The NY Times is reporting this story: Netanyahu Picks Academic Who Insulted Obama and Kerry as Diplomacy Chief:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has picked as his new chief of public diplomacy a conservative academic who suggested President Obama was anti-Semitic and compared Secretary of State John Kerry’s “mental age” to that of a preteen.
The choice for the role of diplomacy chief, Ran Baratz, lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank and a decade ago expressed his wish to see the building of a third Jewish temple on a contested Old City compound. Palestinians say such provocative ideas have helped fuel the recent outbreak of attacks against Israeli Jews, though Mr. Netanyahu insists he has no plans to change the current arrangement at the site.
Just last week, he insulted Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, in a Facebook post.
The insult was in a rambling post where Baratz said Rivlin was a "marginal figure", "unworthy of assassination". That was in response to a photograph of Rivlin flying back from the Czech Republic on a commercial flight sitting in coach and interacting with other passengers. Rivlin's office is
demanding an explanation. Baratz also mocked Rivlin for speaking Arabic (he is fluent, his family has lived in Jerusalem since the early 1800s).
Members of Netanyahu's own party are questioning the proposed appointment, some saying they will not vote to confirm Baratz. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog has said:
"A person who lashed out at President Obama, slandered Secretary of State Kerry and worst of all, humiliated the beloved president of our state, has to go home immediately,"
Herzog's defense is sort of hilarious in a way, since Rivlin has spent his entire political career in the right-wing Likud, while Herzog's always been in Labor. The Times quotes a couple of Israeli reporters and commentators who note that comments like Baratz's are the new norm within Israel, though they may shock American ears.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Obama about increasing military aid to Israel by 1 billion a year to 4.1 billion annually. Oh and Hillary Clinton published an Op-Ed in The Forward today titled: How I Would Reaffirm Unbreakable Bond With Israel — and Benjamin Netanyahu. David has a diary up on that.
More below the fold:
Haaretz reports the Obama remark in a story about Netanyahu promising Kerry that he will review the appointment:
"Allow me to be harsh, contrary to my moderate habits," Baratz wrote in the March 3 post. "Obama's reference to Netanyahu's speech – this is what modern anti-Semitism looks like in Western and liberal countries. And it comes, of course, alongside much tolerance and understanding toward Islamic anti-Semitism. So much tolerance and understanding that they are willing to give [Iran] an atom[ic bomb]."
At this point, it's almost comical. The Times says non-Israeli diplomats and officials are bemused by a series of controversial statements by members of Netanyahu's government.
Mr. Netanyahu last week quieted his deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, after she told an interviewer that she dreamed of raising the Israeli flag atop the Temple Mount, the Old City site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
He also retracted his own statement that it was a Palestinian cleric, not Hitler, who came up with the idea to annihilate Europe’s Jews — a statement that was declared to be completely false by Holocaust historians but that earned the sympathy of Mr. Baratz.
This in the week when Netanyahu was vociferously complaining about Palestinian incitement around the Temple Mount. Hotovely is not the only cabinet member to have made controversial remarks concerning the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
Foreign Policy has a very comprehensive blog post about the "status quo": Trouble on Holy Ground where they highlight four major changes made by Israel and others by Jordan:
- Jordan’s role. Until 2000, Jordan had a voice in who entered the Esplanade.
- The collapse of cooperation on renovations. Until the mid-1990s, Israel facilitated Waqf maintenance of the Esplanade.
- Incendiary statements and actions by senior Israeli officials. While Netanyahu has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the Status Quo, senior Likud and government officials have done the opposite — and loudly.
- Israeli “dilution” of Palestinian access. Both Jews and Muslims face access restrictions to the Esplanade.
The post is well worth a read to understand some of the background around the recent violence.