by now
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 7:00 pm
*there’d* be some evidence i mean
happyfeet (831175) — 3/1/2015 @ 7:02 pm
Walker should be asked. your supporters believe adam and eve rode around on dinosaurs. Do you agree with them?
truther (8911ec) — 3/1/2015 @ 11:44 pm
“What has happened over the last several weeks, by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the Speaker [John Boehner] and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu two weeks in advance of his election, is that on both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it’s destructive of the fabric of the relationship,” Rice told PBS’ Charlie Rose.

This administration is so scrupulously apolitical and non-partisan, isn’t it?

http://www.israellycool.com/2015/02/10/free-beacon-continues-to-expose-more-state-department-efforts-to-interfere-in-israeli-elections/

Kudos to Alana Goodman and the Washington Free Beacon for continuing to expose the extent to which the President of the United States is attempting to interfere in the domestic affairs of another democracy, one that is supposedly an ally.

Two weeks ago it was widely reported that the US State Department had funded OneVoice, which is working with the V15 group in their anti-Netanyahu campaign. Last week the Free Beacon reported that the US tax-exempt group Ameinu was funding and working with the Israeli group Givat Haviva to target “Get Out The Vote” efforts, including driving people to the polls, specifically in demographics that typically vote for liberal parties, and that former Obama campaign operatives are involved.

…I said previously that the notion that such widespread efforts are being undertaken without President Obama’s knowledge and blessing is just not plausible. It is now clear that the US State Department, appallingly, is directly involved with Givat Haviva, giving its members preferential treatment to obtain visas to come to the US so that they may better learn their trade.

What is most surreal about this whole episode is the way that the same mainstream press that has been going on endlessly, histrionically, about a manufactured story about a perceived breach of protocol is pretty much ignoring Obama’s interference in another country’s democratic process. The scene is beginning to look like “Wag The Dog, The Sequel,” with the press attempting to keep the public’s focus on an invented issue, while ignoring a true government abuse of power.

I wish someone would ask the non-partisan, apolitical Susan Rice, John Kerry, and Barack Obama about this outrage.
Steve57 (1640d5) — 3/2/2015 @ 1:26 am
http://www.israellycool.com/2015/01/28/us-state-department-linked-to-anti-netanyahu-campaign/

As we noted on Monday, Ha’aretz reported that Jeremy Bird, whose previous titles include National Field Director for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, Deputy National Director of Organizing for America, and South Carolina Primary Field Director and Ohio General Election Director for Obama’s 2008 campaign, will now be running an anti-Netanyahu campaign out of Tel Aviv through the group V15. The Washington Free Beacon is now reporting that OneVoice, a group that partners with Bird’s V15 in Israel, has received grants from the US State Department.

OneVoice said in a press release on Tuesday that it is teaming up with V15 because Israel “need[s] a prime minister and a government who will be responsive to the people.”

OneVoice International received two grants from the U.S. State Department over the past year, and lists the agency as a “partner” on its website. [OneVoice development and grants officer Christina] Taler said the group is not using this money for its Israeli election-related efforts.

…Obama and his supporters are basically launching a two-pronged attack on the Israeli Prime Minister: they are attacking him in the US using well-worn antisemitic stereotypes and smears like those made earlier this week by Congressman John Yarmuth, and they are attacking him in Israel by sending US tax dollars to a group that is actively working to unseat him. Meanwhile, they whine that a fully transparent speaking engagement is a breach of protocol, and complain that it is Netanyahu who is interfering in US domestic politics.

Non-partisan. Apolitical. The Obama administration.
Steve57 (1640d5) — 3/2/2015 @ 3:18 am
The truth will turn out to be that Netanyahu asked Obama to release Jonathan Pollard as a political feather in Netanyahu’s cap, and Obama said no. Ok, ok, the NSC all told Obama to say no. And that not only put Netanyahu in a snit, but forced him to find a new way to define himself in the U.S.-Israel relationship in the eyes of his constituents.
nk (dbc370) — 3/2/2015 @ 6:28 am
Mr. Pollard made bad choices
happyfeet (a037ad) — 3/2/2015 @ 6:29 am
Heh…
http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/2015/03/obamas-true-friends.html
kishnevi (91d5c6) — 3/2/2015 @ 7:47 am
the rest of the story:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/03/osama-bin-ladens-files-al-qaedas-deputy-general-manager-in-yemen.php
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/2/2015 @ 8:10 am
There is a big gap between Republican and Democrat support for both Israel and Netanyahu.

According to Gallup, only 48% of Democrats sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians in the Mideast situation, versus 83% of Republicans. Republican support for Israel has been consistently higher.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/181652/seven-americans-continue-view-israel-favorably.aspx?utm_source=Politics&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles

Only 31% of Democrats view Prime Minister Netanyahu favorably versus 60% of Republicans.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/181778/netanyahu-favorable-rating-improves.aspx?utm_source=Politics&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/2/2015 @ 5:14 pm
Well, daley, the reason why only 48% of Democrats support the Israelis over the Palestinians is because John F’n Kerry told them that Israel is in danger of becoming an apartheid state. And it’s true! As long as there are Arab Israelis then the Joooz may someday bar them from becoming mayors and Knesset members and Supreme Court justices. This is a big worry.

Of course we don’t have to worry about the Palestinians ever discriminating or oppressing Jews in their territories because their territories are Judenrein.

See, in the future fascism can only descend in Israel. Because fascism has already done its bloody deed in the West Bank and Gaza.

http://www.factsofisrael.com/en/images/articles/bloodsavage.jpg

Unless of course the Palestinians can manage to kidnap some Jews (Democrats look at that photo and can’t see a reason not to love those guys). Indeed, we don’t need to worry about a Nazi holocaust of Jews anywhere in the Arab world. Not even when ISIS rolls into town. Jews have nothing to worry about. Because of course all the Jews have already been killed or went to Israel.

Where an Islamophobic backlash against Palestinians may break out at any time. And the Democrats stand vigilant against that. Hence the lack of support; how do you support potential Islamophobes?

The foregoing, unironically, is why 83% of Republicans support Israel over the Palestinians.

The difference is sanity.
Steve57 (221cd8) — 3/2/2015 @ 6:03 pm
whether it’s possible to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran without making a fateful decision to use military force.

This is the false choice the left, and Obama, but I repeat myself, insist is the only one. We were doing pretty well with sanctions until Obama abandoned them.

According to Gallup, only 48% of Democrats sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians in the Mideast situation, versus 83% of Republicans. Republican support for Israel has been consistently higher.

Does anyone remember the Democrat convention in 2012 ? Remember when the resolution came up about the capital of Israel ? Villaraigosa could not get a plurality of votes. He had to announce a voice vote that no one believed.

Jews are now seen by Democrats as fat cats and oppressors of the poor. When Israel was run by Socialists, as it was until the past 30 years, it was popular with Democrats. Clinton worked as hard as Obama to defeat Netanyahu. Same tactics.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 3/2/2015 @ 7:00 pm
yes I recall in ‘Beirut to Jerusalem, complaining about the Likud bloc and their sympathies with the GOP

http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/02/the-u-s-constitution-actually-bans-hillarys-foreign-government-payola/
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/2/2015 @ 7:07 pm
Obama and Democrats are working overtime to set up Boehner and Netanyahu as scape goats when the Iranians walk away from the table or want even more than the keys to the candy store that Obama is handing them.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/2/2015 @ 7:38 pm
things that make you hm:

http://twitchy.com/2015/03/02/no-wonder-guys-in-benghazi-couldnt-get-a-hold-of-her-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-used-personal-email-account/
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/2/2015 @ 7:43 pm
maybe they’ll use Sarbanes Oxley in this instance.
narciso (ee1f88) — 3/2/2015 @ 8:16 pm
Don’t get me wrong. The Democrats do think it’s regrettable that ISIS beheads and burns its victims alive.

What would be worse, though, is if one of those victims had an islamophobic thought pass through their head or (gasp) word escape their lips before they died.

That would be a hate crime.

Sorta like when the Army CoS General Casey heard about the Fort Hood massacre.

“As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.”

Yeah, it wasn’t nice for MAJ Nidal Malik Hassan to kill 13 of his soldiers. But the real terrorists are the racist islamophobes who might have threatened his precious Muslim outreach program.
Steve57 (221cd8) — 3/2/2015 @ 8:29 pm

3/1/2015

John Kerry And Susan Rice: We Just Can’t Agree On This Netanyahu Character

51 Responses to “John Kerry And Susan Rice: We Just Can’t Agree On This Netanyahu Character”

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